Transfer 16mm Film in Los Angeles

Want to preserve your 16mm film in Los Angeles? DVD Your Memories transfers 16mm film to DVD, digital download, USB drive, and more. Since 16mm film was the standard for home movie cameras through the ’60s and ’70s, these reels are often the only copy that ever existed. Don’t let them deteriorate and lose those treasured moments of your family day at Venice Beach or a backyard birthday party, never printed, never duplicated.

Using our custom-built 16mm film scanning equipment, our Los Angeles technicians clean and transfer every frame onto 100-year archival DVDs, USB, or digital download, preserving the footage at the best quality available. Before scanning, we clean every inch of your film to ensure your memories are transferred at the best quality available.

Pricing and Info Get Started

Supported Formats

Click on your format

Consumer Series

8 mm

Super 8

16mm

Other Services

Photo
Scanning

Slide
Scanning

Negative
Scanning

Video Tape
Transfer

Film
Transfer

Audio
Transfer

Celebration
Videos

Film Transfer Pricing

Reel Size	Premium Film Transfer	Competitive Film Transfer
3" (50 ft.)	$23.49	$13.49
5" (200 ft.)	$93.99	$53.99
7" (400 ft.)	$187.99	$107.99
Over 7"	Please contact us for a quote

Transfer to DVD or Hard Drive	Included in the cost of film transfer*
Transfer to DVD and Hard Drive	$20	$20
Transfer to Blu-ray	$50	$50
Custom Menus	$30 for first page, $10 for each additional page	$30 for first page, $10 for each additional page

Features	Competitive Film Transfer	Premium Film Transfer
All film cleaned and lubricated
Film spliced onto new 400' reels
100-year archival DVDs
Compatibility guaranteed
Real-time manual back-lighting control
Scene-by-scene color restoration in post-editing

* Transfer to hard drive or DVD is FREE if that is your first format. If you’d prefer your film transferred to both hard drive and DVD formats, the cost is only $20.00 more.
Additional discs of selected footage is just $10 per additional disc.
Blu-ray discs are BD-R, a BD-R compatible player is required for playback. All film transferred to Blu-ray will be in standard definition

Movie Editing

Edit Your Old Home Movies!

Do your old home videos have footage you would like to take out? Or maybe you want to make a highlight video of your daughter’s dance performances? Work with one of our professional editors one-on-one to make the perfect custom movie. It’s quick and less expensive than you think!
$40 per half hour

Music

Music!

For as low as $20, add a soundtrack to your old movies to make them sing! Bring us your own music, or take a listen to our sample stock music that can be used to add a whole new dimension to your film to DVD transfer. Ask your film transfer technician for more information.
As little as $20

HD Transfer

Transfer to Hard Drive

This is recommended if you are going to edit your footage. If you’d like your files split by reel in increments of less than 400 feet, please add $2 per split. Click here for hard drive pricing… If you are bringing in your own hard drive with data on it, there is a $15 setup fee. There is no fee if your drive has no data on it, we can delete any data on it, or if we’ve provided the drive for you.

Blu-ray disc transfer

Transfer to Blu-ray

Upgrade to Blu-ray and experience the future of family media. With a Blu-ray disc, you can fit up to five times the amount of footage than a normal DVD could. Save on multiple multiple copies by going to one Blu-ray disc instead! Click here for more information.

Extra Copies

Sharing your memories with others? We provide extra CD/DVD copies packaged and ready for only $10 each and Blu-ray for only $20 each.
$10 per CD / DVD
$20 per Blu-ray

Geek Corner

16mm Film to DVD Transfer

The Competitive 16mm Film Transfer

The first step in a 16mm film transfer order is the cleaning and repair procedure. Bad splices will be re-spliced to ensure the smoothest transfer possible. Depending on the age, condition and type of 16mm film stock being transferred, the cleaning process will differ, but we really do clean every inch of the film. This initial inspection and cleaning process can sometimes take longer than the actual transfer which is why we usually ask for 2 weeks to complete your order. The cleaning process is something that many companies do not perform but is essential for this type of service.

Once the 16mm film has been prepped, it is time to perform the telecine transfer. Your film is projected directly into the lens of a broadcast quality 3-CCD camera.

NOTE: When comparing 16mm film transfer companies, always ask for the method of transfer. There are many companies out there which simply project your film onto a screen and record that image with a camcorder. This is not a quality transfer method and you will lose detail in your film.

