Extra Film Prep, Vinegar Syndrome policies & more

We charge extra for the extra prep work associated with:

• 9.5mm film supplied on reels with a spindle hole of less than approx 8mm diameter. These need to be either drilled out to the minimum required diameter, or wound onto suitable donor reels that have it.

• any film not supplied on reels (supplied as "pancakes" on a core, or as loose pieces, loose rolls, etc).

• cleaning of mouldy film

• preparation of vinegar-syndrome affected film


$1.65 per minute of labour ($99/hr) to wind on to donor reels, or to physically join films/pieces, or to clean mould, with a $50 minimum charge, which would cover 30 mins. When not on a reel, we join short films/pieces together with leader in between, to minimise the cost of donor reels, which are:

• 3 inch …………………....$10 ea
• 4 & 5 inch ……………… $40 ea
• 7 - 10 inch …….……….. $60 ea
• larger than 10 inch…….. $70 ea

For loose pieces, we will not get the pieces in correct order if the originals are not clearly marked with a running order. After scanning we will digitally split them back into individual clips to match the original pieces, and these clips could be further edited/joined together in a given sequence, at a later stage.

There’s no guarantee when joining film pieces that we’ll get the film the right way up, the right way around, or running in the right direction, so some editing charges may apply to reverse film direction or flip it horizontally or vertically. All digital film editing is charged at $2.75 per minute of editing ($165/hr).

NB: Film found to be unrecoverable may fall apart during our sorting/evaluation process (though all care is taken). We take no responsibility for this, and can make no promise that all disintegrated film will be returned.

Sorting for quote, associated preparation: $1.65/min of labour ($99/hr)

Digitising: We charge double the applicable footage rate (for the specific format & resolution) for any Vinegar Syndrome-affected reels we attempt, charged by the actual resulting digitised footage (regardless of opinion of the resultant quality). If we are unable to save anything, a $16.50 per reel min charge applies for the attempt.

Basic service minimum resolution, we scan and deliver as Full High Def 1080p widescreen/pillar-boxed 1920 x 1080 pixels

QXGA 2K 4x3 scan (2048 x 1536 pixels approx) …..….….Add 33%.

UHD-1 4K 4x3 scan (3840 x 2160 pixels approx) ……..….Add 50%.

(NB: FOR 4X3 scans the end results will be supplied as 16x9 widescreen/pillar-boxed)

For 8mm, Super8 & 16mm formats we offer further discounts on reels containing 600ft of film or more.
NB: This discount applies to sound capture charges as well.

600-800ft on a reel. ……20% off
801-1000ft on a reel. ……30% off
1001-2000ft on a reel. ……33% off
2001ft or more on a reel. …..40% off