What a good transfer looks like

How to tell a real transfer from a fast one

This page is written so you can judge any lab, including us. Each stage below has one thing worth verifying and one answer that should worry you.

Intake

Ask: is every item logged individually and tracked? Worry if: your order is a box number rather than an inventory. A service that cannot tell you what it holds cannot tell you what went missing.

Inspection

Ask: is the film inspected and repaired before it runs? Worry if: nobody mentions splices. Old splices dry out and let go, and one failing inside a transport damages the film and wastes the pass.

This is also where vinegar syndrome is caught. If a service has never raised it with you, they are either not looking or not telling.

The scan itself

Ask: is each frame captured as a separate image? Worry if: the answer is vague, or mentions projection. Real frame by frame capture photographs every frame individually. Pointing a camera at a projected image is cheaper, and it produces flicker, lost frame edges and washed out highlights that no correction fixes afterwards.

Also ask: what resolution is included at the base rate rather than as an upsell. True HD 1080p should be a floor, not an extra.

Who actually does the work

Ask: does the scanning happen in your building, or is it sent out? Worry if: the answer is evasive. This is the question people skip and it matters most. A service that forwards your film cannot tell you where it is, cannot quote a real queue, and has added handoffs to something that has no duplicate.

Return

Ask: do originals come back in the same shipment? Worry if: returning them costs extra, or is optional. Converting film does not consume it, and there is no good reason not to send it back.

Turnaround

Ask: what happens if a reel needs unexpected work? A confident exact date on unseen material is a promise made before anyone looked. We do not give one, and we would be sceptical of anyone who does.