Photos • Slides • Negatives • Video Tapes • 8mm, 16mm & 35mm Film Reels • DVDs • Audio Tapes • Professional Formats • Personal Documents • And More!

Yes and we encourage you to do so. You can avoid the risk of shipping your items by bringing them to our location. We are open Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm at 1700 W. Cortland St. in Chicago. No appointment is required.

You can contact 4 Star Courier and schedule a pick up from anywhere in the greater Chicagoland area. Ask us about a courier credit for large projects.

Yes! All digitizing work is performed in our Chicago office.

Small Projects = Less Than One Week

Medium Projects = One to Three Weeks

Large Projects = Three to Six Weeks

Archive/Library = Quoted on a per project basis

You can receive your digital memories on the cloud, a USB thumb drive or disc.

You can view your digital photos and movies on the cloud, on your computer, smart phone, iPad, tablet or smart TV.

Yes, we offer bulk discounts. We specialize in larger projects but we are happy to accept smaller projects as well.

FREE ESTIMATE AND PRICING

We accept credit cards, Zelle, ACH and cash.

Yes! We are the #1 rated digitizing company in the Chicagoland area and we have served over 10,000 customers since 2018. Our experienced and professional staff carefully handle your irreplaceable items. Our office building has 24/7 live security guards on-site. Check out our reviews here.

Yes! You can purchase a gift card HERE

VHS

VHS-C

Camcorder Video Tapes

Hi8 / Video8 / Digital8

Mini DV

Betacam

U-Matic 3/4 inch

MicroMV

DigiBeta

DVC Pro HD

Yes! Our video manager reviews every tape and detailed notes will be provided if any quality issues are observed.

Our rates are the same for all consumer format video tapes up to 3 hours in length. Long play VHS tapes running 3+ hours incur an additional fee.

Our standard output is .mp4 format.

ProRes .mov is also available.

By default, titles are numbered and match stickers we place on your tapes and cases. You can rename the movies however you’d like.

We also offer an optional service to name your digital movies according to your existing labels.

Our standard practice is to search the entire tape for any home movies and if none are found, you will only be charged a small fee instead of the regular rate.

In most cases, yes. Please note, we do not fix or restore tapes that contain mold or have water damage.

We digitize 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm, Super 16mm and 35mm film.

In most cases, yes! We routinely transfer 50 to 100 year old films.

We use a newer (Built in 2020) laser guided, frame-by-frame, sprocketless, high definition film transfer machine.

Your film will be digitized with a 4K QHD overscan to ensure the entirety of the original film and its resolution is captured. The sprocket holes and frame lines are cropped out and we can output the movie in 4K UHD to provide a ready-to-share file with the widest range of compatibility across all devices and screens.

Yes, we use software to enhance your digital movies with scratch and grain reduction, color correction and stabilization. The unedited version is available upon request at no charge.

Your digital movies will be .mp4 format, a universal and fully editable format.

Lossless .mov (Avid DNxHR file) is also available for an additional fee.

The vast majority of 8mm and 16mm film is silent but we can transfer magnetic sound on Regular 8/Super 8mm and optical sound on 16mm.

Yes, you will receive 1 movie per reel.

1. Standard Prints

These are common sizes: 3x5, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 and were printed on traditional photo paper.

2. Non-Standard Prints

These are vintage photo prints, wallet size, odd shaped prints, Polaroids, prints with adhesive residue, curled prints, slightly damaged prints, etc.

3. Prints Requiring Manual Digitizing

These are prints stuck to album pages with strong adhesives or tape, prints larger than 8x10, heavily damaged prints, prints on cardboard or thick card stock, prints with excessive adhesive residue, etc.

Photos must be removed from album sleeves prior to scanning. You can do this yourself or we can provide this service for a fee.

If your photos are stuck to the pages of your albums with strong adhesive, do NOT risk tearing them. We can scan the full album page.

If we receive your photos in labeled groups, we can create a digital folder for each group to help keep your digital images organized. For example “1986”, “Disney Trip”, “College”, etc.

You can give us your loose photo prints in ziplock bags, envelopes, boxes or containers.

We digitize photo prints at 300 DPI (standard) or 600 DPI (optional) resolution.

Your photos will be high resolution JPG files.

Yes, we can digitize scrapbooks up to 11x17.

35mm Slides

Super 35mm

110 Format

126 Format

127 Format

Super 127 Format

You can give us your slides in boxes, carousels or ziplock bags.

Slides in plastic archival binder sheets with individual pockets or slides in Airequipt cartridges with metal brackets, must be removed for scanning. You can remove the slides yourself and place them in Ziplock bags or we can provide that labor for a fee.

The original image is captured at 4500dpi and the final image is provided somewhere between 3700dpi and 4000dpi, depending on how much we have to crop out.

Yes, we use software to enhance your digital images with color correction, dust and scratch removal.

Your digital images will be .JPG format – a universal and editable format.

Unedited RAW files are also available.

We use pressurized air to remove dust from the slides. This may not remove all dust particles. We recommend cleaning your slides before you bring them to us if they appear to be very dirty or dusty.

35mm Negatives in Strips

35mm Negatives Cut

Medium Format Negatives

Large Format Negatives

Various Non-Standard formats such as 110

We digitize 35mm negatives at 4600 PPI with a DSLR capture method.

Your digital images will be high resolution JPEGs, 4000 x 6000 or 24 Megapixels prior to cropping.

RAW files are available upon request. (optional service).

We digitize large and medium format negatives on a flatbed film scanner at various resolutions, starting at 300 DPI.

For family memories, we recommend scanning the prints as it is more cost effective and no additional editing is required post transfer. Film tends to fade over time and your digital images may look significantly different than your existing prints

We use pressurized air to remove dust from film. This may not remove all dust particles. Digital photos from excessively dusty or damaged film cannot be auto corrected. We recommend cleaning your film before visiting us, if necessary.

Yes, we use software for dust and scratch reduction.

We digitize DVDs, Mini DVDs and Data/Photo CDs.

Please note, we cannot transfer BluRay DVDs.

We only transfer personal recordings like home movies. We do not transfer copyrighted material like Hollywood movies and commercial music.

We charge a reduced fee for attempting the transfer on these type of discs.

We can finalize most Mini DVDs. Regular DVDs will require the original player they were recorded on in order for us to transfer them.

Audio Tapes:

Standard Cassette Tapes

Microcassettes

DAT

Audio Reels:

We only transfer 1/4" (quarter inch) Reel to Reel audio tape, sometimes referred to as quarter track, half track, or open reel tape. The 1/4" refers to the width of the tape itself. Some tapes will display the thickness of the tape in “mils.” We can transfer any thickness of tape so long as the width is 1/4". If you are unsure, you can measure the width of the tape with a ruler. Open reel tape formats we cannot transfer include 1/2", 1", and 2"

Please note, we do not transfer any copyrighted audio without permission from the copyright owner.

Uncompressed .wav format

.mp3 is also available upon request

By default, titles are numbered and match stickers we place on your tapes and cases. You can rename the files however you’d like.

We also offer an optional service to name your digital files according to your existing labels.

We don’t do any remastering. In most cases, the audio recorded on the tapes usually holds up pretty well over time if they were stored properly. Poor quality issues are usually related to poor microphone placement at the time of recording and/or poor recording levels. In those cases, there isn’t usually a whole lot that can be done, but we will do our best to provide you with the best quality transfer (preserving the original quality of the tape) so that the digital files can be taken to an audio mastering specialist. You can find noise reduction and mastering specialists online.