Price Guide

Included below is a guide to prices. Please note that for the 4 inch cine film reels and above, these prices are for a full reel of film, and that the price will be reduced accordingly if a reel is not full.

Cine film in 8mm format (regular and Super 8)
3 inch reel/50 feet (4-5 minutes) - £10 (the minimum price for a one-off job is £15),
4 inch reel/100 feet (8-9 minutes) - £20,
5 inch reel/200 feet (16-18 minutes) - £40,
6 inch reel/300 feet (24-26 minutes) - £60,
7 inch reel/400 feet (36-38 minutes) - £80.

As the larger reels (i.e. 4 inch reels and above) are sometimes not always full, the price would then be calculated on the length of film footage on the reel (i.e. 125, 150, 175, 225, 250, 275, 325, 350 and 375 feet, etc), not on the diameter of the reel, leading to a lower price quote. Discount is available on orders over £200.

The output file of a digitised cine film will be in MPG4 format and the resolution will be 1440x1080. After doing the digitisation, I will also change the frame rate (FPS) of the films, so that the digitised file plays at the correct speed on digital platforms (i.e. laptops, iPads, desktop computers, tablets, mobiles, etc). Please note that, at the moment, it is just silent 8mm cine films (Standard/Regular and Super 8) that I am able to digitise.

VHS Video
£10 for one hour of video transferred (plus the cost of return postage and packing of the video/s, for orders under £100).
The output file of a digitised VHS video will be in MPG4 format. Discount is available on orders over £200.

35mm slides
£0.50 per slide image for 1 to 100,
£0.45 per slide images for 101 to 200,
£0.40 per slide images for 201 to 300,
£0.35 per slide images for 301 to 400,
£0.25 per slide images for 401+.

For digitising 35mm slides, I use an Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner. This scanner allows me to scan 35mm slides at a very high resolution. Generally, I scan at a resolution of 2,400 dpi (300 dpi is the minimum for print purposes), and a single output file is around 80MB, with pixel dimensions of 5800 x 5800, approx. The output files will be in TIFF and JPEG format.

Negatives - 35mm and 120mm film
£0.50 per negative image/photo.
For digitising negative 35mm and 120mm photo film, I use an Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner. I usually scan at a resolution of 2,400 dpi (300 dpi is the minimum for print purposes), and a single output file can be around 80MB, with pixel dimensions of 5800 x 5800. The output files will be in TIFF and JPEG format.

Camcorder cassettes
£10 for one hour of camcorder cassette/tape footage transferred into digital format. The output file of a digitised camcorder cassette will be in MPG4 format.

Digitising audio cassette tapes
I also offer a service digitising audio cassette tapes. The output files will be in WAV and MP3 format (unless another file format is preferred), which are high quality file formats. The prices for this service are as follows (based on the most common length of audio cassette tape):
30 minute tape - £7
60 minute tape - £10
90 minute tape - £15
120 minute tape - £20
Discount is available for bulk and repeat orders.

Please note that before digitising an old audio tape, it is best, if at all possible, to make a back-up copy of the tape first.

Digitising vinyl
As with audio tapes, the output files when digitising vinyl are WAV and MP3. If you're looking to digitise some vinyl, please drop me a line telling me what you're planning to digitise and I'll reply with an estimate quote. As a guide, for small orders, I've been charging £2 for a single, and £9 for an album/LP. For large orders, I would offer discount.

Storage of large digital files
If you have a spare USB data stick or memory card that is suitable, then I can just copy the files on to your storage device. Alternatively, I can provide a 16GB memory stick at a minimum cost of £6.00 and a maximum cost of £35 (i.e. for a 256GB memory stick/card), depending on what storage capacity is required for the specific job. Please note that the digitially transferred cine film and video/camcorder files will be large MPG4 files. The above quoted prices for memory sticks and cards are an approximate guide.

Postage and packing
For orders over £100, return postage and packing is free. For orders below £100, I will return your media using Royal Mail or another delivery carrier that you are happy with at an agreed price. If you live close to the Dundee, Angus, Fife, Perthshire and Aberdeenshire areas, then it might be possible to return your media in person at a safe distance, for an agreed price.

Please note that the minimum price for an order is £15 (plus the cost of a 16GB memory stick or card, which costs around £6 - unless you provide your own storage/memory device).

Note regarding any damaged tapes and plastic cassettes owned by customers prior to digitisation
Please note that there is always a slight risk element when playing a camcorder or VHS tape for digitisation purposes. Also, customers might very occasionally give me damaged tapes and cassettes without knowing that they are damaged. On very rare occasions, tapes can sometimes be stuck and will not play, rewind or fast-forward in a VCR or camcorder. Also, a damaged tape (and/or damaged plastic cassette) can sometimes become jammed in a camcorder or a VCR, with the only way of releasing it being to cut the tape, then splice it back together.

In such a situation, I would refer you to a company in England who can splice magnetic tapes which have snapped or been cut, and who can also then wind the spliced tape on to a new plastic cassette (i.e. 're-housing', as it's called).

Currently, I've digitised 100s of VHS and camcorder tapes and have only once (fingers crossed!) encountered a badly damaged magnetic tape and plastic cassette. However, at some point in the future, this inadvertent scenario might possibly happen again. Consequently, it makes sense to have a plan for dealing with this scenario and to let customers know about it just in case it should happen. Also, as a good will gesture, I would be happy to do a digitisation job for you that equates to the price of splicing and re-housing a magnetic tape.


Other Services

Retrieving content on old floppy disks (i.e. 3.5 inch floppies)
If you have some files on old floppy disks that you'd like to retrieve, then I can access these files and save them on to a memory stick for you - or even just email them to you, so that you can download them asap. For retrieving the data on one floppy disk, the price is £5. As this is normally a straightforward task, I will offer discount if you have more than one floppy disk to access.

Transferring and converting files from DVDs to memory sticks or cards
As DVDs are fast becoming obselete, I offer a service for copying VOB video files from DVDs, and then converting them into MP4 files and putting them on a memory stick or card. If you have video footage on a DVD that you'd like to save, please contact me for a quote.

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