Hello: I was gifted three 16mm films. The information on the first is: The Special Transportation Committee presents “A New Face for Casey” Industrial Motion Pictures, Cleveland, OH, print # 4. The second film is “Decision for Ohio” (revised) print # 4, from the same company, and the third is identical to the second with the following additional information; January 1955, print # 28, Ohio Railroad Assn. Anyone familiar with these films? Would it be worth it to have them transferred to DVD? Your thoughts, concerns, and advice appreciated.

Generally speaking, RR PR films don't have the appeal of video programs assembled from footage shot by railfans since they often lack in-depth coverage of trains in action. Usually in PR films, the train clips are brief and often cut the action short.

One factor is the condition of the film. Has the color shifted or faded? Are the sprocket holes in good shape? Is there a lot of dirt or debris on them?

However, there are exceptions to this and without viewing the films, it is isn't possible to judge their commercial appeal to the railfan audience.

I assume that these are 16mm prints so transferring them (if they are in good condition) should provide good results from a technical aspect. But to make them into a good quality DVD will require not just the transfer to video but brightness and color correction, editing etc so that a fair amount of time would be required and that can cost some money.

So, if you feel you want to have a DVD for your own use, I would suggest that you locate a studio and get an estimate, perhaps a couple of studios and compare costs. If you are interested in doing that, I would suggest that you do not project the films before the transfer since there is a risk that projecting old films may cause damage to the film.

-Jim Herron

I'm not sure how much it is now, but some 15 or 20 years ago my brother had a bunch of 8mm silent film transferred to VHS and at the time they were charging something like 50 cents per inch of "saveable" film, which added up quickly (he didn't include any film so bad it had to be cut, only the final transferred length). If it's worth the cost or not is dependent on what a transfer capable shop charges and what the value of the films would be to individuals wishing to view them, of course.

Even if you personally don't want them there may be some value to a historical society. If you're looking for a local place (I'm assuming you're from the Cleveland area) there is one in Amherst that does that sort of thing.

As to cost, most places charge $.10 to $.20 per foot for 8mm or Super 8mm film.
16mm would be a little more.

Or, you could go to a professional film lab for a higher quality transfer done on a Rank Cintel or equivalent machine which will run from $125 - $ 250 per hour which is based on the time they have your film on their machine, not on the running time of the film. The cost difference will be based on whether you want a general setting or scene by scene color correction. I have had some reels that had a running time of about an hour (2,000 ft reel) take four or five hours to transfer.
The results are far better than you can get with the smaller, mom and pop kind of shops but you will pay for it. Also, this would probably include cleaning the film prior to transferring it but will not include whatever media you want the imagery on for further use. I would not suggest putting it on a DVD for further use unless you don't want to further edit it. You should probably have it put on a hard drive for further editing.

-JH