Jump to content

Film Stability, Registration pins and Scanning


Raymond Zananiri

Recommended Posts

Noobee question:

I hear that cameras with registration pins help with film/frame stabilization. 

What exactly are the symptoms of an "unstable" operation of a camera without registration pins?

Does that mean that the spacing between frames on the film will vary? And if yes, couldn't this be corrected post scanning by aligning all the frames via software? In such a case, would that negate the value of a more expensive camera with registration pins?

thank you all for the help. I am exploring which camera to buy and that would help with my decision. Namely, Arri IIC vs IIIC.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Certainly having a stable camera was far more important in the days before DI and the advancements in post software. I’m not familiar enough with that aspect of filmmaking to say whether digitally adjusting the spacial position of each image to correct instability has any drawbacks, I suspect if there are they’re not major.

One factor to think about though, is that unsteadiness can occur not just between frames, but also as each individual frame is being exposed. In other words, without a registration pin the film can move slightly during the exposure phase, causing a slight softening/blurring of the image. This is much harder to correct in post. With standard frame rates and shutter angles, motion will appear in individual frames as a somewhat blurred image, but this helps create a realistic sense of movement when played back, as opposed to unsteadiness within the camera gate, which will just lower the apparent resolution.

Having said all that, a well maintained 2C is pretty stable even without a registration pin, so I wouldn’t be too concerned about stability. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Site Sponsor

I have an Aaton XTRprod (no Reg pin) and a few bolex and B&H (Eyemo Filmo) 16mm and a 2B and a 2C they all make very steady images.

I also recently got a PhotoSonics 1PL 500fps capable pin reg 16mm camera.

Scanning registration has improved greatly, what used to be telecine has been replaced by new optical machine vision registered scanners.

Here is an example of a dual pin pulldown dual pin registered 260fps 16mm on the PhotoSonics shot scanned to 3.4K on the DCS Xena 6.5K:

And shots with the XTRprod scanned on the Scan Station to 2.5K:

One pin reg and one not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...