Just wondering if it's expensive to transfer 16mm film to vhs or dvd and how you even go about it? I'm asking because of an auction I saw on ebay where there are a number of original 16mm tv shows and a few were interesting to me.

They are fundraising auctions to benefit the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. Library Fund (film preservation). These films are being offered from private collector to collector with no rights or obligations being offered nor taken. The ID is submarine in case anyone might want to take a look, he usually has 7-10 auctions up at a time and they are fairly old, usually from the 1950-1960s era.

Anyway, before I even bid I'm wondering how expensive it is to transfer 16mm film. Anyone know?

I'm not really qualified to answer. BUT...I will, since I've been wondering the same thing & no one else has posted anything yet. There are several companies that will do this for you. (Many can be found online). Obviously, the price depends upon the length of the footage. I called one company & they told me a 30 minute tv show would be about 1000 feet. I have NO CLUE if this is accurate or not, but that translated to several hundred dollars!!!! I do think this is incorrect, as I've heard of families often getting home movies transferred & I'm sure they do more than 30 minutes.... I know it's not inexensive but I'm thinking a FEW hundred dollars. OTOH, perhaps a TV show is higher quality than most home movies & used more footage...I dunno. I know this hasn't really helped much.

:D


BTW, I was VERY annoyed at my local library, since they only let you use their 16mm projectors if you book a room & you must be an organization to book the room - just being a long time library member in good standing wouldn't cut it.

You can also check into buying an old projector...(I thought about that too.) But it seems like they often need parts & care & I'm not sure (pretty sure) I don't want to get into that.

PS - Actually, I just checked again, 1000 ft was $150-$250 depending upon the type of transfer (and I don't know anything about that, either). (Originally, I was thinking way more than that but I must have remembered incorrectly.)

Here's the link:

http://www.digitaltransfersystems.net/Pricing/pricing.aspx?ShowTab=1

Who knows? In a year or two, there may be products we can buy to do this at home!

im a videographer by trade. about 6 months ago i completed my first 16mm transfer to dvd. i use the mini DV tape format. i find for shooting weddings and its no quality loss is a big plus! not to mention mini DV cameras come with firewire ports for transfering the tapes into your computer withOUT any quality loss. at that point you can play with it in amazing programs such as adobe premiere or after effects

anyways, thats for achieving BEST results. if you don't have a mini DV camcorder then any camcorder will do the job for you.

however, you will need to purchase a device known as a telecine. a second hand one will do. you should be able to find an IN-expensive one on ebay (less then $100 bucks) optex made a device designed to do exactly what your trying to achieve. thats the one i used. grabbed it second hand for 75 bucks and my client was extremely happy with her final dvd transfer. the telcine is simply a box to which you would project your 16mm film reel in to. on the other side of this device is an eye cap to which you can place any camcorder lense in to. some people have even gone as far as projecting the 16mm film onto a wall and recording it that way. however, you would end up with piss poor results! a telecine box is designed to transfer film. the box has special 3m transfer screen built in so any camera can capture an excellent picture transfer. services also exist that will transfer your reels onto vhs or dvd. they usualy charge by the foot of film.

hope this helps

this is what your after! found it on ebay!

buy now $70 bucks. looks exactly like mine!

http://cgi.ebay.com/GOLDBEAM-CO-PRODUCER-VI-Film-To-Video-Transfer-Telecine_W0QQitemZ7551313266QQcategoryZ15257QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks for the info. But to confirm, you still need a 16mm projector, right? Or does the telecine play the film?

NO you would STILL need a projector to project the film into the telecine.
you shouldnt have too much trouble tracking down a projector. even a rental

I own quite a number of 16mm prints and many projectors, it is a lost art!

As for transferring, have a friend with a telecine who xfers them straight to dvd.

If you use an outside service, very costly.
Tom