Skip A , Jan 27, 2003; 12:55 a.m.
Paul, check out MovieStuff at http://www.moviestuff.tv/ There's enough information on that website to get you started on the concepts and state of the technology.
There are many businesses that do film to video transfer. Just do a Google search and you'll find them. But MovieStuff is top notch. You can send your film in to MovieStuff and let them transfer it for about $18.00 per 50 foot roll, or you can buy a CineMate or WorkPrinter and do it yourself. The results may not be quite as good as those obtained via Rank Cintel transfer, but they won't cost you $250 per hour, either. See the equipment section of the site.
I ordered a WorkPrinter just before Christmas that should be arriving soon. I have a couple hundred 8mm reels from 1953 through 1972 that I'm going to transfer myself. Sorry, I don't have any practical experience yet as I've just recently started researching it myself.
The topic of 8mm film to digital transfer is an extremely common one on some forums. Try doing a search on either of these two:
The Shooting 8MM site here:
http://www.8mm.filmshooting.com/scripts/forum/viewforum.php?f=1
and
Mike Brantley's Super-8 Filmmaking forum here:
http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=409