8mm film will deteriorate over time.
Film of any kind is fragile and deteriorates over time. Film will eventually shrink and lose its color saturation even under the best conditions. Our cherished, old home movies will eventually succumb to the years, so preserving them to a more permanent digital format is essential. One way to preserve 8mm home movies is to use a video camera that will record the film so that it can then be transferred to DVD. This process is moderately easy but requires some organization and care.
Instructions
1. Collect and identify your footage.
Prepare and organize. To make the process easier, all your home movies should be collected and viewed so that they can be identified and put in chronological order. This can be done using your 8mm film projector or a compact 8mm movie viewer that is sometimes combined with a film editing kit. The latter is a better option since you can scan the film quicker than if you were to project it.
2. Use larger reels for less breaks.
Edit your footage. Depending on the amount of film, it should be spliced together and placed on 400-.foot reels so that there are fewer breaks when you record to video. 8mm editing kits are relatively inexpensive and can be found on-line.
3. Place the projector on a solid surface no more than 4 feet away from the movie screen. The smaller the image size, the better the resolution and the sharper the image. Make sure the projector is perfectly centered and level with the screen. Using a tripod, place the camera and projector as close to each other as possible, making sure the camera lens and projector lens are on the same plane. Because 8mm film and video cameras run at different speeds, you need to adjust the speed dial on the projector to eliminate any flicker. You can do this by running the projector while looking through the video camera's viewfinder
4. Turn off the lights. Make sure you're in as dark a room as possible to avoid ambient light. Start recording with your camera before turning on the projector. This will give you a little head room before seeing the first image. Try not to move around or cause any vibration in the room as this can affect image quality.
5. DVD recorder.
Once you've finished recording all your 8mm footage, you have two options to transfer it to DVD depending on the DVD recording device. If you have a standard DVD recorder connected to a TV, you can use either a DV (digital video) cable or an audio/video cable that connects directly to a DVD recorder. It is recommended that you record onto rewritable DVDs, so if there is a problem with the transfer, you can go back and rerecord the footage.
6. Burn onto rewritable discs.
Make the transfer. If you don't have a standard DVD recorder, you can purchase a compact DVD burner made specifically to transfer video from a camcorder to DVD. They are made by several manufacturers and are fairly easy to use. The only disadvantage to this option is you're not able to view the footage as it is transferred to DVD. Again, use rewritable DVDs so that you can erase the disc and rerecord if there was a problem with the transfer.
7. Back up and protect. After you've transferred all your 8mm footage to DVD, make additional backup copies in case anything happens to the originals. To be safe, store the copies in a different place than the originals. At this point, you want to do everything to protect those cherished memories and make sure they will survive for future generations to view.
Tags: your footage, home movies, have standard, have standard recorder, Make sure, onto rewritable
