News - DVD Conversions

16mm film ex Spitfire MK V

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 change 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 below are taken from the 16mm film.

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

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.

Vinegar Syndrome

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 below 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!

More detailed information can be found on this Wikipedia page

A reel of 8mm film that has degraded due to acetate leach or vinegar syndrome.

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.

Video 8 tape cleaning and recovery

In most cases a tape like this would go straight to the bin.

Not with us – we successfully recovered every inch of this tape.

This tape was treated using various methods we’ve developed over many years of doing this work.
So how did we do it without giving too much away – we baked the tape for an extended period of time at a constant temperature and humidity level before embarking on the pain staking process of hand cleaning and winding through our custom cleaning jigs.
The result – 100% recovery of all video content from the tape, and yes it was recorded end to end 92 minutes long.
If you have tapes that look like this, chances are they are recoverable despite what you may have been told by others.

DVD Conversions Limited specialize in all video format transfers and offer a cassette clean and recovery service for tapes we are converting.

Blackmagic Micro Converter Support Brace

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. After a fairly exhaustive search online for a Blackmagic micro converter support brace and not being able to find a suitable solution, we decided to design and 3D print a solution for ourselves.

The Blackmagic Range of micro converters are great pieces of kit but the sockets for HDMI and Power are not designed with live shows and events in mind. The power plug in particular is a weak point (in my opinion).

Whilst the BNC SDI connectors are strong enough for day to day use the HDMI and power sockets are a little on the weak side, so a simple yet effective solution was called for.

Blackmagic Micro Converter Cable Brace for preventing damage to the HDMI and power cables on this series of converters — Blackmagic Micro Converter Cable Brace Front

So to prevent damage to the sockets and to prevent cables from being disconnected during pack in and out of shows, we designed (in-house) a simple plastic brace that can be cable tied to a micro converter and it’s associated cables.

Our Blackmagic micro converter support brace provides much needed support for both the HDMI and Power cables. The brace has cable tie points for both the HDMI and power cables. There are also multiple mount points on the perimeter of the bracket to allow for attaching to truss sections or other support structures.

Blackmagic Micro Converter Cable Brace prevents HDMI and power cables from being damaged or accidentally removed — Blackmagic Micro Converter Cable Brace

3D printed in-house from ABS plastic the brackets are strong and durable and are sure to prolong the life of the Blackmagic Micro Converters.

We have these brackets available in a range of colors and they sell for $25 NZD including GST excluding courier charges.

Blackmagic Cable Support — Blackmagic Cable Brace Back

If you’re interested in getting your hands on one of these hit the contact button or go to our film supplies page for more information on this and other products we sell, including:

Custom made film reels for standard 8mm film and Super 8 film
Film Splicing Tape
Kodak Super 8 film – 50D, 200T and 500T
Cassette casings

Super 8 film reels

DVD Conversions Limited New Zealand is pleased to announce that we are now manufacturing a range of film reels for standard 8 film and Super 8 film.

Proudly New Zealand made, our film reels are designed and assembled in-house. We 3D print our film reel hubs and dress rings in-house and use a local company to laser cut our aluminium reel sides.

These high quality reels are now available for sale to 8mm film enthusiasts the world over. We are constantly looking to improve our products and welcome your feedback or suggestions.

Super 8 film reel side view with laser cut cluminium sides and 3d printed ABS plastic hub — 400ft Super 8 film reel with laser cut aluminium sides and 3d printed hub

Our film reel hubs are printed using ABS plastic and are available in various colours.

Spindle adapter for Super 8 reels on Regular machines printed in 3d with yellow ABS plastic — Spindle adapter for Super 8 reels

We have designed and 3D printed our own range of hub / spindle adapters which allow our film reels to be used on standard 8 projection equipment.

We’re currently working on a 200ft reel and a 600ft reel, soon to be released to the market. Watch this space as we continue to expand our product lines.

Current pricing for 8mm film reels as at 4 April 2019

400ft Super 8 film reel – $30
Spindle / hub adapter – $5

For more information on these and other products in our range please go to our film supplies page

Kodak Vision 3 Super 8 film
Super 8 film leaders
Standard 8 film leaders
16mm film leaders
Film splicing tape
Film reels from 50ft to 600ft

All prices in $NZ and include GST.

Shipping within NZ – $10 for overnight signature required delivery

For orders outside of New Zealand please contact us and we will quote accordingly.

16mm film ex Spitfire MK V

Vinegar Syndrome

Video 8 tape cleaning and recovery

Blackmagic Micro Converter Support Brace

Super 8 film reels

Format Identification

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