In 1932, Eastman Kodak released an 8mm film specifically designed for home movies.
It was a filmstrip eight millimeters wide and available on small reels.
The film was fragile, subject to easy breakage and damage from the usual suspects – heat, water, and long-term exposure to light. Even after development, it had to be stored in a cool, dark container.
Several months ago we recovered a few 8mm reels of family events that were recorded in the late 1950’s. Fortunately, the film had been properly stored, for the most part.
I sent the old film reels to YesVideo.com, a popular home movie transfer service, for conversion to digital. A couple of weeks later the digitization was complete, and my 1950’s home movies were safely stored on Compact Disc. (As an added safety measure, I uploaded the files to Dropbox for archiving and sharing).
Although some of the recorded images on the old film could not be recovered, the vast majority were successfully transferred. Here is a one minute sample of the old videos, starring a very young Carolina Nerd…
There are dozens of companies that can convert analog videos to digital from a variety of formats, including VHS, 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, and Betamax.
The cost is usually very affordable and based on the length of the recordings and original formats. Take the time to preserve your old memories now, for tomorrow may be a day too late.
