Boris Kalaidjiev

@Maxim Lequeux DHL actually has this special film service that garanties that the shipments won't be X-Rayed. We contacted them for a shoot that we had in SE Asia and the quote they gave us was nearly the same price as a normal person flying back and forth between SE Asia and Europe. But I guess if the production does have the money for it, this would be the safest bet.

Thank you everyone for you replies and helping me understand all this better!!

I am interested in the Director for scanning S16mm negs for an upcoming feature and not print film archival purposes. I am a little bit confused between the 3 flash RGB and 3-flash HDR. I guess the first one combines all 3 flashes and get the normal picture (I imagine it a bit as the old broadcast cameras that had 3 CCD Prisms) but if you wanted to do HDR does that mean it flashes 3 times “R” then “G” then “B” (to get more details in shadows, mid tones and highlights). 1) So for every HDR frame it scans it 9 times? The lab that I am talking to has a Director 10K, I believe it is the old 10K the one that @Perry Paolantonio was referring to as having a 5K CMOSIS imager. I asked them about HDR and they told me that they can’t do HDR because they haven’t purchased the licence for it. 2) Does this mean that the Dynamic Range of the scanner would be very small and roughly how many stops would you think it is? 3) What other questions should I ask them about their scanner if it does or doesn’t do that are important for neg scanning? Because I am not sure what a Director’s basic package comes with. These are just specs I found on a website for a Director, stating Yes or No for each one. I am not sure if they come standard with it or not and not sure if I need them or not. -Kodak Infrared (IR) Digitall ICE Dustbusting (DICE) -Diffuse Light to Optically Remove Scratches from Images 2D Optical Registration for Perfect Stabilization -HEPA Filter -Positive Air Pressure System Sorry for the dumb questions I know its best to just do a test just trying to first get my head around all these scanners and all. Thanks!

Is it for sale?

This is becoming very confusing on knowing who has what. I guess most labs probably wouldn't have upgraded to the newer Sony imager yet. Why are you saying it was so bad? Sorry for the dumb questions just very new to film.

My question was not so much orientated about resolution but if there are any other major differences between them from a real world test. They have probably changed the imager so it might have better highlight recovery or better HDR etc.

Do you think there is a big difference between them appart from a bit more resolution?

Hello, I am a little bit confused because when I am looking at a labs specs on their scanners they list down the Director as being 10K resolution. But when you go in the Laser Graphic website they list the Director as being 13K. Is the Laser Graphic 10K an older version to the 13k? If so is there a big difference between both of the, appart from the resolution? thanks a lot

I think I have some spare 35mm film cans that I could use. Not sure if it‘a a bad idea because the 16mm short end will be wiggling around inside unless I put some buble wrap or something haha

Thanks for the info!

I’m trying to do a steadiness test on both of my mags tomorrow and was hopping on using some daylight spools. Does this sound like a bad idea?

Hello everyone, would the 100ft daylight spools also work on a XTR Prod? thanks!

Can anyone confirm if you can use a normal Kodak 100ft daylight spool on a Aaton XTR Prod? thanks

Hi Tylor, Thanks for the reply! 1) Ground glass focus is basically making sure that when you’re focusing through the viewfinder that your actual picture on your film plane is in focus, right? 2) For the scratch test how much footage would you roll? And would you be shooting a white wall for instance? 3) For the steadiness test how would you rewind the film on the Aaton XTR Prod if you didn’t have any professional lab equipment at your disposal? 4) What do you mean by the aperture to ground glass relationship, what does that mean and what exactly are you testing there? Thanks a lot,

Hello everyone, I recently got my hands on a Aaton XTR Prod and was wondering on the most important tests that I have to do on the camera to make sure that everything is working correctly. I am asking on what sort of tests and maybe a methodology on how to do them. I have gone through a lot of the forum about steadiness tests and so on but I think it sort of changes a little bit for every camera. 1) Steadiness test 2) Scrtach test 3) Focus (make sure that the ground glass is focusing on the same plane as the lens?) 4) Try out the diffrent frame rates? Am I missing something and if Yes or No can you help me understand the test deeper. For instance how do you rewind film in an Aaton Magazine (for a steadiness test)? I am just trying to figure out how and what exactly to test and do everything in a day because afterwards I have to ship everything to the lab which is outside my country so I am also trying to keep costs down. Thank you all for helping me wrap my head around all this, Boris

I’m looking for one magazine are you by any chance selling one?

How do you re-wind the film in the mag of an XTR Prod if you wanted to do a steady test? thanks

I checked with Steve from Du All Camera and he said he is currently not offering HD video taps for XTRs.

I am currently trying to decide on who to use for upgrading my Aaton XTR Prod's video tap to HD. I talked with AZ spectrum they're fully booked until Jan, VP seem to be a bit more free but I still haven't spoken to AM Camera. AZ Spectrum vs Visual Products vs AM Camera Can anyone here recommend one over the other any pros and cons...? Any information will be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

@Bryan Becker I have an Aaton XTR Prod with an SD color video tap. I bought a blackmagic a/d convertor plugged in a Ninja V, Atomos Shogun, Small HD and non of them worked I couldn't get a picture through. But when I use an old analogue mon there are no issues. After a few days of banging my head against the wall and reading through the internet I figured it out. Apparently the BM a/d convertor if it receives an SD signal it will only convert it so SD-SDI and for some reason most modern monitors now dont support SD-SDI which I think really stupid. SO in order for this to work on my cam I would have to have a BM a/d convertor and another BM box to upscale the SD-SDI to HD-SDI hahah

Are you by any chance selling the mags?

@Tyler Purcell I meant if anyone knew any feature films that were shot on 500T without using in camera correction filter. I know that Hélène Louvart AFC shot Never Rarely Sometimes Always entirely on 500T but I am not sure if she corrected the daytime scenes in camera or in post.

@David Mullen ASC you're saying they Dante Spinotti shot Heat on 500T without correcting the daytime scenes with an 85B? What I am trying to figure out is if you're shooting daytime interiors can you get away with shooting on 500T without correcting for it in camera (because you lose 2/3 of a stop). Is it possible to just shoot with a tungsten stock and then shift the WB later on in post?

Hello, im looking for one or two XTR Prod Magazines. thanks

If you had to shoot an interior daylight scene on 16mm could you get away with just shooting on 500T and then correcting for it in post (shiftinf the WB to daylight) rather than putting on an 85B and loosing 2/3 of a stop? My main question is if you had to compare 16mm 500T (shot in daylight and corrected for in post) and 16mm 500T + 85B (shot in daylight) will there be a difference? What would the disadvantages to this be apart from the loss of sensitivity? thanks!