Jeff Kreines

I was surprised at the poor dynamic range of the clip, and the lack of shadow detail. For scanning prints and reversal original, one needs to be able to capture everything on the film without having to choose between not clipping the whites and capturing all of the shadow detail without compromise. This has been a long-term goal of Kinetta's, as we deal with a lot of reversal original and with prints (often there is no original to be found in the archival world). Here are some samples of scans of contrasty footage: http://kinetta.com/range.html Here you can download actual frames from real scans at full res. The TIFFs take longer but are higher quality than the JPEGs. http://kinetta.com/full-res-frame-downloads.html Resolution and dynamic range are important -- as is gentle film handling. I am always amused when I see machines with 20+ rollers in their film path. Someone must get paid by the roller! ;-) Jeff Kreines kinetta.com

Super 8, believe it or not, really benefits from high resolution scans. HD and even 2K can't capture enough. Download these test we did a while back: http://db.tt/5SlAVkbT Or go to kinetta.com for samples. if you get CNN-HD, try to see OUR NIXON this month, or in theaters in larger cities starting August 30th. About 70% of the footage is Super 8 shot by HR Haldeman and Dwight Chapin and John Erlichman, of Nixon's staff and later Watergate felons, all scanned at 3,3K, 12-bit. Here's a piece about the scans: http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/dv/feature/airs-cnn-august-our-nixon/63162 While lot of the footage is badly shot, it looks great on a big big screen -- seen it at Lincoln Center and MoMA and on HDTV. A lot of the 16mm transfers which we didn't do, look far worse than the Super-8. There's a new facility opening in NYC later this month that does Kinetta scans in all formats at 3.3K and soon 5K, as well as restoration, grading, and DCPs, with very artist-friendly prices. Jeff Kreines kinetta.com

Fred at As'Image needs to update his web site! He's had a Kinetta for over 2 years! If you have questions, contact Kinetta directy! Jeff Kreines jeff@kinetta.com

As'Image has a Kinetta Archival Scanner and does great work in any format, including 8/S8/9.5. Contact Fred at fred@asimage.fr

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

Thanks for the kind words. I scanned about 26 hours of Super-8 film for OUR NIXON. Much of it was badly shot, out-of-focus, and about 15% of the footage existed only in very poor quality S-8 contact prints, which are both mushy and contrasty, with blown out whites and blocked up shadows. (It's quite obvious in the film -- if there's no detail in the whites you can't get it back.) There are several Kinettas in the US, and others in South America, Europe, and the Middle-East. In the US, some are owned by archives that don't do outside work, one is owned by a company that does large projects for government and educational institutions, so only Movette in San Francisco and (opening later this month) Kinetta Archival do outside work. Kinetta Archival does 3296 x 2472 scans from any format, and will be adding 5K scans later this year. They also do grading, DCP packages, and restoration. You can reach them at archival@kinetta.com Rates are very affordable, too. Jeff Kreines Kinetta