SAVE YOUR REELS!
Freeman Productions is here to fulfill your 16mm conversion needs!
16MM FILM TO DIGITAL TRANSFER
Remember film? Yes that click you used to hear at the back of the movie theatre? Those old cameras? What ever happened to that? The digital age happened and it left film in the dust – gathering dust. It’s time that you upgrade with the times and get out your old 16mm cine reels and have them converted to a digital format that you can enjoy in the 21st century. Because those memories deserve to be preserved!
At Freeman productions we offer a service that can convert your 16mm film to a digital format here in Johannesburg! This means that they can be saved on a hard drive or USB and played on your TV, computer or another electronic device. We can also convert 8mm film to digital.
Why should I transfer my 16mm film to digital?
Conservation
Unfortunately, when exposed to various elements, 16mm cine reels will lose their quality over time.
Projectors are rare
The unfortunate reality is that projectors are almost impossible to find these days.
Digital files are immortal
Once your reels have been converted to a digital format, they should last forever.
Save to the cloud
Digital files can be saved anywhere meaning that you can publish your reels to the internet if you want to.
Plays much more easily
Even if you have an old projector, playing these old reels can be a pain!
Show your family and friends
If you have a friend or family member that would benefit from watching these reels, giving it to them can be the most special gift.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
I am flabbergasted by the professionalism, proficiency, time efficiency of Freeman Productions for helping me restore the most treasured moments that have long been snubbed
Thami Hadebe
Great and professional service. Quick, easy and reliable. Highly recommended!
Bayla Ziman
This was exceptional service and the quality of the conversion is something that I did not expect at all. I would highly recommend Freeman Productions to anyone. Outstanding!
Thank you very much for eternalizing our old memories
Wynand Viljoen
Freeman Productions have just digitized 8mm film footage of a voyage taken in 1962. They have taken the old reels found at the back of a dusty cupboard and breathed a new digitally enhanced life into them bringing out a level of clarity that I had not expected. Well done guys, very much appreciated, thank you.
Greg Crow
THE MOST INCREDIBLE GIFT
You really have no idea how incredible it is to receive the gift of a memory with our 16mm film digital service.
Share this gift with your friends and family, you won’t regret it!
Its so easy, you just need to copy and paste the video files.
HOW WE CONVERT TAPES
Label the reels
A small number is carefully placed on each reel. This helps ensure that your reels don’t get mixed up and it will allow you to easily match each reel with its respective file.
Capture the 16mm film to digital
The next part of the process is for our engineers to record your 16mm film to digital, this step takes the professional touch as we must make sure that everything focused and the reels are performing nicely without jumping.
Authoring process
Next, we copy the footage from the recorded reels to our editing systems. Here we will tweak the reels to get them looking as good as we possibly can. We will also trim any empty space from the reels digitally.
Exporting
Now the process is done. All that we need to do now is save the reel to any USB storage device.
How do you convert 16mm film?
IS FREEMAN PRODUCTIONS THE RIGHT CHOICE?
Without a doubt!
- We take the utmost care in converting your films, we are fully aware of the sentimental value that these films have for our customers and we will honour that value with our full respect.
Check out our reviews
- If you are still feeling a bit apprehensive, we understand. To give you peace of mind you can look at our 450+ Google reviews on Google!
WATCH 16MM REELS ANYWHERE
Just about any modern video playing device that you can think of should play your reels
Any modern device?
Yes! This includes, but is not limited to, PC’s, Macs, smartphones, TV’s and tablets. Our 16mm film to digital service is universal!
Can you convert my reels to any format?
We can absolutely convert your 16mm film to digital formats of your choosing, however, we do recommend an mp4 format as it is a global standard that should work on the above devices.
History
- Film was the way, before digital cameras, that videos were captured. It was a photosensitive material that contained hundreds and hundreds of captured images that when played together in fast succession created the appearance of motion.
- 16mm (the name referring to its size) film was a type of film developed in the 1920’s.
- Film is what is known as an analogue format. This means that instead of using 1’s and 0’s like the formats of today, film is a mechanical and physical process that is subject to damage over time.
Example of film deterioration
Downsides
- By leaving your films in storage, light, moisture and heat slowly cause the film to degrade and loose quality over time.
- Over the years the film will look more and more faded and contain scratches and marks.
- By transferring your film to a digital format, you are effectively freezing this process in its tracks resulting in its preservation. Its also really difficult to find any projectors these days that will be able to play the old film.
HELP! MY REEL IS DAMAGED!
Damaged reels
Damaged reels are no problem for us! We have a reel repairing service that will allow us to captured even damaged reels.
Mould cleaning
We also offer mould removal should you have particularly aged reels that are covered in mould.
FILM - IMAGE SCANNING
As a separate or additional service, we are able to scan individual images from your reels. This can be done to get pictures of loved ones that you might not have or to recover some content from severely damaged reels. Works best with close up images of faces
1. LAB PHOTO SCANNING
We will take your reel and run it through out sophisticated photo lab scanning system and select the best frames to be transformed into images.
2. Photoshop enhancement
As an additional step, we can use Photoshop to colour correct and fix any issues with our scanned images, including scratches and other artifacts.
3. AI enhancement
Finally as another optional step, we are able to use advanced AI technology to increase the fidelity of the faces in your photos.
FAQ
Some Other questions
As many as you like! We capture from small to large projects, be it for an individual or a company.
Most likely, even though films do degrade over time, you will be surprised how good some of them still look. If you are worried then you can look at the film through a light source or by a window and if you can make out what is on the film then it is probably a good idea to have it converted.
We do provide express delivery as an option, otherwise it will take between 10 – 20 working days to convert your 16mm reels. This is to ensure that they meet our high quality standard.
We can provide a USB as an additional part of the service or you can bring your own. If you do this, you just need to check that it has enough available space.
Contact us today to get a quote.
Yes, if your films have sound we can transfer them.
High Definition all the way. We go through a tune up process to make sure the reels look as good as they possibly can, however the final result will largely depend on the current state of the film.
Yes, even though you have a projector you still should convert your films to a digital format because in conjunction with the previously mentioned wear and tear of the film, the projector itself will wear and tear. This will mean that you won’t be able to play your films forever. The projector itself can also increase the wear on your film as it can damage its holes over time and burn the film.
We can transfer 8mm/super 8mm reels as well as a wide variety of other formats such as slide scanning, Hi8 tapes and LP transfers
TURN MEMORIES INTO
GOLD
At Freeman productions we fully understand how frustrating it can be to have old films that you wish you could look at but can’t because of the lack of resources so we take great joy in being able to give people their memories back! So what are you waiting for? Take back your precious moments lost to time and transfer your old 16mm cine reels.
