Enlightening! Thanks for this!.
-Sandy Maliga
On Dec 27, 2011, at 8:51 PM, Jeff Kreines wrote:
There is a common belief -- which, like a lot of common wisdom
should be looked at skeptically -- that small format film lacks
enough useful "information" to require scanning at resolutions
greater than pillarboxed HD (1080 x 1440) or cropped HD (1080 x
1920). Some feel that for Super-8 and 8mm, NTSC, PAL, and 720P are,
in the words of an engineer I know, "good enough."
But I don't think anyone really tested this properly -- they just
said what seemed logical enough to them. It's fine to say "that
looks pretty good at 1080 x 1440" but those who say this probably
did not try scanning the same film at higher resolutions to see if
there was an appreciable difference.
I did some simple tests, and honestly was quite surprised at the
results. Even when the final release format is HD or less, the
advantages of high resolution scans are obvious.
I put together a little PDF you can download, with both Super-8 and
grainy 16mm samples scanned at different resolutions. It was
written in response to a report by the Swiss group Memoriav, which
was doing tests of small format (for them this includes 16mm)
scanning.
Here's a link:
http://db.tt/iriz5nyY
Here are links to full-res TIFFs of the files used -- zoom in on
them and see what you are losing with lower resolution scans. Note
that the files are mostly over 20MB each, so don't try this on your
cell phone.
http://db.tt/8cw0YUXU
http://db.tt/xizfMgLq
http://db.tt/VvwuPSog
http://db.tt/LR0Phcy2
http://db.tt/BofN5ls8
http://db.tt/aPXrsxAf
http://db.tt/JSC7Vf2C
http://db.tt/SGYbJiWb
http://db.tt/X1flduqJ
Let me know what you think.
Jeff Kreines
On Dec 23, 2011, at 2:22 PM, Ken Paul Rosenthal wrote:
Kevin,
For future reference, if you simply digitize your super 8 upfront
at: Pro Rez 422 HQ 1080p, 1920x1080, 23.98 fps,
you'll be entirely up to spec and not need to do any converting for
your timeline. Furthermore, digitizing to a
compressed file will allow you to easily edit without freezing up
your system. As for projection quality, I've been
on the road for a year a half with Crooked Beauty--which was
transferred on the above specs--and have seen
it projected on a the best (and worst) systems, the former in a
huge theater on a commercial sized screen
and it looked stunning. I spent 3 months researching tech options,
and the consensus from all the folks I consulted
with was that uncompressed is overkill for super 8 because the
frame size only contains so much 'information'.
So spend the money upfront during the transfer (I highly recommend
sitting in with owner/operator Phil Vigeant at
Pro 8) and it will be smooth sailing down the line.
Ken
www.crookedbeautythefilm.com (Academic)
www.crookedbeauty.com (Public)
www.kenpaulrosenthal.com
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