Research labs that do 8mm/Super-8mm film to tape transfers. It is preferable to use a lab in your community; however, many people send their 8mm/Super-8mm film to a lab by mail, as there are only a handful of places in the country that work with Super-8. There are dozens of websites devoted to 8mm/Super-8mm filmmaking that will list commonly-used labs.
Call the lab. You need to ask a few questions before popping your precious film in the mail. There are many different kinds of film to tape transfers, from relatively simple optical ones to high-end transfers done with lasers. Understand the cost and expected results. For example, if your tape is dirty or damaged, not all labs can transfer it, and very few labs will clean dust or dirt off tapes.
Send or take in your film with a digital tape. When you submit the film to the lab, you can send your own digital tape to save costs. This is also helpful to ensure the transferred tape is compatible with your system.
Start up your computer and connect the deck. Most digitizing is done through a firewire cable, sometimes called an ieee1394 cable. Connect it to the camera's digital port and also to the computer.
Turn on the deck and launch your video software . Common video editing software needs to be able to digitize and export files; typically the deck needs to be turned on so the software can "find" it. Common editing software programs are iMovie, Vegas, Windows MovieMaker, Final Cut Pro, and Premiere.
Find the "digitize" tool. The tool to import video is usually in the "File" menu -- you may need to consult your program's help menu if you cannot find it easily. It will be called "digitize," "import," or "capture."
Watch your tape. Typically, you can use the digitize tool to control the deck or camera and watch the tape. Rewind back to the beginning and review the tape for segments you want to digitize.
Set your preferences. Look at the options in the digitize tool dialog box. Typically, you can set the video resolution (such as 720x480 or 360x240), the format (such as .mov or .avi), and the destination. Choose these settings based on what you want to do with the transferred footage. To watch it on a computer, a higher setting is necessary for a larger, better resolution file. The destination is where the software saves the finished file. Make a note of where you save it so you can find it later.
Play the tape and hit the command to capture or digitize. You may have to digitize in small batches to fit your files on a CD, as CDs have less than a 1GB of space and can only hold a few minutes of video. If you are digitizing at lower-resolution quality, such as 320x240, you can fit more video on the CD.
Open your digitized file in your editing software. Go to the location where you saved the file and open it. Review the new digital file for quality. If you are not satisfied with the quality, redo at a higher resolution.
Export the digital file if necessary. The export process converts the digital file to another format, for example from .avi to a Flash or Quicktime movie. You may need to do this to use the file in other programs such as those that upload it to the Internet. Exporting also is used to shrink a large file by compressing it, for example by making it into a .h264 file used on cell phones.
Insert a blank, burnable CD into the computer.
Drag the new exported file to your CD. Most computers do this by drag-and-drop; depending on your system, you may need another type of software.
Burn the CD. Typically, after dragging to the CD, you can hit a command to burn the new file onto the CD.
Eject the CD. Your file is now mobile and you can drag and drop it to any number of computers.