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Optical blow up and color timing


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In optically blowing up 16mm negative to 35mm, are you simultaneously timing the 35mm print. I want to make sure I'm not missing some intermediate step.

 

 

Also, what is the advantage in striking a 35mm interpostive from your 16mm negative vs. just a regular positive? Any insights at all about optical blow-ups are appreciated.

 

 

 

Dan

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Also, what is the advantage in striking a 35mm interpostive from your 16mm negative vs. just a regular positive? Any insights at all about optical blow-ups are appreciated.

Dan

 

Hi Dan,

for one thing the interpositive is intended to have the same gama as the original camera negative, whereas the regular projection positive will have a projection gama. That is a massive difference. Yes, you could make an internegative from a projection print, but it wouldn't be nearly as good (by a long shot) as an internegative made from two stages of intermediate film (interpos and interneg).

cheers,

richard

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There are two ways of doing an optical blow-up:

 

A: Direct blow up from S16 negative to projection positive including contact print of the optical sound negative.We usually make a S16 contact print first to check the grading etc. After approval and/or grading corrections the negative is printed on the optical blowup printer and in a second pass the sound area is exposed on a 35mm contact printer. Very high quality but only suitable for very small number of prints.

 

B: IP/IN blow-up: After the S16 contact print for checking the grading, the S16 negative blow-up is done to Intermediate film (5242 or similar) as interpositive 35mm. From this 35mm Interpositive a contact or optical 1:1 intermediate negative (5242 or similar) is made. From this new 35mm intermediate negative standard contact 35mm positive prints with optical sound can be made on high-speed printers at low cost. Some labs will do a S16 interpositive instead but this reduces quality at a lower price.

 

Direct blow up is still the highest quality but makes it difficult to incorporate titles and effects. More and more customers are opting for 2K or HD scanning and recording, prices on DI have dropped and are now similar to an IP/DN blow up if you take the video deliverables into account.

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A: Direct blow up from S16 negative to projection positive including contact print of the optical sound negative.We usually make a S16 contact print first to check the grading etc. After approval and/or grading corrections the negative is printed on the optical blowup printer and in a second pass the sound area is exposed on a 35mm contact printer. Very high quality but only suitable for very small number of prints.

 

B: IP/IN blow-up: After the S16 contact print for checking the grading, the S16 negative blow-up is done to Intermediate film (5242 or similar) as interpositive 35mm. From this 35mm Interpositive a contact or optical 1:1 intermediate negative (5242 or similar) is made. From this new 35mm intermediate negative standard contact 35mm positive prints with optical sound can be made on high-speed printers at low cost. Some labs will do a S16 interpositive instead but this reduces quality at a lower price.

 

How much would each of these options be? Am I right that it's more common to do something like skip bleach using choice B on the intermediate negative?

 

Thank you Richard and Dirk.

 

Dan

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Skip bleach can be done on the direct positive blowup, on the intermediate positive or on the original negative, each step will have a different result. Can't speak for the US filmlabs doing blowups but in Europe it is a fairly specialized business for a niche market. Mainly shorts needing only one or two prints will do direct blowup these days, features needing more than a dozen prints will tend to do DI.

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