FAQ

At Copy To Disc, the service is pretty straight forward but there are sometimes things that people ask about when they call. With that in mind, I’ve started a list of frequently asked questions.
If you have any other questions please contact Wayne on 0407 534 697 or .

Film Transfers For Home Movies

[QUESTION] Do you transfer frame by frame?

[ANSWER] That’s an interesting question and one that some other companies have a big emphasis on. In a nutshell I can do that too but it means running your film at 25 frames per second which is the television frame rate in Australia. HOWEVER, probably 99% of home movies were shot at somewhere around 16-18 frames per second so if I transfer frame for frame, everyone will be running around very fast and unnaturally like we sometimes see the old silent films shown on TV. To solve this, if films are transferred frame for frame, the resulting video then has to be slowed down to the correct speed so everyone is moving at the normal speed. That means the transfer you receive is no longer frame by frame. Just because the film is transferred (scanned) on a frame by frame basis, it doesn’t mean that’s what the final product you receive actually is (if done correctly and not left too fast).

Copy To Disc has professional equipment that transfers 8mm, Super 8mm and 9.5mm film at the correct speed in the first place with no flicker or any other problems. No other processing is required. That makes a lot of sense to me so don’t get hoodwinked by the old “ frame by frame transfer trick”. If it is supplied to you at the correct speed it MUST have been processed at some stage unless the film was shot at 25fps in the first place.