Scanning at a Per Frame Price

Justin Cary · May 25, 2011

I just had some film scanned at Scan Your Film in Chicago on their 2K Spirit and the results were outstanding! For $.01/frame at HD and $.02/frame at 2K it was a no brainer. I'm really curious about other places in the country (US) taking this approach to scanning film. If only we could convince one of you guys/gals with a Super 8 gate to charge this way :) I'm sure there are two main issues. 1.) Too busy to consider at the moment 2.) There aren't very many Super 8 gates on Datacines out there.

Here's the test roll SYF scanned for me. I'm relatively new to shooting film but I think this transfer looks brilliant!

Justin Cary · May 25, 2011

Also wanted to point out that Nolo Digital Film in Chicago has the same $.02/frame on their ARRIscan. I didn't ask about an HD option but it's worth looking in to.

Will Montgomery · May 25, 2011

This would allow scanning at an almost "dailies" price then working with your favorite colorist on the final edit. Good to know.

Sample looks good for a straight scan, I think they are doing a little more than just scanning... looks like they are taking at least some time on the color which is nice.

Justin Cary · May 25, 2011

I think they are doing a little more than just scanning... looks like they are taking at least some time on the color which is nice.

Yes indeed... Ryan seems to be very aware of the work that flies out the door. He's basically doing the equivalent of a "Best Light" scene to scene for free. I've never ran a fancy scanner like this so I'm not entirely aware of how much actual chair time that takes. I'm currently producing two local commercial spots on S16. Honestly, I never thought I'd be able to get the post down enough to do that in this "everybody in the world has a digital camera and shoots commercials" society we're living in. I'm stoked. My next project will wrap in a couple of weeks so I'll post the results here.

Send this guy some biz! Keep low prices on great scans ALIVE!!!

Justin

John Sprung · May 25, 2011

There was a time when scanning was 2 - 3 *dollars* per frame.... For special effects in features.

-- J.S.

Will Montgomery · May 25, 2011

There was a time when scanning was 2 - 3 *dollars* per frame.... For special effects in features.

And Spirits were $1.5 million, not $75k.

Justin Cary · May 26, 2011

And Spirits were $1.5 million, not $75k.

Will,

Can you point me in the direction of a Spirit 2K Datacine for $75K? I'm not being sarcastic, I haven't really looking, just assumed they were in the $500K range. If there's one out there for $75K I'll buy it right now!!!

Justin

Chris Burke · May 26, 2011

finish edit in Boston has an arriscanner for 250 per hour which I believe is just a hair cheaper. Either way, it is great to see cheaper and cheaper scanning prices.

Will Montgomery · May 27, 2011

Will,

Can you point me in the direction of a Spirit 2K Datacine for $75K? I'm not being sarcastic, I haven't really looking, just assumed they were in the $500K range. If there's one out there for $75K I'll buy it right now!!!

Justin

Not that anyone would actually buy one via eBay, but now there's one with a daVinci for $125k. The daVinci panels alone are worth $15k ($40k a couple of years ago) even with the software only being $999 for Mac now. The precision on those panels blows away the aftermarket ones. There was one on eBay last week for $99k. I've spoken to a telecine house that were ready to let one go for $70-80k but it may need some work which could bump it up another $10k. It shall remain nameless until I ask them if its ok to mention it.

The problem with a machine like that is that even if you get it for $75k, one part that goes bad could run you $50k to get a new one.

These machines were bought for over a million but probably generated $5 million in billing over the years. However, the demand for film scanning is dropping fast for houses outside of LA.

Justin Cary · May 27, 2011

This is obviously not a debate on which is better... Digital or Film. I don't really care to be honest :) I love the workflow and organic nature of film. The beauty with production today is that we have a choice. If a company hires me to shoot a series of web promos that are, by nature, more "run-and-gun" I'll grab our DSLR setup and go to work. If someone asks me to produce a branding style commercial for them that needs a certain emotion to grab the viewers attention I usually opt for film.

That being said, I own an Arri SRII with a set of primes. With the pricing I mentioned above I can purchase film, process it and transfer to 2K for less than I can rent a RED or Alexa setup... especially if the production will last more than a day, and let's be honest, most do! I'm happy because my investment in film will last much longer than I had originally thought. So with the price of film cameras going down and the price of scanning headed south we may actually see more, shorter, projects shot on film. That's exciting to me!

If I had a scanner I would provide the same style of service for others that want to shoot film for the look, feel and quality that comes with it. That would be a killer gig!!!

Justin