Retro 8 Home Scanner sample clip

Anthony Schilling · July 24, 2013

Here's a short sampler of some 100D S8 scanned with my new Retro 8 scanner. Made some color and gain adjustments with the scanner software before capture. Scanned at 720P, exported as native 720P image sequence. Rendered with Sony Vegas as 720P MP4. This scanner is awsome, started experimenting with negative yesterday too and it's going to work very well for that. PS the projector sound was added in post.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Anthony Schilling

Alessandro Machi · July 24, 2013

The colors look terrific, the registration looks really good, both vertically and horizontally.

I still see some exaggerated contrast issues however. Would like to see a wide angle back lit shot with people in it in which the faces are a relatively small part of the image to see if it can hold the contrast values on the facial features.

Zac Fettig · July 24, 2013

Thank you! It looks beautiful! If you get a chance, post some negative clips. I'm dying to see a few.

Anthony Schilling · July 25, 2013

The colors look terrific, the registration looks really good, both vertically and horizontally.

I still see some exaggerated contrast issues however. Would like to see a wide angle back lit shot with people in it in which the faces are a relatively small part of the image to see if it can hold the contrast values on the facial features.

I don't think I have any shots like that. Typically I try to shoot 100D for what it is and where it excels. I tested transferring some negative film yesterday, in which the scanner software can do, and all ill be shooting in S8 from now on. With the negs I'll be having to add contrast.

David Cunningham · July 25, 2013

Yeah, as I expected it works "well" but has contrast issues that make it far inferior to high-end film scanners. It's still a great home tool for home transfer work. But, from a business perspective, it's not ideal.

Anthony Schilling · July 25, 2013

Yeah, as I expected it works "well" but has contrast issues that make it far inferior to high-end film scanners. It's still a great home tool for home transfer work. But, from a business perspective, it's not ideal.

Another's shooting conditions and choices will vary. I like my reversal to really pop which is why i use it in the first place and tend to go for brightly lit subjects. With very little air moisture the summer sun in the Pacific NW is almost blinding... believe me, I have never had lower contrast results with 100D from the Shadow or any other high end scanner under the same conditions, I would actually say the contrast is really good on this for what it is. You also have some flexibility with the scanner software before the scan and in post.

Edited July 25, 2013 by Anthony Schilling

David Cunningham · July 25, 2013

I hear ya Anthony... it's still a very good transfer.

It's nearly impossible to find a true-to-original transfer of reversals like 100D. The Shadow and Spirit are probably worse than the new scanner you have now. The only machines I've seen come close are the ScanStation from LaserGraphics and the Arriscan at NoLo. After them, the next best is probably the Millenium at Pro8mm. After that, the rest are just very disappointing.

Have fun with your Retro8. I wish I could afford one. :) It would be a lot of fun.

David Cunningham · July 25, 2013

Oh, and very much looking forward to how it works with negative stocks.

Jeff Kreines · August 5, 2013

Dynamic range is a huge problem for most telecines and low-end devices. With prints and reversal original, it's especially important to capture everything on the film without having to sacrifice either shadows or highlights.

The Kinetta Archival Scanner's Hypergamma technology lets us scan even the most contrasty film without compromise. Download the TIFF frames from here to see actual frames at full resolution.

http://kinetta.com/range.html

Jeff Kreines

kinetta.com

Anthony Schilling · August 6, 2013

Dynamic range is a huge problem for most telecines and low-end devices. With prints and reversal original, it's especially important to capture everything on the film without having to sacrifice either shadows or highlights.

The Kinetta Archival Scanner's Hypergamma technology lets us scan even the most contrasty film without compromise. Download the TIFF frames from here to see actual frames at full resolution.

http://kinetta.com/range.html

Jeff Kreines

kinetta.com

I could get closer to that look but to be honest a lot of those samples look a little milky. I like my blacks black and colors to pop. The Nixon footage was supposedley scanned with a Kinetta and it looked really good. But the trade off is that the Kinetta costs exactly 32 times what I paid for my Retro 8. The added benifits don't outway the extra costs for personal or small business use. Look at my sample again and tell me if the Nixon footage was really all that signifigantly lower contrast?

Edited August 6, 2013 by Anthony Schilling