How long Will My 8mm Film Last?

(What effects the quality & Why Don't we use film anymore?)

8mm / 16mm Film, I've been transferring it to various formats for 15 years now and have seen the good, The bad, and the ugly.

I've done 16mm film from 1926 and it looked as good today as it did when 1st processed in the 20's. (Black and white) How long will your film last? no one knows for sure but it would appear to be safe for 70 years at least. With no guarantees It is still wise to convert to a digital format Now. It has been around for a long time but our present video mediums are changing at a breakneck speed. Beta to vhs to mini dv to dvd to blu ray etc,etc in the last 30 years. I feel bad for people that had there 8mm film converted to Vhs in the 70's and 80's. Vhs was such a a low res poor format (230 lines of res)subject to being eaten or chewed. VHS had a predicted life of 12 -17 years. But Wait, even a dvd, while easy to view, is not a ideal medium, especially for further editing, (see my blog on how to edit a dvd) It is a good video medium but meant to be a final product. A Scratch can turn a dvd into a coaster in a blink of a eye, so make copies and lock them away for safe keeping!

Years ago, I knew of One poor soul even threw out his original 8mm film masters after a vhs transfer. I still have people sending in "VHS Masters" of their old 8mm film to be transferred to DVD and its just sad. How much better it could be. Even the hardware equipment used in the 70's 80's for transferring the video signal of film is now considered a joke. If your film was too dark there was little hope of changing the light floor and bringing your memories back to life.

One man had his film converted to dvd and threw out the original film, he  then dropped his dvd and stepped on it by accident cracking the dvd. He called me to see if the dvd could be fixed and it broke my heart to tell him the crack is fatal to the dvd. So keep your original film even after a transfer to new mediums like dvd, 10 years from now your grandchildren may want to convert the original film to a light stick or some such other future medium that we can not even begin to imagine

When your film does not hold up well depends on a few things, I have seen to many people run there film through broken projectors that chew the sprocket holes. Mold can attack your film is stored in a damp basement for many years. You can try too clean the mold off but it is my experience that any chemical that takes the mold off also takes that part of the picture off as well.. The mold really attaches and embeds itself into the film.

Bad film splicing is always a hassle and can double the post time when transferring the film. I have seen people use bandaids or electrical tape when they ran out of splicing tape and it can freak havoc on a projector if not noticed before it hits the projector gate. Just get them transferred, Use someone with experience, all the best video teck. in the world will not make for a good job if the operator does not have experience. It is a obscure field of work to be in and those transfer "mills" that are more interested in your $$ and use min. wage unskilled workers are a danger to your film / memories.

Have you heard the term "wet gate" Its a solution, perchloroethylene, (the same fluid used in dry cleaning) — to fill in the scratches.

The film goes thought it before hitting the projector and the perchloroethylene fills in the imperfections for a sec. in the film before it is transferred. The modern version would be Digital Ice, a hardware process that "sees" and removes scratches. More commonly used in scanning 35mm Slides.

After effects also has a plug in that removes "lines" or scratches in film  It was developed originally for filmmakers shooting a old western who found that in the background on some street shots they forgot about the power lines. Of course in the old west there were no power lines and rather than reshoot, after effects simple ran a plug in that sees the line and removes it by duplicating the pixel above the line(or scratch), coping and pasting the pixel over the power line making it invisible.A similar product is made by red Giant (called film fix) version 1 has just been discontinued last year. FYI do not think you can learn to use after effects on the fly, It is very complex. I do not know if the red giant plug in works in other programs like premiere pro or ulead products

Super rare 9 1/2 mm film (holes are in the middle and not the sides) never holds up well to time but 8 and 16mm do. ( thats my experience, yours may differ)

There was a time during the great world war when companies had to skimp on chemicals while film manufactured. Film make during this time faded and turned (bled) red due to the skimping of chemicals due to chemical shortages brought on by the war.

Film Made by Woolco department stores seems to always turn red as well. Kodak film cost more and was worth it.

We think of the film format as obsolete but the color palette is far superior to modern digital. Hollywood still prefers film to digital when budgets allow. The look of film has depth, depth of field. Digital looks "flat" Of course Hollywood is using 35mm, not 8mm, as a pro format with 4 to 3 pulldown (duplication of certain frames) to force the film to conform with our 30 frames per sec. world of video.

There are many tricks to making your digital movie file look like film and it can add to your project but only film looks like film in the end. Plug ins for Permere or avid that change the digital color palette and contrast to resemble film. The big advantage to digital is the low cost of production and it certainly meets the needs for most of us.

Tip: If you need a bulb for your 8mm projector, try googling Pureland supply in the US, Good prices. fast shipping. If you buy 6 or more bulbs there is a price break. I use to use them in the days of bulbs and they were good to deal with. Also I have a bunch that I do not use anymore, e mail me with your bulb # and If I have it, Its yours for $12. ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Better yet, if you are handy, retrofit the bulb with a LED light source, run the power from a separate dc transformer, splice in a dimmer control pot, no more heat damage, good to go for many years!

(led light has a short throw distance and you will need to be shooting into a piano lens (Achromatic Lens) for magnification. Diffusing has to be achieved through placement of a translucent material in the light path to ensure edge to edge even light without hotspots and Any mirror in the light path has to be "1st surface")

I am now experimenting with hi def film conversions. Hi Def is widescreen by definition while film is not @ 4:3 ratio. So the final product has to have black bars to fill in the wide-screen space

My new telecine device has a "shaved" gate (Enlarged APERTURE MASKS) so I can capture all of the image, not just the part that makes it past the Gate and so now I can come much closer to a widescreen 16:9. In reality its more like 14:9. The telecine LED lighting is the best thing to come along in years, I can't believe how bright and clear the picture is now compared with equipment I was using only 7 years ago. In the past there was often film that was to dark to bother transferring but not anymore.

Final Thoughts around preserving memories/information in digital format. Remember in history when paper was the preferred medium?  Paper at the turn of the century had acid added into the manufacturing process and this made for a shorter shelf life of the paper. It was our entrance into a age of a more temporary media, temporary "memory" of our past.
Even art was only stored on canvas but it lasted for 100's of years. Now we find our information/history/art on harddrives and DVD's that wait for a scratch to cancel out the information. How will this "forgetfulness" of our history effect us or will it?
Don't get me wrong, I love everything digital, its a trade off between convenience and temporary storage. Perhaps we need to talk steps to preserve our history/memories in a long term secure storage. Food for though?

Film Forever...

Dave Steeves

Shortrundvd.com