16mm to uncompressed file

[Sonya Hamill]

Hi everyone, I shot my senior project on 16mm film and want to edit it on Final Cut Pro and then to add animation to it as well as sound. I want to produce a high quality DVD and possibly later transfer it back to 16mm. I am planning to bring the raw footage to a film lab to telecine it. I will ask the lab to transfer the digital files to my external hard drive. All video will then be transferred to my G4 via firewire for editing. I heard that it is better to request from the lab uncompressed files. What is the best uncompressed file format for this situation? What about DVCPro ? NTSC? Thanks.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Usually something like DPX would be used in this circumstance, but your Mac will be more used to dealing with TIFF. You may also wish to consider just using an uncompressed Quicktime movie, but that is slightly less flexible. You also have a decision to make about colourspace and resolution. For filmout you should try to get 2K (2048x1556-pixel)10-bit files, but be aware that this can be extremely expensive (although putting it back to film is also extremely expensive, no matter what sort of data you use). You may be told that your mac can't deal with 2K - it can, just rather slowly. This may be acceptable to you since it's going to save a lot of cash.

 

Unless you have a powerful Mac with well-connected hard drive arrays you will not be able to replay the uncompressed files, and certainly not if they are 2K film resolution, so you may have to perform an offline/online cycle. FCP is capable of this. You can probably look it up and ask supplementary questions either here or, if it's a software specific thing, somewhere like the Creative Cow forums.

 

> What about DVCPro ? NTSC?

 

That's not uncompressed, and it isn't really a file format either. That's a tape format, but if you were going to do that, you might as well have it put out to miniDV.

 

Phil

[Sonya Hamill]

Thanks Phil! How about DV/DVCPRO - NTSC uncompressed? or TARGA?

Edited March 19, 2005 by Sonya

[Rachel Oliver]

Hi;

 

DVC PRO is ALWAYS compressed 5:1 There is no such thing as uncompressed DVC PRO, it needs to be compressed in order to squeeze the life outta all that lovely film colour and resolution and give you the shadow of it's former self on that tiny DV tape :P

 

Olly

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

At the end of the day there's not a lot to choose between things like TIFF and Targa - they're just various ways of organising uncompressed pixels. When you get up into DPX and suchlike you have the option of using 10-bit depth, which gives you more room for colour correction without seeing banding. 10-bit will take 25% more storage space, but FCP supports it (so I understand) and it probably won't cost any more.

 

Phil

[Chris Burke]

Sonya,

 

Which lab are you using? I am shopping around for labs that offer telecine to an uncompressed file format and would like all the info I can gather. Thanks.

 

 

chris

 

;)

[Sonya Hamill]

Hi Chris,

 

I am thinking of using Crest National Vedeotape and Film Laboratories (323) 462-6696

PO Box 38100 Los Angeles, CA 90038. If you are using a Windows based computer request an AVI umcompressed file. If you have a Mac like me, Phil recomended a DPX file. I have to call Crest and ask them if they can give me DPX file.

 

Sonya

[John Mastrogiacomo]

Hi Chris,

 

I am thinking of using Crest National Vedeotape and Film Laboratories (323) 462-6696

PO Box 38100 Los Angeles, CA 90038. If you are using a Windows based computer request an AVI umcompressed file. If you have a Mac like me, Phil recomended a DPX file. I have to call Crest and ask them if they can give me DPX file.

 

Sonya

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Let us know how you make out. :)