My experience with Prism Photo is one that began 47 years ago, and came to fruition yesterday. In 1974, my father bought a Bell Howell camera so that he could record his new life with his girlfriend / fiancé / wife (my mother), as well as many other family members. My parents divorced by 1980, and those memories are ones that I never got to experience, because all of those 8mm film rolls were lost to history in "the divorce." Fast forward to 2020, and as we're all sitting around in a pandemic discussing our family heritage, my dad asks if my mother ever held on to those 8mm film rolls. I had never heard of them before, so I asked her about a week later, and soon forgot about the question until March 2021. My mother, through a divorce that defines all divorces, various moves, a new marriage to an amazing step-father, she had in fact held on to these nine rolls of film, and delivered them to me one day. I was shocked. The labels on the canisters discussed events before I was even a thought in their minds, all the way up through my younger brother coming into the world (for better or worse). It detailed family events with grandparents and great grandparents who I had never met, or who had passed in the last ten to twenty years, having never met my children. I searched all over for some way to convert these 8mm films to digital, since no projector was available, and the need to preserve and view these memories was of the utmost importance. There are a million options online of where you can mail your 8mm film, but having just recovered these from history, I didn't trust them in the mail (nothing personal to any mail carriers out there). I asked around to photographers in the area who I knew that might be able to offer up local suggestions, and one name stood out ... Prism Photo. Prism Photo did not mail the canisters off for their resurrection, because they do it all in house now. I emailed the company through their website, and Larry quickly responded and verified this to be true. I was out there the next day to drop off the film. Larry and his crew talked me through the process and what to expect. I ordered two USB devices, one for myself and one for my dad up in NH. I was asked to give them about three weeks to complete the task, as they did have others lined up in front of me too. I had waited this long, so what was another three weeks? I emailed Larry last Friday for a status update, and he let me know that they were finishing them up, and that I could swing in on Monday to get them. The cost was to be expected for the service and task that I had requested of them, but in all honesty, it was cheaper than going through the mail to some company that I couldn't talk to in person, and mailing them away would not help a small business owner feed their family. As soon as I returned home with my USB and original film canisters, I plugged it into my laptop and began watching the videos. They were amazing to say the least. The quality was far better than I had expected. I felt like I was watching an episode of The Wonder Years. So many emotions ran through me as I saw visions of my grandparents, great grandparents, and my parents, happily together before their marriage went sideways. Five stars isn't enough for what they at Prism Photo gave back to me, and if you're looking for someone to do something similar for you, look no further than Mr Larry and his team. From my family to yours ... thank you. read more
