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Cheapest HD Super8 Scanning Service?


Christopher Lee

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I'm looking for the cheapest super 8 scanning service in the US. At least in 1080p and in an editable format for a Mac. I'm a little confused on why people charge so much for scanning services. If anyone could help a student out that would be great! For now i'm looking at Du-All Camera.

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I have used Duall for reversal, but for negative you need to be very very careful. Know what you are doing. You will have to invert the scan and grade yourself. And their capture method is oooooold.

 

Thanks for the reply! What would be affected because of the old capturing method? I'm thinking of sending a roll of Plus-X i just shot. Also, what do you mean by being very very careful for negative? Do you know any places that will do the inverting and grading for me for a price that doesn't kill a student?

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Our 1080p HD transfer is $0.27/ft (with a $100 minimum which is equivalent to about 7 50ft cartridges) it's to 1080p 23.98 ProResHQ and has been used in music videos, television shows and commercials and even studio feature films.

 

That sounds great! Just out of curiosity, why do you guys have a $100 minimum?

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OP, the lab has to do quite a bit of preparatory work whether the job is on one roll of film or 100. So it has a minimum charge to make sure it can afford to do that work.

It probably costs Robert $15 in labour and overheads just to open the package, invoice, parcel it up and send it out again, so he couldn't possibly make any money if he'd only charged that amount for your one cartridge.

Robert, hope that's OK.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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First, I wouldn't recommend scanning Super 8 to HD unless your film was shot with a modified Max8 camera. Normal super 8 is basically 4:3, but HD is always 16:9. So for an HD scan you get an image area (once pillarboxed) of about 1440x1080. If you do a 2k scan you get just over double the resolution, in a file that matches the aspect ratio of the film. You can still make an HD file from this, but you have better flexibility if you want to crop it to 16:9 full frame because you're starting with a file that's bigger than 1920x1080.

 

Second, Negative is more delicate than reversal. Also, even the slightest dust on the film will be much more apparent with neg, because it shows up as white when the image is inverted.

 

Third, every lab is different in terms of how and why they charge what they do. Minimums are usually there because setup takes time, and doing a setup for one reel can mean that you wind up losing money. Our scanner takes a grand total of 30 seconds to thread up and load, and it scans at 30fps, so we can complete the scan quickly. As such, we don't charge minimums - lots of our clients are students who bring us one or two rolls at a time. I take that back- the minimum is one roll, so effectively, no minimum unless you're dealing with a short end or something. We use a Lasergraphics Scanstation archival scanner for 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm up to 5k.

 

If the film has no head or tail leader (you should ask your processing lab to do this by requesting that they prep and clean for video transfer - best to do it in the lab to minimize dust exposure), we charge a nominal setup fee to add that. We need at least 10' of leader on each end of the film to thread up the scanner.

 

-perry

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Watch out when you say cheapest! Almost anyone you see here with a scanning service will be extremely good quality and Robert and Perry's companies are quite affordable too. If you are looking for the "cheapest" you'll probably be dealing with one of the many DVD mills around that scan using projectors. I wouldn't bother with those. You are much better off with Robert or Perry even if you have to negotiate and offer to buy them beer.

 

If you're a student it will also be a good experience dealing with professionals as they are the type of people you'd be dealing with in a real production.

 

Are you actually in Cyprus? Is your name actually Christopher Lee? We like to use real names here, it's a professional message board that's always open to students.

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Are you actually in Cyprus? Is your name actually Christopher Lee? We like to use real names here, it's a professional message board that's always open to students.

Yes I'm located in Cypress CA and my name is Christopher Lee.. I was aware of using my real name when I set up the account.

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Since you're in/near LA, I'd go talk to Paul Korver over at Cinelicious. They have an amazing colorist or two over there. They are expensive but I'd bet Paul would make time to show you around and see the process at the very least; possibly make you a good deal on the transfer. If you can observe the process, it's a much better learning experience. Good folks to know either way.

 

http://cinelicious.tv

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I'm looking for the cheapest super 8 scanning service in the US. At least in 1080p and in an editable format for a Mac. I'm a little confused on why people charge so much for scanning services. If anyone could help a student out that would be great! For now i'm looking at Du-All Camera.

 

 

http://www.taunusfilm.net/en/

 

For now we have this option.

 

Best,

Milovan Kristo

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OFFER „FILM SCAN 8MM“ 18.01.2016 - 31.01.2016

 

8mm digitisation up to 2.3K incl. sound for only 4,00 € per minute and without minimum charge

 

Film scanning normal 8mm and super 8 mm in SD, HD, 2K & 2.3K at unit price for 4,00 € per minute incl. film examination, film preparing for film scanning and film cleaning with ultrasonic film cleaning machine. Excl. VAT and shipment.

http://www.taunusfilm.net/en/

Best,

Milovan Kristo

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Our 1080p HD transfer is $0.27/ft (with a $100 minimum which is equivalent to about 7 50ft cartridges) it's to 1080p 23.98 ProResHQ and has been used in music videos, television shows and commercials and even studio feature films.

 

Just let me say that Cinelab rocks.

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