Converting 16mm Film to Digital
Kodak introduced the 16mm format in 1923. It was used extensively to document WWII, and after the war people started using the cameras at home, giving birth to the home movie genre.
16mm was also the dominant medium for instructional and promotional content through the 40s, and 50s, and it continued as the primary news gathering and TV show archiving medium until videotape came along. In addition, feature films were released on 16mm for 2nd run and home theater screenings.
Advent Media invested heavily in film transfer hardware to provide pristine black & white and color 16mm film transfers. We'll make your old films look new again in HD.
We can transfer several types of 16mm film:
- Camera-original film is usually silent, and has black along the edges with double sprocket holes. This is the exact "reversal" film that went through the camera, so it is first generation, and the sharpest. Camera-original color film usually retains color well. Magnetic sound film is usually camera-original and will have a brown stripe down one edge of the film instead of sprocket holes.
- Prints from negative film were shot on negative film and printed after editing in a commercial lab to what is known as a "release print." Most of these have optical sound on one edge, and sprocket holes on the other, and have no splices except if repaired. Film prints will have a clear edge between sprocket holes. Color film prints often have faded badly, and it may be advisable to transfer them in black & white.
- Color or B&W negative film is what was used to make commercial films. If you have old negative footage, we can scan, reverse and color correct it into useful footage for video productions.
Home movie hobbyists would splice reels together camera-original reels to make longer movies they could show to friends. That's beneficial today because the bigger the reel, the lower the per-foot cost with us.