Dirk DeJonghe

Mark, No, it wasn't us, but working on it. It was another UK artist where we did some serious repair work.

Cutting the negative is still an option, but to remind you of the limitations: on 35mm dissolves are usually prepared as separate A-B rolls to interpositive/dupneg to be spliced in the OCN. Similar with superimposed titles. You still have to make an optical sound negative (usually Dolby SR-D) and have a proper Dolby mix for that; SD telecine for offline editing is a good choice, Keykodes should be burnt-in as double-check with the EDL conversion to Keykode output. You don't cut a negative twice. Since you are in PAL country, SD telecine is best to 25fps even if you shoot at 24 fps. This is order to retain a 1:1 relationship between film frames and video frames. Direct prints from 35mm OCN are as good as it gets, the limitation is you can only do RGB grading on the entire frame, no secondaries or masks. No reframing, or speed changes, etc.

Having 10-14 stops on the negative will not mean you can show this much in the final product (print/DCP/Bluray, etc). At one stage you will have to make a choice which part you will show to the public; It is nice to have the choice.

One major item to consider: Most if not all negative (except special order Estar base) is on acetate base, can be spliced with cement, tape or ultrasonic (horrible). All current color print stocks are on polyester base, can only be spliced with tape or ultrasonic, certainly not cement. Splicing acetate to polyester can only be done with tape splices. In an editing situation (flatbed editing or similar) a tape splicer would be preferred. In a negative conforming, cement splices are mandatory. In prepping for TK, cement splices are best but tape is acceptable. In the cinema, tape splices are the norm for assembling the reels.

We have been using Hammann film splicers (with film cement for acetate negatives) for many years, both in S16 and 35mm. The splices have almost no perceptible added thickness and pass both the telecine gate, the scanner gate and the optical printer gate with absolute steadiness. Ultrasonic cleaning will not affect the splices (tape splices get elongated at each pass). If you want the best, this is it. http://www.hammann-filmtechnik.de/html/film-cleaver.html

Just keep in mind that film shrinks when aging. The manufacturer may aim for slightly longer pitch so that it will remain useable over a longer period.

Kodak cat 1079326 unused in original carton, fits 5.5in diameter darkroom lamp (round). 20 € each, can be shipped by mail. Several available. For use with infrared goggles or infrared cameras in complete darkness. Send PM for details.

The 2994 short perforation pitch is used for negatives that will be printed on a contact printer, the print stock being 3000. Since the printing sprocket wheel on the printer has a circumference of one foot, the difference in pitch will compensate for the thickness of the film layers, the print stock being the outer layer; the great majority of professional films have always been short pitch (16+35mm). Most cameras will run fine with 3000 pitch, maybe make more noise (XTR/SR types). Most of the Kodachrome reversal films shot on Bolexes was 3000 pitch. Film on triacetate will shrink due to aging. That is the reason some manufacturers prefer to supply polyester stock for little used lab films. Even if the emulsion keeps for many years (low speed lab stocks) the acetate base will shrink and make the product worthless. Short of lubricating the unexposed film, which should be done at the factory, you could try to polish and wax the film pressure plate in the camera.

If you want to make it a B-Wind, you need to rewind it ONCE in the darkroom, emulsion in, to a small camera core.

50 ISO daylight stock on Polyester base, similar emulsion to 7201.

After Spielberg had made "Schindler's List", everybody wanted to shoot B&W again. Modern cameras are made to be as noiseless as possible. Modern color stocks have black remjet backing which is very efficient as antihalation but also contains a lubricant. This remjet backing is removed in color processing during the prebath and rinse. Since B&W process has no provision for this remjet removal; Kodak applied some kind of lubrication to the B&W negatives to make them run smoother in modern cameras (XTR/SR2 etc). I have found that Orwo may not have applied this lubricant and this would mean that older generation cameras would not have problems but newer generation would.

Is this overkill? if you take the MTF chain: lens + filmstock + scanner lens, you will find that 2K is a good match for S16. Renting extremely good quality lenses and scan at 2K will do more good than to scan 4K from S16 shot with medium quality lenses. Also resolution isn't everything, you have contrast, flare, etc, both in the camera and scanner lenses. Not to mention the grading and image processing in post-production. I personally have done 2K scans from S16, cropped to 2.35 format and recorded back to 35mm anamorphic. This film was shown as closing film at the Berlinale.

We still make 16mm prints with applicated optical sound tracks. We just delivered a job for MOMA NYC. I don't know what you consider to be a reasonable price. You need to have an optical negative first (we can provide this).

Most of my customers end up with a 100-125 ISO sensitivity for the 5222 after testing. This was also confirmed with cross-testing with Kodak Chalons where we exchanged sensitograms and processing. There are many things you have to know before you embark on a serious B&W project. Test before shooting and speak to knowledgeable people, it will save you a lot of grief.

I have the factory optical reader on my telecine, but I have other Sondor equipment, they make first class equipment.

Have a look at Sondor Soundhouse.

We still do 35mm direct blow-ups. Mainly for existing cut negatives were additional prints are required. Quality is still highest of all flows if you have a good negative. Most S16 we do follow this workflow now: 1. Process, telecine with keykodes burnt-in to SD or HD ProRes (best light). 2. Customer edits and gives us EDL plus Quicktime reference with keykodes burnt-in. 3. Depending on shooting ratio, full selected takes are extracted and scanned to 2K DPX Log files. 4. Grading on Baselight. 5. Export to Quicktime HD and/or 2K DCP and/or 35mm recorded negative. Needless to say, DCP prints are much cheaper than 35mm, no optical negative or Dolby license is required, etc...

Probably more a commercial question than a technical one?

Keykode yes, Aatoncode not that I know. Dirk 'Aatoncode since day 1'

Unless you have a very small amount of footage, it is still best to do a telecine (SD or HD) from your rushes to Quicktime or whatever format is most suitable for your editing. When basic editing is complete, the EDL will be used to scan only the selected shots, frame accurate with handles for further postproduction and final grading. Telecine is usually done to Quicktime Prores these days while proper scans are to 10bit or higher LOG DPX, big difference in storage and hardware required to playback smoothly.

We have never had any problem with X-ray damage to films shipped by Fedex, UPS DHL etc. All damage was seen on films carried as checked luggage on passenger flights.

Can't have 2048x1540 in 2K since the height must be 1080 (for DCP).

You can have any format you want as long as the height is 1080 pixels OR the width is 2048.

I found that this keychain LED light did not fog Kodak ECP2 color positive print film when fitted with the yellow LED. http://www.photonlight.com/led-flashlights/photon-micro-light-ii-led-keychain-flashlight/

Looks like an improperly adjusted telecine transfer to me. Are you sure you didn't have the blue filter in place to shoot with daylight film under tungsten conditions?