Industry
Part of Restoration is actually three different jobs wearing one name
Which questions actually separate a restoration specialist from a reseller?
A reseller quotes a rate and sends the work out. A restoration specialist names the formats they run in house and the equipment that reads them.
What to take away
- Ask what runs in house. A reseller brokers your film to a lab it does not own.
- Ask what reads the format. A working deck for obsolete video or film is the real qualification.
- Ask for a sample of comparable work, not a sample of easy work.
- Read other people's project write-ups before you commission anything.
- Get the delivery spec in writingformat, resolution, and what happens to the original.
Named restoration specialists and transfer houses
Four kinds of place do this work, and each answers a different question. The table below adds named labs that answer those questions in public.
Named restoration specialists
| Who | What they are | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| University preservation departments | Library-run labs, often grant funded | Fragile or obsolete formats, and free advice |
| Regional moving image archives | Nonprofit or state bodies holding local broadcast and home movie collections | Regional film, and referrals to local labs |
| Commercial transfer houses | Private labs with in-house decks | Volume jobs, tight deadlines, courier delivery |
| Independent conservators | Accredited individuals, paper and photographic | Torn prints, mold, damaged emulsion |
| The MediaPreserve | Preservation Technologies division in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania | Audio, video, and film reformatting for archives and private clients |
| George Blood LP | Philadelphia audio, video, and film digitization lab | Obsolete tape and film formats, with published format lists |
| Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) Preservation | Nonprofit video preservation lab in San Francisco | Obsolete video, artist tapes, nonprofit collections |
| Colorlab | Film lab in Rockville, Maryland | Photochemical restoration, scanning, archive film |
| Cineric | New York restoration house | Photochemical and digital restoration for features and archives |
| FotoKem | Burbank post and lab | Studio-scale restoration, mastering, film scanning |
| NEDCC | Andover, Massachusetts nonprofit conservation center | Audio preservation, paper and photo conservation |
| Specs Bros. | Burbank film restoration company | Digital restoration, scanning, film repair |
Start with a university preservation department. They will not always take private work, but they know who locally will, and their referral is worth more than a search result.
Ask what runs in house
A reseller takes your box, quotes a rate, and sends it somewhere else. That is not fraud, but it means the person answering your questions cannot answer them.
The University of North Carolina's guide to analog moving image formats shows why this matters. Most archival moving images are analog video and film, and magnetic and celluloid materials need specific storage, handling and playback equipment.
Staff there digitize analog formats using specialized playback equipment, digital conversion hardware and software. The barrier is not skill or willingness. It is a working deck for a format nobody manufactures any more, and someone who can keep it aligned.
That guide also credits grant-funded staff for the practices behind it, and notes grant funding allowed digitization of over 3,000 unique videos. Ask any lab you are considering what equipment it owns outright.
The MediaPreserve in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, lists audio, video, and film reformatting for archives and private clients. George Blood LP in Philadelphia publishes format lists and describes a large in-house inventory of audio and video playback equipment. BAVC Preservation in San Francisco runs a nonprofit video lab for obsolete tape.
Read what went wrong for other people
Michigan State University Libraries collects case studies in media preservation, and the selection shows what this literature is good for.
One documents the recovery of an arts organization's multimedia collection after a hurricane. Others cover born-digital audiovisual stewardship, a media digitization initiative, and quality control across libraries, archives and museums. One is titled around innovation and human failure in a small-scale audiovisual archive.
That last one is why you read case studies rather than guidance. Guidance tells you the correct procedure. Case studies tell you which step people skip, and what it cost them.
A worked example: five questions and what a bad answer sounds like
A worked example
- What formats do you handle in house, and what do you send out? A reseller says "all of them."
- What equipment do you use, and how is it maintained? A specialist names the deck and the maintenance interval. George Blood LP publishes format guides and describes its in-house playback inventory.
- What happens if the item is more damaged than expected? A specialist stops and calls you before touching it.
- Can you show me a sample of comparable work? A reseller sends its best-looking reel, not a comparable one.
- What do you deliver, in what format, and at what resolution? Get this in writing.
Anyone who answers the second and third questions clearly is worth talking to further. Anyone who answers the first with "all of them" is not.
A specialist will tell you what they cannot do. A reseller will tell you it is no problem.
Before you commission anything
- Photograph the item and its label before it leaves your house.
- Write down the format, the gauge, and any visible damage.
- Ask what the lab does with the original after transfer.
- Confirm who pays return shipping, and whether it is insured.
- Get the delivery spec in writing before you pay a deposit.
Our guide to what photograph restoration actually means covers which job you are commissioning, and the notes on learning photograph care cover the free instruction available first. Specifying a restoration job well is what makes quotes comparable, so read our guide to pricing supplies for photo restoration services before you request estimates.
Common questions
How do I find people who do this?
Ask your state or provincial archive, a university library preservation department, or a moving image archive association. The American Institute for Conservation runs a Find a Conservator directory. The Association of Moving Image Archivists is the professional body for the field. They know who is local and competent, and they have no reason to recommend a bad lab.
Is a general photo lab enough?
For scanning and printing, often. For obsolete formats or damaged originals, no. Ask what runs in house and decide from the answer.
Should I pay for a consultation?
For anything unusual, yes. An hour of correct advice costs less than a wrong decision on an item that cannot be replaced.
What if nobody local handles my format?
Shipping is normal in this field. Prepare the item properly and choose a specialist by capability rather than distance. Confirm who insures the parcel in transit.
