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Difference between Xena Dynamic, Spirit scan and Scanity scan


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Hello everyone

 

I just finished a short film, it 35mm and I would like to get it 2K scan.

 

I have done a lot research and was wondering what's the difference between

 

1. Fotokem, Technicolor's Spirit 2K scan

2. Cinelab's Xena Dynamic Perf scan

3. Cinelicious's Scanity Scan

 

I know that Scanity Scan is Pin Registered and it is probably the best among those three. I was also told that Spirit is old and is wondering is Xena better than Spirit?

 

Thank you guys!

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I’d also look at the Lasergraphics Director that Metropolis NYC has. I’ve been doing many projects with them lately and have liked the results.

 

I’ve liked the Xena results too. They handle grain a bit differently. I’d do some tests.

Edited by Kenny N Suleimanagich
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The spirit 2k is almost a dailies machine, compared to the other two. If you are going for a 2k finish or even HD, then I would use either of the other two scanners. You would want to scan it at 4k or more for the best possible quality.

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Hey

 

The DFT Scanity is a 4K Line Array scanner which uses machine vision perf registration, not mechanical pins, it is supposed to be quite excellent but is a very expensive machine.

 

We have a Spirit 2K at Cinelab now, I am only going to run it in 1080P 4:4:4 as we have several other Data scan solutions. The Spirit can make an excellent scan but IMO it is best used as a dailies and HD machine.

 

The Xena Dynamic-Perf machine is a 4K Color Cmos sensor and uses Machine Vision perf stabilization, like the Scan Station, Kinetta, etc. it has no sprockets or pins. We chose the 4K color sensor over the more common 5K cmos sensor for superior noise performance. The Dynamic Perf 4K can scan 8mm, 16mm and 35mm.

 

The Xena Pin Registered machine uses Oxberry mechanical pin registered gates, it is a true RGB and IR machine which scans each RGB color layer at full resolution sequentially. I just updated the sensor on it to a 5K 14-bit 7.4micron pixel monochrome ex-Kodak CCD. We looked at the 5.5micron pixel 6.6K ex-Kodak sensor and the dynamic range and noise level of the 7.4micron 5K sensor is about as good as it gets. The 5K Pin Registered Xena can scan 16mm and 35mm.

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Also the Xena Dynamic Pefs scanner runs at about 15fps scan speed, so we charge less for the scan. This is not a case of cheaper is not as good it's a case of the more film we can get through the machine means we can price it for less. We have scanned 8mm, 16mm and 35mm for Major TV shows, international ad campaigns and music videos i.e high end commercial work in 2K and UHD-4k.

 

The Xena Pin-Registered runs at 2sec per frame, so we charge allot more for it.

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I can't speak to the Xena scanners, because I haven't used them myself - Rob is the expert there!

 

We have a 35mm Northlight scanner. If you're interested in a quote, message me or send me an email through the contact form on our web site. Quality wise, I'd put the Northlight ahead of the Spirit and on par with the Lasergraphics Director (though that assumes we're talking about scanning neg - the Director will do a better job on print), especially if you're dealing with spliced film. It's pin-registered and uses a line sensor, but doesn't have the splice bump problems you'll get with the Scanity and Spirit.

 

Why the Scanity is held in such high regard is kind of beyond me. It's essentially a very overpriced Spirit. There are much better new scanners on the market, both in terms of quality and price.

Edited by Perry Paolantonio
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Well I think the Scanity is a bit more than a over (actually it cost allot less than a Spirit 2k or 4K) or under priced Spirit.

 

It has a series of line arrays for each color so it is combining multiple scans of each color.

 

It is not a machine I would choose but it does make True RGB 4K scans very fast and I assume the Line system is low noise.

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Ok, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. It *is* a nice scanner. I just think you'd be nuts to spend the money they're asking for it - for one thing, it has the same problems with splice bumps that plague the Spirit, Shadow, GoldenEye and other continuous motion line scanners. I can't tell you how many films we have to fix this sort of thing on, in restoration. It's a huge pain in the neck and is inherent to the type of transport/sensor they're using, when you have spliced film. They're great scanners for Dailies and uncut film, no doubt, but they're much less desirable than the Lasergraphics, Xena and other area sensors, or even pin-registered line sensor scanners like the Northlight and Imagica.

 

One thing that really bugs me is that they advertise HDR capability, but that's only for B/W footage. They basically use each of the lines in the sensor for different exposures and then they merge them into an HDR output file. That's something the Director does, but the way the Scanity is designed, that can only work on B/W because you have to use the sensors that would normally be used for separate color channels for different exposure levels. It's clever, but limited.

 

The Director is less expensive, and does true RGB +IR scanning, and is multi-flash HDR (9 flashes total, three for each color channel), so it will pull more out of contrasty prints and reversal than just about anything else out there, color or b/w. I just don't get the Scanity, I guess.

 

-perry

Edited by Perry Paolantonio
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Each of the R, G and B "line" Arrays are 10 or 20 lines so I think the "HDR" can work in color on it but that is with the same light output from the lamp so each of the individual lines in each RGB array can be set to specific sensitivity.

 

The Director or Xena Pin Registered machine can take multiple exposures of each color of each frame with different light output from the lamp, so "True" HDR and basically a RR,GG,BB + IR pass, I don't think the Scanity can do IR.

 

Also it is limited to 4K and cannot be changed for newer sensors as they become available, Area sensor systems are more flexible this way and can make a better scan but at the cost of speed if you want true RGB scans.

 

The Scanity is allot of $$$ and It does not fit into our business model, at all.

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Each of the R, G and B "line" Arrays are 10 or 20 lines so I think the "HDR" can work in color on it but that is with the same light output from the lamp so each of the individual lines in each RGB array can be set to specific sensitivity.

 

When they announced that at NAB a few years ago I talked to them at the show and it was just B/W HDR. The current datasheet on their site doesn't indicate anything has changed. Could be wrong, but if that's the case I'd think they'd be playing that up a bit.

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Huh ok.

 

I think it is kind of a Bugatti of a machine, it's most expensive so it's the best.

 

The reality is that there are allot of ways to achieve the same basic result and many display situations where the output of any modern scanner will be very similar, regardless of cost.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 2 months later...

The university of Zurich did an "Investigation of Film Material–Scanner Interaction"

 

https://barbaraflueckiger.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/flueckigeretal_investigationfilmmaterialscannerinteraction_2018_v_1-1c.pdf

Unfortunately this study is so full of technical errors that its usefulness is questionable. Also it's pretty clear from some of the conclusions drawn and the scan samples made that the operators were doing things incorrectly in some cases and the authors didn't get some basic stuff right.

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