Frank Wylie

If you are working with DaVinci Resolve, the best place to get that sort of advice is on the Blackmagic Forum; https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/ If you are using another program, I would seek out information on a good forum for that package. Not exactly earth shattering advice, but my opinion...

Sounds like they used a mains-locked or otherwise non-sync transfer system for the soundtrack. If they charged you for this, I would ask them to "make it good"...

Or, you can do this... https://www.adorama.com/tcbatehubi.html?origterm=tecnet+laird+bate-hub1&searchredirect=true

I would suggest Adorama or B&H Photo. Freestyle in LA also carries this enlarger: https://www.freestylephoto.biz/67670-Beseler-Printmaker-67-Condenser-Enlarger

Simon, Yes; Abel is correct. I am getting lazy in my proofing and auto correct has done me no favors in that regard over the decades... You are probably correct, but the explanation given to me (decades ago) was thickness.

Great! If you used a heavier grade helicoid grease, switch to the lightest one you can find and that may solve the issue you mention...

Not in 35mm; in 16mm, yes. I shot on an Aaton LTR that had to have the gate spacing retuned by Able Cine when you switched between B&W negative and Color Reversal. The camera had just been serviced by Able Cine and we were going to shoot some camera tests on cheaper reversal, but the camera would jam constantly. We called Able Cine and they told us the camera would have to be adjusted to run the extra thickness. We just shot negative camera tests instead; much cheaper than 2 more service visits. That was in the early 1990's...

Yes, that's the problem! ?

I really did not need to see that... arrggg...

I won't encourage you to squirt any kind of oil down into a lens, period! If you do decide to give it a go, here's a great tutorial on how to do it: https://richardhaw.com/2017/02/19/repair-micro-nikkor-105mm-f2-8-ai-s/ You can pick up an "Ugly" example of the same lens from KEH Photo for about $90 instead and have a 180 day return guarantee if it isn't up to snuff. I've used Richard Haw's tutorials on several Pre-AI and AI Nikkors and, as long as you go slow and document what you do, it has worked fine for me. YMMV

You could get in contact with Tommy Aschenbach of Colorlab in Maryland, USA. http://colorlab.com/contact-us.html Tommy has a system of using QR codes to replace both printer tapes and datafiles on the BHP modular printers. He might be able to help you.

Another thing you can do to make the film more suited to copying is to counter-wind the film (base to emulsion or emulsion to base) very carefully to a core on a rewind with a tight-wind attachment. Do this after your treatment with Vitafilm or Filmrenew softens the film a bit and let it set for a few weeks to a month. This procedure tends to somewhat counter the cupping of the film, but only if it has not reached the very brittle phase. It should be copied when no further improvements can be noted, as the improvements tend to reverse themselves over a brief period of time. Especially bad examples can be sandwiched with polyester leader and counter-wound to a tight-wind, but be aware it doubles the diameter of the final reel and uses a lot of leader. Again, it needs to sit for an extended period in a room of no lower than 50% humidity to have an effect; dry air is not good. Redimension Treatments that were pioneered and used by the (now defunct) Restoration House of Canada DID relax the film and somewhat restore the flexibility of the film BUT only for a very short period of time before it shrank back even MORE and became even more fragile. These processes (both soaking and hyperbaric chamber) were only used just prior to copying the film and was obviously very time sensitive. You had about 3 days to a week to copy the film, then it often disintegrated or turned into a hockey puck as the solvents evaporated out of the film base. There is no known way to reverse shrinkage on a permanent basis, nor is there a "cure" for Vinegar Syndrome; Both are irreversible and only copying will save the content.

The biggest order I ever made was for 4 million feet of print, interpos, dupe neg and sound recording stock when we got an unexpected grant from the National Film Preservation Board. Kodak was very happy. That will never happen again AND that stock lasted us about 5 years...

In my experience ordering lots of lab stock, Kodak has always been very willing to do just about anything IF you are willing to buy the entire emulsion batch run.

Content wise, it's essentially a mash-up of the Kenneth Anger book "Hollywood Babylon". Students of Film History will recognize simulacrums Clara Bow, Fatty Arbuckle, Douglas Fairbanks, Dorthy Arzner, a blended Von Stroheim/Von Sterberg character, Pathe Leherman and other Silent Era personalities that figure largely in the scandals of Early Hollywood. Historically, the representation of technology is great, but telescopes the shooting methods of the 1910's into the period just prior to sound introduction in 1926. No one but the cheapest Skid Row Production was shooting on open stages like those portrayed in the late 1920s'. Much of the open studio shooting is clearly modeled on the Sennett Studios of 1915 (ish), complete with a drug-dealing "Count". It's more of an overly-long love letter to Hollywood; beautiful but flawed like the characters it portrays. Certainly worth watching; I had a lot of fun. Just my personal opinion.

You should really examine the film element itself to evaluate the problem. It could have been a temporarily hung-open vacuum squeegee on the film processor that left a water streak on the film to be baked-in by the dry box (happens sometimes when a stapled splice hits the squeegee) or it might be a physical scratch on the element itself. If it's a water streak, you can have the film rewashed (simply run back through the processor again) and it should remove the streaking. If it's an emulsion scratch, you can also have the film rewashed and it can sometimes improve the situation by slightly "healing" the emulsion. The swelling/shrinking of the emulsion tends to smooth-out the rough edges of a scratch and if it's not too deep, can improve or even totally camouflage the damage, but it has to be a very light scratch... In my experience, wobbly scratches tend to be a transport issue; a mis-threaded keeper roller or similar problem. Since the defect disappears after 50 feet, it suggests whatever caused the issue rectified itself within that time period. If it is an actual scratch, you will probably never find out exactly what caused the issue, but I highly suspect that it is a physical handling issue caused during thread-up or initial transport during camera loading, processing or scanning. Camera gate scratches tend to be dead-straight; not wobbly. Others may disagree, but this is my experience...

Not an expert on this but this video might give you some ideas... https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-use-the-lut-box/

Mine is bone-stock, which I do prefer, but I have nothing against the converted type. I also got the schematics and manuals for mine, which will come in handy I am sure. Does make for interesting problems in my basement as 220 3 phase is not a standard feature of most homes! I'll look into a phase converter; maybe that will work. It's not like you are welding or turning a large blank of steel on a lathe...

Sweet! Is that a John Monseaux build? Certainly looks like one...

Like to see a picture of that! Mine was at Monaco in SF and did a large portion of their Super 16 and Regular 16 to 35 blow-ups on features of the 90's. It probably also did the Zapruder Film reconstruction in the 90's, but the prior owner is unsure if it was mine or another he sold did that actual job. I DO have a R8 wetgate... might be...

I understand what you are saying here, but I do miss it. So much, I bought a Producers Services 2101 with wet gate shuttles just to sit in my basement, restore and tinker around with it. One could make the same argument for Steenbecks, Moviolas and even Mitchells, but the machinery and the dying skill set of operation still holds an allure for some of us...

Problem is, no one know exactly what "enhancements" are being applied by the BluRay player or the Monitor to the compressed signal. Too bad it can't all be bypassed as an option...

Yeech! Pretty nasty oil residue there! I would guess any non-detergent motor oil would probably work, but I would check with Dwight Cody to be sure. Used to be if you cracked that nylon drive cog you were out of luck, but now with 3D printers a replacement is possible if you can model it in CAD...

Wow. It really needed a change!

On the first point, there is a timeline if you scroll down; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motion_picture_film_stocks On the second point; here's an old thread on the subject: