News Archives - DVD Conversions

16mm film ex Spitfire MK V

Transfer of negative 16mm film from Spitfire camera

It’s not often we get to work on something as historically significant as this – 16mm film circa 1940’s shot from the wing of a Spitfire MK V during air-to-air training.

This job was a bit of a challenge as all the film clips were not wound on reels and in some cases the film strips were very short, only a few seconds worth of images.
We added new acetate leaders between the short lengths and spliced the various short pieces together to form a single length of film. To prevent unnecessary handling of the film we scanned as is, in a single pass through our scanner. Once scanned we used our AVID Media Composer software to get the film back to the way it should be. In some cases we had to invert the image (L to R and top to bottom), reverse the direction and invert from negative to positive.

Below is the information provided by our customer.

This film was shot using a ‘G45’ 16mm film camera shooting B&W film at 20 frames/sec mounted in a Spitfire Mk V. The Spitfire was taking part in in an air-to-air gunnery course, Course 66, at the Central Gunnery School, RAF Catfoss, East Yorkshire, UK, in June 1945, prior to the pilot being sent to fight in the aerial war against Japan.
Air-to-air targets during the course included ‘drogues’ (large windsocks towed behind an aircraft), bombers e.g. Wellingtons and other Spitfire Mk V aircraft.

Customer feedback.

Thanks. Very well done indeed managing to get all those scraps copied. I have just gone through and watched them all, and the quality of the conversion, especially with 80 yr-old film, is much better than I anticipated. Really good. Before I found you at, I rang around a number of organisations big and small who said they couldn’t convert the film, offering various excuses like not having double sprocket film handling. Maybe they didn’t want the responsibility of dealing with old film?

The images are taken from the 16mm film.

A challenging and rewarding job, history preserved and above all – a very happy customer!

Film transfer

DVD Conversions Specialize in film transfer to digital files. We can scan 8mm film, Super 8 film, 9.5mm film and 16mm film at 2k resolution of full HD.

Visit our film Conversion to Digital File page

Vinegar Syndrome

Acetate Leach

Acetate leach or “vinegar syndrome “as it’s often referred to, is the degradation of acetate film due in large part to being stored in hot and damp environments in sealed containers.

Acetate film stored incorrectly will release acetic acid (hence the vinegar smell) over time and this causes the base material of the film (cellulose acetate) to degrade. Once the process has started it is irreversible. The leaching process causes the film to curl, shrink and become brittle. This makes it impossible to run through a film scanner. The image above illustrates how the film edges are damaged.

Temperature and humidity play a crucial role in long term storage of film, generally less than 20 deg C and below 40% humidity is good, the lower the temperature the better. Low humidity (below 20%) could cause the film to dry. See the Wikipedia link below for more.

If you open your film collection and get the slightest smell of vinegar – get on the phone and book it in for digitization, the sooner the better!

Film that has started to leach can still be rescued but there may be frame shift as a result of the film shrinking.

More detailed information can be found on this Wikipedia page

DVD Conversions Specialize in film transfer to digital files in 2K or Full HD. We can transfer 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm film and 16mm film with or without audio.

8mm to VHS Adaptor

8mm to VHS Cassette Adapter

Does such a thing exist? Short answer – NO

VHS and 8mm video formats are vastly different and are not compatible with each other. VHS is half inch tape while Hi8 / video 8 is 8mm wide. The recording formats also differ hugely in terms of the way the information is recorded onto the tape. The 2 formats were launched to compete with one another in the domestic camcorder market.

VHS C / VHS Compact

VHS has a smaller cousin – VHS C (Compact). VHS C or Compact was introduced to compete against 8mm / Hi8 in the consumer camera market.

VHS C had one advantage over 8mm video formats in that one could use a VHS cassette adaptor. The VHS C cassette adaptor would allow the smaller or compact cassette to be played in a normal VHS VCR. Only VHS C tapes fit into the adaptor.

There is no adaptor to allow an 8mm tape to fit into a VHS machine.

VHS C Adaptor Cassette to adapt VHS C to VHS full size

Some of the obvious differences between 8mm video and VHS C

Apart from the obvious differences in physical appearance and size, other factors such as tape / video head speed ratio, FM vs longitudinal audio recording and synch signal recording, make the formats technically incompatible.

VHS C tape (left) compared to a Video 8 tape (right). The tape width 12.7mm for VHS C vs 8mm for the Video 8 range of formats.

This in itself makes the 2 formats totally incompatible with one another.

Video 8 vs VHS C – the cassette sizes vary slightly.

VHS C (left) and Video8 (right)

VHS C has a geared drive system on the take up reel. The reel hubs are different sizes and required different drive systems.

Close up of the inside of a VHSC Cassette adaptor.

The little gear on the side of the internal compartment engages with the gear on the take up reel of the VHS C tape.

When a VHS C tape is inserted into the cassette adaptor, the tape guides extract the tape and position them such that they are identical to a VHS tape.

Pros and Cons

I would argue that 8mm / Hi8 was a better format, image and audio quality was superior to the VHS C format.

VHS C

1/2 inch tape.
45 or 60 minute tapes – longer if the LP mode is selected.
Can be played in a VHS VCR with a cassette adaptor.
Poor image quality – when compared to Video 8.
Poor audio recording – when compared to Video 8.
Larger mechanism.

8/Hi8

8mm tape.
30, 60, 90 and 120 minute tapes with LP options.
Cannot be played in a VHS VCR.
Playback via the camera or dedicated 8mm VCR.
Superior image recording – when compared to VHS C.
Better audio recording – when compared to VHS C.
Smaller mechanism.

Convert 8mm video to digital files

Sony Hi8 video tape in original packaging

DVD Conversions are specialists in tape and media transfer, having been in the professional video market for 30 years. We have all the equipment to playback all the popular video formats.

Damaged tapes

8mm video tapes are very susceptible to moisture and mould damage. DVD Conversions offer a tape repair and cleaning service for tapes we are converting.

Visit this page for more information.

Call us today to discuss your tape transfers. We can convert 8mm, Hi8 and Digital 8 tapes to digital files. Click on the links to be directed to the relevant page.

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