DIY 8mm film scanner / Scan 8mm to video yourself

There are many different ways to transfer your 8mm home movies to digital format. Of course you can send your films to a professional who'll transfer them for you. The easiest way to DIY is to just project it on a white screen and tape it with your digital camera.

Remember: the lower the light, the better! This way you'll avoid a bright spot in the middle of your screening.

Make the screen-size very small, use your zoom-lens of your projector. Best is to use a projector with adjustable speed. Look on your video-monitor to detect 'black bars' and adjust the shutter of your video camera and/or the speed of your projector until these bars are gone. This is by far the most simple and cheapest way to transfer your super-8 or 16mm. movies, but quality is not as good as professional scanning.

There are many videos on YouTube with instructions on how to set this up.

Glass screen video transfer

An alternative option is using a glass-screen, specially made for the purpose.

You can go through the films yourself with a cheap super 8 editor so you can determine which parts you want to transfer.

If you're willing to spend some money, you can also buy equipment, for example a Video WorkPrinter or Video CineMate you can do it yourself with professional results, but it's expensive...

Video Transfer value and price guide

What's your Video Transfer worth, or what would you expect to pay? Here are some recently sold items with prices.

Title	Date	Sold for
Elmo Movie Projector Telecine Video Transfer Unit...	12/2023	$2395
Elmo Super 8 Sound Movie Projector Video Transfer...	11/2023	$2195
Ambico V O650 0650 Deluxe Video Transfer System...	12/2023	$40
Ambico Deluxe Video Transfer System Vhs 8mm Vhs C...	11/2023	$20
Hd Transfer 8mm Super 8 Film To Hard Disk Drive...	10/2023	$15
Browse all sold items on eBay for more	04/2024	-.--

Video Transfer forum

Questions or stories? Share them here.

Sean - February 3, 2021

I might have a foolish question for you, but can these play/record both 8mm reels and 16mm reels, or just 8mm?

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JohnSean - February 6, 2021

Hi Sean, what do you mean with 'these'? As you can see, there are many options to transfer film, from diy to professional. Usually super-8 and/or 8mm, but not 8mm plus 16mm.

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SeanJohn - February 25, 2021

One part of our business converts video tapes to digital. and we've started to receive more and more 8mm reels. Normally, we would bring them another business, but more of our customers have been bringing them in, so we've decided to make an investment. Normally 8mm reels is it, but we received a few 16mm reels. It's the first time we're received any of them and I was wondering if there was a way to do both, but I guess you would need two different projectors. We'd like to find a good set up like you have becuase it would save us time and money.

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JohnSean - March 5, 2021

Actually, I don't have any set up... There are many options in many price ranges, but indeed, I'm afraid you would need different machines for different formats (super-8, regular-8 and 16mm). It's quite elaborate work and fine tuning the image quality can take lots of time and practice. So be sure to get good knowledge before taking the plunge.

JohnSean - March 10, 2021

Since I don't own a professional scanner, I can't tell you much about them. If the eBay listings mention 'super 8' but not 'regular' or 'standard' 8mm, then it isn't capable of scanning regular 8 of film. Here is a list of telecine scanners which can do both formats (super 8 and regular 8). Usually you'll see 'dual 8' in the description. Of course, you could ask the sellers for more details, (eg. if they can handle sound movies), since they've probably built these machines themselves: Dual 8 Telecine.

HL - January 9, 2021

Dsl optik for transfer super 8. I want to use a dsl optik on dsl camera. Is Someone willing to put one available for me?

Dan - January 4, 2021

Please tell me what equipment I need to buy to DIY 8mm Sound movies to digital format