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All film gauges · 1923 — present

Frame-by-frame archival scanning for all film gauges.

Super 8, 8mm, 16mm, 35mm — every common motion-picture format scanned at preservation grade. Sprocketless transport for damaged film, magnetic and optical sound capture, ProRes and DPX masters. One lab, one preservation standard.

Starting rate
$0.42 / ft
35mm starts at
$0.68 / ft
Sound capture
+$0.18 / ft
Min order
$150
01 / Pick your format

Four gauges. One scanning standard.

Each format has its own detail page with tier pricing, sample scans, and format-specific FAQ. Pick the one that matches what you have.

Super 8

1965 — present
Family · Amateur · Indie

The most common home-movie format of the 1965 — 1990 era. 8mm wide with a single edge of rectangular sprocket holes — easier to identify than Standard 8mm. Most cartridge-loaded reels are Super 8.

Reel size
Typical 3-inch · 50 ft
See Super 8 details

Standard 8mm

1932 — 1970s
Family · Amateur

Also called Double 8 or Regular 8. Same 8mm width as Super 8 but with smaller square sprockets on both edges. Dominant home-movie format from the 1930s through the mid-1960s.

Reel size
Typical 3-inch · 50 ft
See Standard 8mm details

16mm

1923 — present
Documentary · Educational · Professional

Twice the width of 8mm. The professional workhorse for documentary, educational, news, corporate, and indie cinema. Silent has sprockets on both edges; sound has sprockets on one edge plus an audio track on the other.

Reel size
50, 100, 200, 400 ft (standard), 800, 1,200, 2,000 ft
See 16mm details

35mm

1892 — present
Cinema · Archive · Institution

The cinema standard. 35mm wide with sprockets on both edges, four perforations per frame. Pre-1952 35mm may be cellulose nitrate — chemically unstable and outside FPL’s scope.

Reel size
1,000 ft (standard), 2,000 ft, 400/600 ft short ends
See 35mm details

Don’t know which format you have? The format identification guide walks through measurement and sprocket patterns — takes about five minutes.

02 / Capture method

Why frame-by-frame matters.

The cheapest film transfer services point a video camera at a projected image. The process is fast and inexpensive but loses 40–60% of the detail captured on the original film. Frame-by-frame scanning captures each frame directly with a digital sensor at the film's full resolution.

  • Direct sensor capture

    Each frame is exposed individually at full sensor resolution. Projector transfer averages motion across frames, smearing detail.

  • Sprocketless transport

    Film is pulled by its smooth edges, not its perforations. Handles shrinkage up to ~2% and brittleness without further damage.

  • Frame-accurate timing

    Native frame rate preserved (16 or 18 fps for home movies). Projector transfer locks to 30 or 60 fps and interpolates.

  • Color-depth headroom

    Up to 16-bit per channel at Archival tier. Lets us correct color shifts post-capture without banding.

03 / Choose your tier

Three tiers. One capture method.

Tiers differ in resolution, codec, bundled post-processing, and documentation — not in capture method. All three use the same Lasergraphics ScanStation with sprocketless transport.

Tier 1 · Access

Access

$0.42/ ft
  • 1080p H.264 master
  • Auto color correction
  • Vault delivery, free first year
  • Original media returned

For: Casual viewing of healthy reels — share with family, watch on a TV, edit in iMovie.

Tier 2 · Preservation

Preservation

$0.98/ ft
  • 2K ProRes 422 HQ master
  • Scene-by-scene color correction
  • Hand cleaning + new plastic reels
  • Splice repair bundled
  • Vault delivery, free first year

For: Home collections that matter, family histories, footage you want to edit or restore later.

Tier 3 · Archival

Archival

$1.65/ ft
  • 4K ProRes 4444 + uncompressed DPX
  • Reference-grade color
  • FADGI 4-star compliance
  • Chain-of-custody documentation
  • Manual frame restoration available

For: Archives, museums, libraries, university collections, grant-funded preservation work.

35mm uses a separate rate card — $0.68 / $1.45 / $2.35 per foot for Access / Preservation / Archival. See the 35mm service page for full pricing and nitrate guidance.
04 / Sound capture

Magnetic and optical, captured in sync.

Sound capture is +$0.18/ft on top of the per-foot tier rate — a separate workflow with different transport setup, audio sync verification, and bath cleaning of magnetic stripe. Per-format breakdown:

FormatSilentWith sound
Super 8Clear edges, no stripeBrown or rust magnetic stripe along one edge
Standard 8mmAlmost always silentSound 8mm exists but is extremely rare
16mmSprockets on both edgesSprockets on one edge only; audio on the other (optical or magnetic)
35mmFull-width image, sprockets both edgesOptical waveform alongside the image (most cases)

For visual cues that distinguish silent from sound on each format, see the sound-vs-silent guide.

05 / Damaged film

Sprocketless transport, on purpose.

Most damaged film that conversion services reject scans cleanly here. The sprocketless capstan transport pulls film by its smooth edges — tolerates shrinkage up to about 2%, handles brittleness without further breakage, and doesn't catch on torn perforations.

  • Vinegar syndrome stages 1 — 3 (the great majority of cases)
  • Brittleness with intact base
  • Shrinkage up to ~2%
  • Color fade (substantially recoverable via per-scene correction)
  • Surface mold (cleaned at intake)
  • ×Vinegar syndrome stages 4 — 5, severe shrinkage, emulsion-deep mold — referred to specialist labs
  • ×Pre-1952 nitrate 35mm — not handled, referred to qualified institutions

See the film restoration page for per-intervention pricing and the deterioration guide for what each failure mode looks like.

06 / Process

From your hands to an archival master.

Every reel moves through the same workflow — whether it's a single Super 8 reel or a 400-reel institutional project.

  1. 01

    Intake & inspection

    Every reel logged, barcoded, condition-reported. You receive the report before scanning begins.

  2. 02

    Prep & cleaning

    Hand cleaning at every tier. Splices repaired by hand. New plastic industry-standard reels at Preservation+.

  3. 03

    Frame-by-frame scan

    Sprocketless transport. 2K or 4K capture depending on tier. 16-bit RAW acquisition.

  4. 04

    Color, QC, deliver

    Scene-by-scene color, full QC against original, delivered to your Vault. Original media returned.

For the full 7-phase walkthrough — including how condition reports work, how surcharges are quoted, and what each delivery includes — see Inside the lab.

07 / Pricing

Per-foot rates, across all film formats.

Transparent per-foot pricing. Sound capture is the only film surcharge. Order minimum applies once across the whole film order.

FormatAccessPreservationArchival
Super 8 / 8mm / 16mm$0.42 / ft$0.98 / ft$1.65 / ft
35mm$0.68 / ft$1.45 / ft$2.35 / ft
Sound capture: +$0.18 / ft (any format, any tier). Order minimum: $150. Handling and prep: $50 base + $6/reel.
08 / Film FAQ

Questions on film, specifically.

The questions that come up most often about film digitization. Format-specific answers live on the individual format pages.