THE RESULTS ... What to do with them ?

If you shoot video, you will finish with some really good stuff
and a lot of garbage. I keep all 8 mm tapes in tin boxes. Today's
garbage may be of value tomorrow.

It is quite easy to do some basic editing by connecting the
camera video and sound 'out' sockets to a home video and sound
'in' sockets. These will be phono plugs or scart on the video and
phono on the camera.

Connecting leads are quite cheaply available - try the back
street electronics shop rather than the high street dealers -
prices drop by HALF !!!

Switch the recorder to 'auxiliary' and, with a new tape in, press
play and record and start the camera. The TV is used to watch
what is going onto the recorder, and with a little practice, and
a remote control, unwanted material can be cut out.

For stills, well, colour slides and B&W are likely to be for the
more enthusiastic, but colour prints tend to finish up thrown in
draws and boxes.

What a waste !

First, choose a good and dependable processor - then stick to
them. Some of the cheap high street processors are very good and,
contrary to popular belief, films often finish up leaving
different shops in town and being taken to the SAME place to be
processed.

I always consider that the sign of quality processing is that the
negatives are returned in their own individual envelopes. The
negative is FAR more important than the print. If the negative is
kept in good condition, you can have as many prints as you like.

I file all colour negatives away in a box with a detail sticker
on their bag. B&W go into a proper filing system.

Prints should be sorted, the best placed in albums to show, and
look at when desired. Those not immediately needed should be
kept in sets in boxes in a dry and clean atmosphere. The subjects
and date of taking can be written on a label.

Don't do what a friend in the processing industry tells me he
once saw - 4 different Christmas's on the same 12 exposure film,
and another film with 12 very blurred shots of an ear !!!