Interpreting this Sensitometric Curve

[Chelsea Craig]

Hi everyone,

I saw a similar post in here, and most of the responses were along the lines of "Just do a test."  

However, my research on a particular film stock, ORWO NC500, is for an academic paper, not for shooting a film.  If the time and money were in place to get this stock from Germany, I would, but the paper is due in about a month, and that isn't an option.  I feel I need a fundamental understanding of how to interpret this sensitometric curve chart anyway, since I am writing about it.  I've studied the Kodak Sensitometric Workbook and feel I've a fair understanding of how these charts are created and used.  But for clarification, it would be amazing to hear from someone here who thoroughly understands and interprets these charts.

The attached chart is not nearly as specific as the ones Kodak provides.  To the best of my understanding, it does not appear that this stock has a very steep curve, which would be expected, as test images indicate it has a low dynamic range and contrast.  The blue curve is the steepest and most dense channel, indicating that this emulsion has a blue color bias even in shadows.  I think this means that reds and oranges would appear muted, especially in low light.  (right?). 

What do you see here in terms of contrast and color solely based on this chart?  Do you think my interpretation of the gentle curve here accurately indicates the low-medium contrast characteristic?  Does the green channel indicate anything about the midtones?  

Thank you for any input, it is so appreciated while I research this unpopular film stock!!

[Robert Houllahan]

I think your interpretation is about right and how this film stock looks in real world use.

I have a roll left over and I cold shoot a step wedge and DLAD on the 16mm film recorder for you.

I have found that it looks better when down rated a stop.

[Chelsea Craig]

Hi Robert,

That would be incredibly cool if you could shoot and share that!  Thank you for the generous offering, and yes, I've heard it looks better when rated 200-250 ASA.  🙂

[Robert Houllahan]

On 5/28/2025 at 11:39 AM, Chelsea Craig said:

Hi Robert,

That would be incredibly cool if you could shoot and share that!  Thank you for the generous offering, and yes, I've heard it looks better when rated 200-250 ASA.  🙂

Let me see about recording a standard wedge I do on NC500 early next week and I can post the full res version link to it. I have recorded a few music video projects on NC500 for artists who wanted a gritty look and I did the exposure cal at the same setting as 200t on the recorder for those.

Edited May 30, 2025 by Robert Houllahan

[Tyler Purcell]

Yea, I've shot a bunch of NC500 and even tho it's bitterly crap and shouldn't be used for anything since it has crazy emulsion inconsistencies AND doesn't even register properly in cameras, it for sure preferred 200ISO over the BOX rating of 400. 

With that said, many stocks do prefer to be over exposed, this isn't an unusual thing. It makes them a bit more crunchy contrast wise and pushes up the middle part of the curve just a tiny bit, which helps retain a bit more detail in the blacks. If you aren't dealing with direct sunlight or have anything where highlights will be a problem, over exposing by 1 - 2 stops does have an interesting look. 

[Chelsea Craig]

19 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

Let me see about recording a standard wedge I do on NC500 early next week and I can post the full res version link to it. I have recorded a few music video projects on NC500 for artists who wanted a gritty look and I did the exposure cal at the same setting as 200t on the recorder for those.

Awesome, that would be really helpful to see its dynamic range, thank you 😊

[Chelsea Craig]

On 5/29/2025 at 11:25 PM, Robert Houllahan said:

Let me see about recording a standard wedge I do on NC500 early next week and I can post the full res version link to it. I have recorded a few music video projects on NC500 for artists who wanted a gritty look and I did the exposure cal at the same setting as 200t on the recorder for those.

Hi Robert,

Just checking with you, any chance you've been able to shoot a wedge on NC500?  I'd love to see the gradient to get an idea of its contrast.

 

Thanks 😊

[Robert Houllahan]

7 hours ago, Chelsea Craig said:

Hi Robert,

Just checking with you, any chance you've been able to shoot a wedge on NC500?  I'd love to see the gradient to get an idea of its contrast.

 

Thanks 😊

Trying to get to it hopefully tomorrow.

Lab ahs been busy and our office man has been out with flu so I have had to fill in there.

 

[Robert Houllahan]

 

[Robert Houllahan]

I actually used this roll to record a music video today that was shot on MiniDV and then I recorded it to the NC500 and it is a weird dirty but really kind of cool look.

I setup the recorder basically the same as I would record 250D in terms of exposure time.

Here is a link to the 2.5K ProRes444 scan. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dTjtvhzJ38iYqzm8B3dWywCyzHxtrCGi/view?usp=sharing

[Robino Jones]

11 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

I actually used this roll to record a music video today that was shot on MiniDV and then I recorded it to the NC500 and it is a weird dirty but really kind of cool look.

