HD 8mm film transfer (scan or telecine), London, UK

8MM FILM PROCESSING & TRANSFER SERVICE, LONDON, UK.

Welcome to on8mil.com. A resource for 8mm, 9.5mm and 16mm movie film scanning, aka telecine, based in London, UK. Our core services are 8mm film processing and HD 8mm film scans, priced very competitively. Our 8mm film transfers are done at a minimum resolution of 1296 x 964 px, and far as 4K (4096 x 3000 px) using genuine frame by frame scanning to an output format of your choice, including Apple Pro Res HQ and uncompressed 24 bit image sequences.

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What’s a 2.5K 8mm film scan?

Our most popular scanning service is our 2.5k 8mm film transfer, scanning at 2448 x 2048 resolution, delivering an overscan in Apple Pro Res HQ format (or uncompressed 24 bit tiff sequence). We’ve broken down our scanning services into categories, which we feel offer a comprehensive offering to both individuals and production companies alike. Please see the ‘Telecine Costs’ section above for more details.

8mm film is beautiful and truly unique. The 8mm film ‘look’ is a truly evocative way to record our lives and entertainment, and much like the vinyl record, its fragility and temperamental nature is an apt metaphor for our lives. Why do we engage with these analogue formats and why do we try so hard to emulate them in the digital realm, rather than settle for the raw perfection of digital formats?

We believe that by definition, 8mm (super 8) film presents a true analogue of the memories and emotions that make us human. There is an immediate emotive response to the colours, saturation and movements captured in film that digital somehow struggles to emulate. And it’s trying very hard. Have you ever heard of a film maker insisting on that ‘digital look’?

We’re constantly expanding this site and our services. We’ll happily take on board any feedback or suggestions you may have. In the meantime, our core service remains HD 8mm films scans, with the recent addition of HD 9.5mm and 16mm film scanning (also known as transfers or telecine). Additional services include 8mm film digital restoration and colour correction (e.g. when scanning and converting modern 8mm negative film stocks). We scan super 8, regular (standard) 8, 9.5mm, standard 16, ultra 16 and super 16, in up to 4K resolution. We digitise all film types including: colour reversal (chrome films), monochrome and negative film emulsions. Our prices are very competitive and our attention to detail, second to none!

8mm film scanning – a little bit extra…

8mm film transfers
Frame by frame capture

8mm film transfers

8mm film scan and beyond…

At On8mil our passion is for analogue (analog) movie film! Especially the 8mm and 16mm varieties, although 9.5mm is also quite a hoot too.

So, we started this company, Analogue Image Ltd, (trading as On8mil), built some movie film scanners and got to work. Our scanners were developed in late 2014 and scan 8mm, 9.5mm and 16mm film at up to 4K resolution. 4K is of course amazing, but takes extra time (not to mention extra budget).

2.5K 8mm film scan = bags of resolution in 1080p

By far our most popular service, is the 8mm film scan (super 8 and standard 8) at 2.5K resolution. What’s nice about this transfer is, that as many editors are working very comfortably in 1080p (1920 x 1080), the 2.5K scan (coming in at 2448 x 2048) sits in the 1080p edit with bags of ‘pan and scan’ space to play with. In fact to view the full 4:3 super 8 image you’ll need to scale it down by around 65%.

So unlike your typical 1080p 8mm film scan, where the film sits pillar box in the middle of the screen with two black blocks either side, our 2.5K scan fills the whole 1080p screen… and then some.

Good eh!

Frame by frame capture

Frame by Frame capture of 8mm, 9.5mm and 16mm film.

In commissioning the design and build of our films scanners (from MMT telecine), we needed units that could capture each and every frame of the film, uncompressed.

MMT have a very simple but elegant telecine design, that runs the film between 1 – 20 frames per second. Attached to the transport is a machine vision camera, mounted on an XYZ platform. As each frame passes the film gate an electrical trigger is sent to the camera, which then takes a photo of the film frame and either stacks it as massive uncompressed image sequence or builds and uncompressed video file, from which we build our movie timelines.

Simple innit? Well, sort of a bit complex to get right actually.

Our cameras of choice are manufactured by Point Grey. On8mil currently uses two cameras for it’s 8mm, 9.5m and 16mm movie film scans – the ‘Grasshopper 3’ and the ‘Flea 3’. The Grasshopper captures in up to 2.5 K (2448 x 2048) resolution, (as it was essential for us that we could scan at higher resolution than 1080p). The ‘Flea’ captures in full uncompressed 4K! The results continue to amaze us. It’s a tad slow, but entirely worth the extra effort.