Home Movies Fact & Disclaimer Sheet

How much will it cost? We charge by the foot for the cleaning and transferring to Mini DV or other professional videotape Master. The transfer charge assumes a constant frame rate. If you choose to have film transferred at variable rates, be prepared to pay additional set-up fees of $15 for each change. Please sort your film, or allow us to, by color and B/W stock. Each switch between B/W & color will cost $15. We charge a dubbing fee for each DVD-R. If you have sound on your Super 8 film there is a $35 charge per 400 foot roll to transfer audio. Our minimum order charge is: $225.00.
Service	Unit Price
8mm or Super 8mm inspect, compile your footage onto 400' reels, repair splices, ultrasonic cleaning	$.08 per foot $25 minimum
lab labor fee to replace extensive or editorial splices, particularly necessary for regular 8mm film	$40.25 per hour as needed
transfer to master videotape format, such as Mini DV	$4.10 per minute of runtime $85 minimum (less than 375 feet approximately) $4.85 per minute if transferred at 30fps
Stock or speed change on telecine (within 400 foot roll)	$15
60 minute Mini-DV tape	$12.00
DVD-R copies. The client is responsible for determining compatibility of our DVD-R in the home DVD player. The total runtime determines the price of the DVD. Visit the DVD-R page for background on DVDs and transfer diagrams.	$32.78 (60 minutes) $35.86 (90 minutes) $39.36 (120 minutes) Printed on disc label: $6.50
New plastic reels and vented archival cans (we do not return your film to your old reels as your reels may contain harmful mold spores, rust, etc).	$9.95 per 400' set.
Sound on Super 8 - the presence of a magnetic sound stripe does not guarantee that there is sound on the track	$35.00 per 400 foot reel
We DO return your old cans and boxes to you.

Sample Order: If you send in eight 50 foot reels, that would be 400' of film which is approximately 30 minutes' worth of viewing time. One hour of lab labor at $35 is usually necessary for every 800-1200 feet. (Extensive damage or splices may require more labor time to prepare the rolls.)
ITEM	Unit Price	Calculation
Inspect, prep, clean: 400' S8 or Regular 8mm film	$.08 per foot	$32
Lab labor as needed (hourly charge)	35.00	$35.00
Transfer: approx. 400 feet Super 8 ( S8 runs at 15 feet per minute) (R 8mm runs at 14 feet per minute)	$4.10 per minute of runtime (viewing time)	$110.00
Mini DV Master (60 minute capacity) other mastering formats are available	12.00	$12.00
400' Reel & can set	6.85	$9.95
videotape & film can labels	1.50	$3.00
handling fee	7.00	$7.00
shipping	additional	additional
Optional Services
60 minute DVD-R	32.78	$32.78
DVD-R printed on label	6.50	$6.50
Total		$253.48

Recommendations for long range storage and preservation

Check the condition of your film periodically. Use your “nose” to detect for “vinegar syndrome.” If your film smells like vinegar salad dressing the acetate base of your movies is deteriorating. Film reels with this condition should be your transfer priority.
Store films in cool and dry conditions where there is adequate air flow. Do NOT store the film in sealed containers or in tightly enclosed closets.
Avoid extremes of heat and humidity, even for short periods of time.
Remove any papers that are stored inside the film cans. Papers with acidity may interact with the acetate base of your film and bring on vinegar syndrome.

Caution!

Home Movie Day could be hazardous to your family movies’ health!

There is a recent trend to “celebrate the importance of home movies” by holding events where families are encouraged to bring their home movies to be screened and shared. Although the concept may be well intentioned, the reality is that participants are risking irreversible damage of their treasured family records at these events. The films are subjected to the harsh pull-down claw mechanism of a projector that may or may not be in good working order. The films of the participants may leave dirt and debris in the projector that will scratch the subsequently projected films. Your home movies can, if properly stored, last at least 100 years. Don’t shorten their life expectancy! If you wish to share your memories, safely transfer the movies to an appropriate form, like a DVD. Vintage film should NOT be projected under ANY circumstances. It is the original record of treasured events. Protect the film and safeguard it for periodic transfers as the moving image technologies change. If you are tempted to attend a Home Movie event, insist that the organizers present telecine transfers instead of original film. Share-don’t shred-your memories.

