You can even use a magnifying glass or a loupe, which is a small magnifier, to view the film. Some magnifying glasses also come with a light on the end to illuminate your film while you enjoy the home movies.

You can use a loupe or a large magnifying glass to view 8mm film, but this method only provides a brief preview. Carefully pull out the film beyond the leader (white starter tape) to see what's on the first few frames of footage. You'll need a high-powered magnifying glass of at least 10x for this to work.

Watch 8mm | Prime Video.

First, look to see if the canister is labeled. If not, look to see if there's still tape sealing it shut. If neither of those shortcuts are working, just take a look at the frames on the film. If there's little miniature pictures in them, they've been used and we can digitize them.