8mm Film Reel Sizes Explained for Regular & Super 8 Film Footage

Regardless of the exact tools you use, be sure to protect the film while viewing it, so it doesn’t get damaged or scratched. The best practice is to use cotton or powderless nitrile gloves. Using gloves ensures the oils from your fingers won’t transfer to the film base.

How to View 8mm Film Without a Projector

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Updated on August 26, 2021
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What to Know

• Magnifying glass and light: Use a magnifying glass and light source to look over individual frames from an 8mm film reel.
• Digital film scanner: Purchase a film scanner for digitizing your 8mm film at home.
• Professional scanning service: Send your film to a professional film scanning service and receive a digital video within a few weeks.

This article explains how to view an 8mm film without a projector. Whether it’s old home video footage or an old video reel you’ve come across, here are a few ways you can see what’s on the film, even if you don’t have an 8mm projector on hand. The methods we’ll highlight are using a magnifying glass and a light source, using a digital film scanner, and using professional digitization service.

Magnifying Glass and Light Source

This method is less about precision and more about using what you have on hand. You can use either a magnifying glass or loupe in combination with a light source to look over the film in a pinch.

The most basic option is to hold up the film in front of a well-lit window in one hand and use a magnifying glass in the other hand to look over the individual frames on the reel. If you have the equipment on hand, another option is to use a light table and a loupe to look over individual frames.

Regardless of the exact tools you use, be sure to protect the film while viewing it, so it doesn’t get damaged or scratched. The best practice is to use cotton or powderless nitrile gloves. Using gloves ensures the oils from your fingers won’t transfer to the film base.

Digital Film Scanner

If you want to view the images on the film and digitize the footage, one DIY option is to purchase a digital film scanner. These usually start at around $150 and go up in price depending on image quality and features. Two popular options are the Kodak Scanza and the Wolverine Film Reel Converter.

Determine what scanner fits your needs and purchase it. Once you have it, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for inserting and digitizing the film. The exact process will vary from one scanner to the next, but the result should be the same—you end up with a digital video file from your film reel.

Professional Digitization

If you want to take a hands-off approach, you’ll want to use a professional digitization service to scan your 8mm film. These companies will carefully handle the film and turn it into a digital video file for you to view and share. You can choose to go with a local option or use a mail-in service, such as ScanCafe and DigMyPics.

Pricing varies from one digitization service to the next, but you can expect to pay between $0.25 and $0.50 per foot of film. The process is usually as simple as filling out a form, mailing your film, and receiving the digital video (and your original film) when the process is complete. Wait times vary on demand, so most places offer digital downloads, which let you access the digital files as soon as they’re scanned and processed rather than having to wait for a flash drive or DVD to be mailed back to you.

How can you transfer 8mm film to DVD at home?

The easiest way to transfer your 8mm film to DVD at home is to record it while it’s playing. You can project the film onto a screen and aim a camcorder at it. You won’t get a high-quality recording with this method, but it works in a pinch.

How can you transfer 8mm film to your computer?

If you have a 8mm or Hi8 camcorder, you can copy your films to a PC by connecting the two devices together with an analog-to-digital video converter that connects to the PC via a USB port. If you don’t have a camcorder, there are services that can transfer film to digital for you.

8mm Film Reel Sizes Explained for Regular & Super 8 Film Footage

Do you have some vintage 8mm film collecting nothing but a firm coat of mother nature’s dandruff? Well, grab that old box full of film reels and ship it off to Legacybox and we can help you cement those classic memories into time through our digitization process.

But first let’s start with a few common questions.

How do you know how much footage is on my 8mm/Super 8 reel?

This is probably the most common question people ask themselves when they find a jackpot of old 8mm film. So to make it easy for you, here’s approximately how your film reels break down.

8MM FILM REEL SIZES BY DIAMETER

Any 16mm film will be approximately half the run time of regular 8mm film or Super 8 film .

HOW MANY 8MM FEET CAN YOU FIT ONTO A DVD?

Our reputable digitization process typically fits up to 1500 feet of film onto a DVD. So if you’ve got a lot of feet, rest assured that even a single DVD can store quite a bit, nearly two hours of playback.

HOW DO WE COUNT THE REELS WE RECEIVE FROM CUSTOMERS?

The simple answer is one. Whereas most companies count by the foot, we simply count by the reel or spool keeping it affordable and convenient for you. Each individual reel is counted as one, even if you have smaller films spliced together on a larger reel – up to 10” reel sizes. And because old film reels are typically short in length, we combine your reels into as few DVDs as possible.

HOW DOES OUR FILM TRANSFER PROCESS WORK?

We can convert any film format you’ve got to high-resolution digital video. Go ahead, try us. We digitize every consumer format of film created in our studios every day. That includes 8mm film, Super 8 film, and 16mm film. We’ve digitized film shot as far back as the 1930s and as recent as present day.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO PRESERVE YOUR MOVIE FILM?

There’s no denying it, film doesn’t last forever. Every passing year adds a greater propensity for degradation. So if you’ve got a box full of home movies, digitization is the best course of action. You give us your old media and we give you a DVD or thumb drive , so you can save and share years worth of laughs, cries, and childhood embarrassment for generations to come.