Cine film transfer in HD or UHD

8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm, 16mm frame scanning
£85 per 200 feet in HD

The Alive Studios Film Scanning Service

We transfer Cine Film to digital, for families, archives and museums all over the UK. We convert standard 8mm, super8, 16mm, super16 and 9.5mm. We use a true one-to-one frame scanner which takes individual photographs of each cell of your film which are expertly compiled into a movie, then edited and colour corrected. The resulting cine film transfer is sent to you on USB memory stick or hard-drive and uploaded to our Movie Hosting where you can share your films with friends and family. In 2019 we upgraded our scanner lenses to the new Sony Pregius CMOS image sensors for superior handling of dark, noisy films. See the new image sensor in action.

You can also purchase the individual photographs which are called an ‘image sequence’. You can choose to have your film scanned in 2K which is High Definition, or 4K Ultra High Definition.

Read customer reviews

Steven’s team turned 40 fragile, old, flickery movies into a wonderful HD experience that we can now easily share with family and friends around the world.

Service Features

Film Scanning in HD or UHD

DVD is standard definition (SD), which should never be used for film scanning as the quality is simply too low. We use HD which has 5 x the mega-pixels of SD, or Ultra HD which has over 20 x the mega-pixels of SD. Phew!

Learn more about film scanning ›

Supplied on USB stick

Choose MPEG for super easy to use files, that plug into your TV to enjoy on the big screen. Then pop it into your computer to re-order, re-name, and edit. Add your own titles, music etc. to create amazing films. ProRes 422 also available.

Learn more about output formats ›

All films are cleaned

Before we scan your cine film, we always give it a thorough clean first. Partly to protect our scanners, but also to improve your picture, as cine film typically has a good deal of dust and hairs floating on the emulsion.

Learn more about film cleaning ›

Colour correction

Cine film benefits hugely from expert colour correction. We use a variety of methods including colour correction, contrast enhancers and de-noise, which makes the picture smoother and clearer.

Learn more about colour correction ›

Free 30 day movie hosting

All films we transfer for you are uploaded to our password protected Movie Hosting service, with FREE ACCESS for the first 30 days.

Learn more about Movie Hosting ›

Free collection and delivery

We are happy to arrange our courier to collect and deliver your films from your work or home address. We'll provide you with a convenient one hour time slot by text and/or email.

Learn more about collection and delivery ›

Examples of our work

All
Before and Afters
8mm
Super 8
9.5mm
16mm

Information on Cine film formats

Why scan film in 2K/4K and why no Cine film to DVD ?

Benefits of HD/4K Ultra HD, and why we’ve dropped discs…
All cine film benefits enormously from a high definition transfer. It may look like a tiny cell, but even 8mm cine film holds a surprising amount of data, and is not just equivalent to, but higher than, HD. To scan your film in standard resolution (SD), we would essentially disregard a huge amount of information resulting in loss of fine detail and colour.

Horizontal lines per definition type

Standard definition 576
High definition (2K) 1080
Ultra HD (4K) 2600

Horizontal lines per film type

8mm 900
9.5mm 1070
16mm 1800

Horizontal lines per film type (approx.)

8mm

9.5mm

16mm

For reference High Definition (2K HD) is 1080 lines and Ultra High Definition (4K UHD) has 2160 Horizontal lines

In 2012, we went HD-only. As leaders in our industry, we have a responsibility to set quality standards, and the 1990s SD/DVD technology is simply not good enough. We have these amazing HD/UHD files in front of us, so to scale them down and reduce the quality for DVD is a step backwards.

Cine Film In 2016, we took another bold step by dropping disc formats. So there’s no more Cine Film to dvd or Cine Film to blu-ray. Instead, we send you a USB memory stick (or hard-drive) which play on any computer or TV with a USB port. You can re-arrange the films, change the names, and even edit the movies on your home computer (and make your own DVDs if you really feel a need to, but I doubt it). So much more versatile than discs, this truly is the way forward. Read more on 4K UHD Cine film scanning »

In 2019, we upgraded all our scanners by replacing the lenses with new Sony Pregius CMOS image sensors. We also replaced the scanner lights with 3 x brighter LEDS. These upgrades have helped us realize even higher picture quality than ever before, particularly when working with dark, underexposed films.

Digital output formats

MPEG-4

The most versatile format is the MPEG-4. Works on any computer, phone, tablet or TV. We give you one file for each reel, named or numbered as you like. So, if you send 22xreels of film you will get back 22xfiles on your drive. We deliver the files on a USB hard-drive/USB Stick. You can provide your own, or buy one of ours. from just £12.

ProRes

This is the perfect choice if you wish to edit your cine film on a computer, ProRes is a high quality file which works with all the major editing programs. You will get one .mov file for each reel of cine. We deliver the files on a USB hard-drive/USB Stick. You can provide your own, or buy one of ours. from just £12.

Optional extras

Image Sequence

Image Sequence is an exciting format which utilises our scanning method to it’s fullest by giving you, our customer, the individual cells of your film as individual photographs or ‘images’. If you look closely at your cine film, you’ll see it’s made up of thousands of photographic cells – a small 50ft reel of 8mm film contains approx. 4300 cells! When we transfer your film, we scan each of these cells individually, and we’re now able to give you these as separate JPEG image files.

Super 8 Colour Negative Processing

For those still shooting on Super 8, we offer a processing service to get your films dark-room developed. This includes Kodak Vision 3: 50D, 200T, 500T. For other stock please contact us first. Through our partnership with the leading Film Lab in Europe, we post weekly shipments to Germany to get our clients films developed. We charge a set price of £30 per cartridge. This includes shipping to and from Germany, and VAT. Please allow up to 14 days for this part of the service.

Your cartridges will be returned as negative spools, which we will scan in positive to HD or 4K files. This Film Processing service is only available as part of a digitising order with Alive Studios.

Film processing is available on our cine film order form » under “Other Services”

Movie Hosting

It's Netflix for your home movies

Alive Studios Movie hosting is free for 30 days.

Log in via your computer, or download the free APP to your phone or tablet so you can take your memories with you wherever you go. We also have the Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon and Fire TV APPs making all your home movies available onDemand from the comfort of your living room. It’s as easy as calling up Netflix – only with our service, you are the star of every episode!

Log in online to make changes to the titles of your movies, create multiple user logins for all your friends and family so they can share the experience too. Chat directly with your dedicated editor to ensure your films are created just the way you want them. You get 30 days free, then you can extend for just £22/year.

There’s so much you can do, just visit this page for more info »

Ordering is so easy!

Build your order using the ‘Order and quote form’ button below.
Print off the order-form.
Wrap your films securely and place in a box/Jiffy bag with your order-form.
Send at the post office, or use our FREE courier collection service.
Or order by Phone

Or order by Phone

Speak to one of our friendly team at the studio who do everything for you.
Lines are open 9.00am to 5:30pm weekdays, and most Saturdays Tel: 0800 0830561

FREE Collection Service

We are happy to arrange our courier to collect your cine films from your work or home address. We’ll provide you with a convenient one hour time slot by text and/or email. Collection is completely free for any size order. (UK mainland only, Scottish highlands & Islands at extra cost).

FREE Delivery Service

Delivery back to you is completely FREE on ALL orders, no matter how large or small. As with our collection service, we even provide you with a precise one hour delivery window so you don’t have to wait in all day.

Get a quote & build your order

Use the handy “save for later” feature to return anytime

Build your order using the ‘Order and quote form’ button below.
Print off the order-form.
Wrap your films securely and place in a box/Jiffy bag with your order-form.
Send at the post office, or use our FREE courier collection service.
Or order by Phone