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Our telecine operator Mark at the controls.	Rank MarkIIIc with Digiscan4 telecine.
One of our specialties and joys is transferring family home movies to video and DVDs so families can once again safely view their personal recorded histories. Bono’s has one of the few professional industry standard transfer systems capable of transferring all home movie formats. Most home movie facilities use a projector or film chain that requires a pull-down claw mechanism to move film through their machine. Such a mechanism, with its fixed registration pins, puts your vintage film at high risk for irreversible damage. Our telecine system is used to transfer film from the major archival institutions on a daily basis. It does NOT have a pull-down claw mechanism and the mechanism for moving film is electronically servo based. This also permits very accurate frame registration. In addition, our system has color correction and exposure controls that our operator sets to give you the “best light” setting for your film.

Even on our professional telecine system, there can be problems with aging film. When we try to transfer fragile film, it can break on the telecine and actually go in and out of focus if the film has buckled somewhat. We can be very careful but we cannot guarantee that the film will not be damaged. These are amateur formats and as such, were shot on a variety of cameras - often with uneven frames-per-second rates and fixed focus lenses. The home movie camera operators were not usually trained - they were our eager family members who often shot "moving postcards" or quick 5-second clips of their subjects. Lighting was not always sufficient. Those shortcomings cannot be remedied.
What we CAN do:
handle your film carefully and respectfully (we are a professional film lab and follow industry standards)
inspect your film, repair splices, and compile your individual reels onto larger ones, to your specified order
inform you if additional repairs to film are merited that go beyond the normal prep service
clean your film before transfer in our ultrasonic cleaning machine
try our very best to give you a quality transfer, given the condition and limitations of the amateur format and the age of your film
As our transfer is a "best light" telecine transfer, we have some latitude to control exposure and color. Please note that some transfer facilities use a projection system to transfer home movies. The pull-down claw mechanism in those systems can be quite punishing to vintage film. Our system is the same system used to transfer film from major archival collections, including the National Archives.
transfer sound that was originally recorded on a sound stripe on Super8 sound film. There is an additional charge of $30 per 400 foot roll to check for and transfer sound. The presence, however, of a magnetic sound stripe does not guarantee that sound was recorded or that the sound is still "viable."
transfer to a professional format videotape (so you have a "master" for future dubbing and possible DVDs)
make copies from the videotape master to DVD-R for home viewing
What we CANNOT do:
correct out-of-focus scenes or uneven speed of film due to camera operation.
fix deteriorated audio tracks originally recorded on the magnetic sound stripe of your Super 8 sound film
insert on-screen titles between sections or film reels
add music to your material
What YOU can do:
determine the order of your film reels (as much as possible) and number each reel clearly in numerical order. Sort your film by whether it is color or black/white footage to minimize additional transfer costs.
accept that if you do not know the content, you will possibly have incongruent content. Once the film is transferred, there is no way to change the order on the videotape without going through the transfer expense all over again.
understand that you are submitting an amateur format and be realistic in your expectations
read the Service Agreement sheet; you will be asked to agree to the terms on the transfer order form that you send along with your film.

Rough Guide to Home Movie Running Times fps = frames per second "Silent" cameras usually ran at 18 frames. Frame rate was not always consistent in the Super 8 and Regular 8mm formats.
Regular 8mm 50 foot/3-inch reel	Super 8mm 50 foot/3-inch reel	16mm 100 foot/3-inch reel
18 fps	18 fps	18 fps	24 fps
3.7 min.	3.3 min	3.7 min.	3 min.
Regular 8mm 400 foot/7-inch reel	Super 8mm 400 foot/7-inch reel	16mm 400 foot/7-inch reel
18 fps	18 fps	18 fps	24 fps
30 minutes	27 minutes	15 minutes	12 minutes


Home movies contain events, faces, and places with varying degrees of importance to a family; they are a unique 20th century means of personal story telling. It is appropriate and wonderful to want to preserve the images of trips and birthdays and to re-visit them on the more viewable form of videotape. As enthusiastic as we like to be about helping people preserve their memories, we want you to have realistic expectations about what can and can't be done with your old film. First of all, your 8mm film can be as old as 70 years and your Super 8mm film, introduced in the 1960s, can be at least 35 years old. Although film lasts longer than video tape (if well maintained), most family footage was stored in less than ideal conditions. The film was more likely subjected to fluctuating heat and humidity. Under such conditions, colors will fade, and the film can become brittle and shrink unevenly. The acetate support or base may give off a vinegar odor that will indicate that an irreversible process of deterioration has begun. Given the potential for damage in a projection system, we do not recommend previewing your vintage film on your old projector or sending it off to an outlet that uses a projector to transfer the film's images to tape.
Bono's Prep and Transfer departments
Prep & Clean Phase All splices are replaced using film cement. Film is compiled onto larger reels for transfer. Each lab roll is leadered and then cleaned in our Mark VI CF3000 Ultrasonic cleaning machine. All equipment and practices follow or exceed industry standards.