I setup the recorder basically the same as I would record 250D in terms of exposure time.

Here is a link to the 2.5K ProRes444 scan. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dTjtvhzJ38iYqzm8B3dWywCyzHxtrCGi/view?usp=sharing

Thanks Robert for sharing this test!

I assume your Mitchell 16mm is converted to 1R? I find mine a little unstable sometimes and thinking of adding some sort of removable edge guide. Wondering how stable is yours and if you did anything else to it. Also how many FPS do you film record at, on my setup I do 3 fps right now, probably could go faster but haven't tested yet. Thanks again for the footage.

 

[Robert Houllahan]

2 hours ago, Robino Jones said:

Thanks Robert for sharing this test!

I assume your Mitchell 16mm is converted to 1R? I find mine a little unstable sometimes and thinking of adding some sort of removable edge guide. Wondering how stable is yours and if you did anything else to it. Also how many FPS do you film record at, on my setup I do 3 fps right now, probably could go faster but haven't tested yet. Thanks again for the footage.

 

The Mitchell camera I built the 16mm film recorder around is converted to 1R and is generally very stable / steady with Kodak film. The Orwo perforations are not well punched and that makes this test a bit less stable than a typical recording on Kodak would be.

I record at about 2FPS on this system from DPX frames.

[Chelsea Craig]

13 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

I actually used this roll to record a music video today that was shot on MiniDV and then I recorded it to the NC500 and it is a weird dirty but really kind of cool look.

I setup the recorder basically the same as I would record 250D in terms of exposure time.

Here is a link to the 2.5K ProRes444 scan. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dTjtvhzJ38iYqzm8B3dWywCyzHxtrCGi/view?usp=sharing

God bless!  Thank you very much for sharing this test! I will certainly acknowledge you in my thesis and send it to you if you are interested.

Also, what a cool and unusual technique for creating a creative aesthetic for your music video!

[Robert Houllahan]

I will post some 16mm recording wedges from other stocks next week for comparison, the Kodak vision stocks perform much better.

[Tyler Purcell]

Thanks for the test Robert, cool stuff! 

I was gonna ask, is your 4k 16mm recorder S16 or still N16? 

[Robert Houllahan]

On 6/19/2025 at 7:42 PM, Tyler Purcell said:

Thanks for the test Robert, cool stuff! 

I was gonna ask, is your 4k 16mm recorder S16 or still N16? 

I am working on having two gates for it right now a Std 16mm which is what we have been recording with and I got a whole Mitchell 16mm movement with the gate I am having EDM cut to S16mm so I can offer both Std 16mm or Super 16

 

[Mark Dunn]

6 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

I am working on having two gates for it right now a Std 16mm which is what we have been recording with and I got a whole Mitchell 16mm movement with the gate I am having EDM cut to S16mm so I can offer both Std 16mm or Super 16

 

Why would anyone want a S16 film-out as it was never a projection format, or am I missing something?

[David Mullen ASC]

1 hour ago, Mark Dunn said:

Why would anyone want a S16 film-out as it was never a projection format, or am I missing something?

I wonder that too... 20 years ago or more, I would have said you would want to film out vfx, digital titles and transitions back to S16 negative to cut into the original negative for making an optical printer blow-up to 35mm... but no one does that anymore, so what's the point of a film recording back to S16?

[Tyler Purcell]

15 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

I am working on having two gates for it right now a Std 16mm which is what we have been recording with and I got a whole Mitchell 16mm movement with the gate I am having EDM cut to S16mm so I can offer both Std 16mm or Super 16

Sweet! Very exciting! When you got that done, let me know plz. I would love to test it. 

[Robert Houllahan]

On 6/21/2025 at 5:13 AM, Mark Dunn said:

Why would anyone want a S16 film-out as it was never a projection format, or am I missing something?

Allot of productions especially Music Videos and Commercial spots are recording to film and re-scanning for the look.

I know the Colorist Mafia will way they can do it with a LUT but that has not proven to really be the case and there are hundreds of recordings we have done for this purpose.

[Mark Dunn]

13 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

Allot of productions especially Music Videos and Commercial spots are recording to film and re-scanning for the look.

I know the Colorist Mafia will way they can do it with a LUT but that has not proven to really be the case and there are hundreds of recordings we have done for this purpose.

Digital to film-out to scan- someone's done a really good selling job there- all that work!

Edited June 24, 2025 by Mark Dunn

[Robert Houllahan]

7 hours ago, Mark Dunn said:

Digital to film-out to scan- someone's done a really good selling job there- all that work!

It sells itself honestly.