We have a fleet of high end JVC VCRs, including the JVC Super VHS HR-S3900U and JVC HR-S6700U professional models that stream the movies via S-Video for the most crisp picture.
We regularly clean our VCRs and upkeep them.
For our dirtiest tapes, we have a Tapechek 460 Cleaner ($4000). This ensures only clean tapes are being put into our machines, increasingly their longevity. them.
We spent around $10,000 on our total configuration.
📹 For Camcorder Tapes:
We use a fleet of Sony TRVs240s and TRV510s for Video8, Hi8, and Digital8 Film
We use Sony TRV19s for Mini-DVs
We use a variety of tools to manually clean our fleet of camcorders
We’ve spent roughly $4000 on our total configuration
📹 For Film (8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm):
We hand clean each film with solution and microfiber cloths
We use a Retroscan Mark II ($9000) scanner to scan film, designed for “Academy of Motion Picture Film Archives in Hollywood” (link)
The Retroscan Mark II is very gentle on film and can scan film in various conditions
🎞 For Prints, Slides, and Negatives:
Photos, slides, and negatives are manually cleaned with an air pump (not compressed air) and special cloths
We use an archival-grade 50.6 megapixel camera (Canon EOS 5DSR) with a special 100mm lens and archival grade Epson 12000XL graphic arts scanners
We've spent roughly $15,000 on this configuration
We can scan nearly any format (prints, slides, negatives, albums, scrapbooks) with this setup
🎥 For Editing:
We use 2019 and 2017 intel iMacs and 2021 M1 Mac Minis to edit photos and film
We edit film in Apple Final Cut Pro and Apple Compressor
We edit photos in Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and Affinity Photo
