Questions & Answers (Q&A)

Your film & photos are deteriorating and worse- your family memories and stories are not being told or enjoyed. Once you preserve and archive your past digitally it will open up a world of possibilities to enjoy again and share them with others.

8mm, Super 8, 16mm, slides, negatives, VHS, Tape, photo's, & documents.

There is no easy answer to this but it starts with one piece at a time. Use our worksheet. If you have done some pre-organizing then go through your stuff with an objective eye. We recommend by event or chronologically. Dont get too carried away by specific dates. Pull out photos that might not 'cut it' to save $. We can show you how to organize efficiently.

Yes. Depending on the time of each reel (see reel chart)

Yes however there are additional costs. We recommend you get your footage to a digital format then review it before adding things like menu's, music, and slides that divide the content. Dont spend the money twice as you will likely find something in the first pass you will want to change or remove. Note that editing is done on a per hour charge.

After you receive the DVD you may go through it and pick out parts to get rid of and potentially build a 'greatest video's' DVD event for your family with music, menu's, chapters, and more. This might take the form of a slideshow with video or a DVD video we edited. Editing is by the hour. The more you do on your end the less costly. Please use our film editor .pdf download.

There is a modest cost for copies but you own the product 'rights'. Feel free to make your own and do with it what you like. I retain your media for a period of time where I can make copies or do things like slide shows, prints & hardbound photo books.

You need to make clear your needs by segmenting your film and photos in a clear manner with labels or separators of some kind. We can create folders in archives but please limit the total groups or additional costs can be incurred.

Everything! Once digitized use your computer to make slideshows, archive by catagory, edit video and add pictures to your blog or YouTube!

The most common question out there is, 'what equipment do you use for your film transfers' . First off, if youare researching around on the web, there is a lot of smoke an mirrors out there with other companies just shooting film through a projector and recording off the wall and telling you otherwise. Confusing and misleading and putting down the competition, but not giving any details or access to their 'equipment'. At The Digital Shoebox there is no smoke and mirrors! Our technicians use DV8 & DV16 Sniper Frame by Frame machines with audio pulse generated stop motion capture, compiled with Cinecap Velocity software it's the latest and greatest equipment out there!

The process of frame by frame stop motion capture goes a little bit like this: Your 8mm, Super 8 or 16mm film is transported one frame at a time ( there is 4,000 small pictures in a 3inch 50ft reel ) by means of a cam wheel actuated film advance pin, there are no sprocket or gears involved in the film transport mechanism, film is handled under light tension which cannot tear even fragile film. Naturally there is a light source that is controllable, this lighting system is LED, not hot bulbs that can burn your films. The LED system is unaffected by electrical variance unlike bulbs.

As each frame of film is advanced a cam wheel trips a micro switch that instructs the computer to capture a complete single frame of film and save it as an image file and this continues throughout the process of a roll of film resulting in thousands of still images of each single frame of film.

The frame triggering is an audio pulse generator, resulting in a precision and speedy of capture for greater productivity and rigid accuracy, resulting in lower costs to you! The next process is computerised and requires some heavy duty high-powered equipment to perform successfully and absolutely accurately where the individual frames are compiled into a single video file for later editing and DVD authoring or transfer to videotape for archival storage. The compile process can create video vision at any nominated playback speed from 7.9.12.15.16.18.20.24 frames per second so if a film was originally exposed at a non standard 18/24 fps this method is the only way to play back at a normal viewing speed that looks natural, this is something projector based transfers can not do.

We have deliberately simplified the description of the process as it would take many pages to explain the technicalities but in short:

• Each frame of film has a corresponding video frame which when assembled into a video results in smooth playable and easy to watch video.
• There are no sprocket or gears that could possibly damage the film.
• The LED light source is safe and cannot bleach films.There is no heat from LED
• Quality high-end computers results in error-free transfers and conversion to video file for DVD authoring of the highest order.

I hope this segment has provided you with enough information to decide for yourself that The Digital Shoebox is the best Frame By Frame film transfer company in the USA!"

.Jpeg unless you specify otherwise.

300 dpi is recommended unless you are planning for print enlargements beyond 8x10. Larger dpi scans can be unwieldy file size wise and may bring out 'bad detail' like photo imperfections.

Photo Scanning

Our scanning service offers:

We use a combination of flatbed and Kodak sheetfed scanners for the work. Most photos go through our very safe Kodak sheetfed/document scanners with ease. We can even come to your home. Flatbed scans, for photos requiring extra handling (older, thicker, torn) will have additional costs.

We use very high quality DVD-R's for your media. We do not use RW as they offer typically less quality and you do not want to accidentally write over your video. We purchase the highest quality DVD's that offer the longest 'archival life'. Shelf life is from blank to recorded data. The cheap ones from Fry's Electronics can go bad in less than 5 years and sun is your DVD's worst enemy. We also can put your files on a portable hard drive. Note that we do not use sticky label paper or write on your DVD's. Don't do this as it will significantly shorten the life of your media.

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Use the slide show worksheet. Should you not want to do any of this- just put it all in a properly packed box and send it. Get it preserved then organize it digitally BEFORE IT DETERIORATES MORE!

We will scan your photos and consult with you on building a hardbound story book.

Yes if you are located on the East side of Phoenix (Scottsdale, PV, & the East Valley)

Yes. Shipping instructions.... xxx

Yes.

Yes however they may not be in the exact order they were received (slides, photos, neg's).

One thing we recognize is the importance these memories have to you. Safety is paramount. Doing the work locally is a big factor.

We can not work miracles in bringing true color or clarity back as it typically was never that great in the first place however with software technology today we can do some modest improvements in bringing back the original colors. Note that some film is brittle and beyond repair and simply can't be scanned. We will do the best we can. If there is a noticeable 'vinegar' smell then typically it's beyond repair as well.

"Vinegar Syndrome" is a term used to describe the chemical reaction that goes on during the deterioration of cellulose triacetate film support. When cellulose triacetate begins to decompose, "deacetylation" occurs and the acetate ion reacts with moisture to form acetic acid producing a vinegar odor when a can is opened. Once the reaction is started, it cannot be stopped. -Information extracted from a paper that was presented at the 1992 AMIA Conference on December 10, 1992, by Dr. Tulsi Ram.

Absolutely. Contact us at 480.703.5264

The work is done in the Phoenix, AZ area. At no time does your media leave the state or country for processing.

Yes.

Start with a call to 480.703.5264. You need to print out the materials list and mark off what you are sending. For slideshows we will require a meeting in person or by phone depending on the complexity.

Plan on 2-4 weeks.

While our company is new in 2008, The team who processes your media has been using the latest in technology to do the work locally since 2002. The company was formed based on the loss of the presidents father who passed and left more questions than answers in the many photos left behind. The process to manually scan each photo and create his own event was terribly time consuming and frankly not well done. He knew there had to be a better way. After countless hours of research and hand picked quality partners were gathered, The Digital Shoebox was formed. The president is John Lang and they are based in Gilbert, AZ.

Reel Diameter	Feet of Film
3"	50 feet
4"	100 feet
5"	200 feet
6"	300 feet
7"	400 feet
8"	600 feet
10"	800 feet
12"	1200 feet
14"	1400 feet