Please contact our film transfer technician if you would like to view a full quality demo reel.

Premium 16mm Film Transfer

The Premium real time transfer is our highest quality film transfer service and can bring your film back to life by restoring color and brightness on a scene-by-scene basis.

Our retrofitted projector is one of the few in the world that has a manually adjustable brightness control which can make under or overexposed scenes look much better. The transfer technician will watch your 16mm film on a standard monitor as well as a waveform monitor and adjust the back-light brightness accordingly. This type of brightness adjustment is not available at most other companies.

The Premium transfer also includes scene-by-scene color correction. Almost all 16mm film will shift in color over time (usually to blue or red). The film transfer technician will go scene-by-scene (a very time-consuming process) to correct all discoloration. Please note that severely discolored or extremely dark 16mm film is nearly impossible to bring back to the original color vibrancy, but we can get as close as humanly or digitally possible.

Determining the Length of Your 16mm Film

16mm film is typically measured by the foot. To get the approximate footage of your reel, you first must measure the diameter of your reel. Most of the consumer format reels we see are about 3 inches in diameter, which are 50 feet long. Use the chart to the right to figure out the approximate footage of your 16mm film. Unsure of what kind of film you have? Take a glance at our film conversion chart.

Title Slides

Enhance your 16mm film to DVD order even more by adding title slides. Title slides are short clips inserted into your video at any scene of your choosing which will provide the viewer with a title and/or description before the scene starts. Instead of watching your 16mm film in it’s entirety, title slides will allow you to put short breaks between scenes which will add production value to your 16mm film transfer. This is a great element to use for dividing up holiday scenes, birthdays or sides of the family.

Stock Music Examples

Looking to add some music to your 16mm film to DVD transfer? Either bring us your own mix of songs, or use ours! Feel free to preview some samples of some of our stock music using the player below. All of our stock tracks last a whole two hours to ensure your whole DVD has a complete soundtrack. Ask your 16mm film transfer technician any questions you may have about music selections.

Cellulose Triacetate Degradation or “Vinegar Syndrome”

When preparing your 16mm film for a 16mm film to DVD transfer, it’s probably the first time you’ve pulled it out of the can in a while. If you pull it out and notice a strong odor of vinegar coming from the film, then it’s sufferring from what we like to call “vinegar syndrome”. If you discover that one or more of your reels of film are affected by vinegar syndrome, quarantine them from the rest of the film as soon as possible to prevent spreading to other reels.

In 1948, the film industry began using cellulose triacetate as the main material used in the manufacture of film. Sadly, 16mm film was just not made to last forever. Every day more and more people are realizing this fact, as their film collections have been degrading for years. The term “vinegar syndrome” is derived from the fact that once cellulose triacetate breaks down, it releases acetic acid, which is the key ingredient in vinegar and responsible for its acidic smell. Film is more prone to this condition if stored in warmer, tropical climates as opposed to dry, colder climates. The chemical instability of this material, which was unrecognized at the time of its introduction, has since become a major threat for film collections.

With acetate film, acetyl groups are connected to a long chain of cellulose molecules. After being exposed to heat, moisture, or acids, these chains break from their molecular bonds, which result in acetic acid being released. The acid is first released inside the plastic, but slowly diffuses to the surface, causing a vinegar odor.

The degradation process is detailed below:

During the initial breakdown, acetic acid is released, causing a strong vinegar smell. This marks the first stage of the degradation process.
Next, the plastic film base becomes brittle, which in turn weakens the film, causing it to break apart into pieces at the slightest touch.
After the plastic base degrades, the film will begin to shrink. With advanced degradation, 16mm film can shrink up to 10%!
As the acetate base shrinks, the emulsion does not shrink, which will then cause buckling, referred to archivists as “channelling”.
Cystalline deposits or small bubbles will form on the emulsion. These are evidence of plasticizers, additives to the plastic base, becoming incompatible with the film base and oozing out on the surface. This discharge of plasticizers is a sign of advanced degradation.
In some cases, pink or blue colors appear in some sheet films. This is caused by antihalation dyes, which are normally colorless and incorporated into the gelatin layer. When acetic acid is formed during deterioration, the acidic environment causes the dyes to return to their original pink or blue color.

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