Dirk DeJonghe

It is called gamma, more processing time, more gamma, the whole B&W process is based on gamma measurement via sensitometric strips.

It would be interesting to see how the light leak looks like, say from 20 frames before camera stop (start of new shot) till 20 frames after camera stop. If the leak is in the camera, there would be an increase in fogging due to the camera being stopped (longer exposure time). If the leak comes from elsewhere, the fogging would be continuous. Unless the processing machine uses magazines (ours don't) I could not see where it would come from in the lab. If it would be x-ray damage, it would be pulsating and not parallel to the film edges, very unlikely.

The last official version of Kodak Internegative film 3273 was in fact the 7203 cast on polyester base without the remjet. We pull processed it and preflashed in the printer before picture exposure. Since it is no longer manufactured, we now use 7203 in the exact same conditions with the disadvantage that only 122m max rolls are available. We use the sensitometer tests to adjust flashing and processing to achieve a gamma of 0.50. The older internegative 7272 was in fact designed to be used with low contrast 7252 ECO reversal film, if 7242 or similar projection contrast Ektachromes were used as originals and mixed with ECO, we preflashed the 7242 in the camera before delivery to the customer shoot. 2273-3273-ti.pdf

The old way to print Ektachrome was to use either reversal print film or flashed internegative film and make a positive print from this. There was even Ektachrome Commercial 7252 with special low contrast that could be printed on internegative without flashing. This was how it worked in the 70's and 80's. Reversal print film has not been made for decades. Internegative film is no longer available but can be replaced by flashing camera stock and pull processing. The only viable option from Ektachrome is to do a digital scan and filmout. On the other hand, do you really want to project or have someone else project your priceless original Ektachrome? It is much simpler to shoot negative and make a print.

You also need to check if the fogging gets more intense when the camera stops between takes. Because of longer exposure times, if it is a light leak , the exposed area should be bigger or more exposed compared to the middle of the shot where the camera runs at normal speed.

What I advise for those problems is to get a small LED light that fits into the camera body, light it and sit in a darkroom for 5 minutes to see where light is leaking OUT of the camera.

The typical fault we see often with older Bolex cameras is when the filterholder is left out and light can come in via the filterholder slot on the right hand side of the camera, just behind the lens mount. This would give a vertical fogged area but to the right side of the picture. In this case you have thinner fogged areas on both left and right. I suspect light coming in from a gap between the camera and turret lens mount. The turret is only meant for light fixed focal lenses, or if you use a zoom lens, you were supposed to lock the turret in place. I believe there was even a dummy lens cover you could screw in to hold the turret locked, there was femail thread in the camera body corresponding to the top lens position for this part. This is what I remember from owning a Bolex Rex5 with Vario Switar 16-86mm in the late 1960s.

Tyler Purcell is 100% correct. Loop too big or shifted and emulsion touching part of the magazine. I am most familiar with Aatons but a loop is a loop even in an Arri.

Pull process will mostly bring down the contrast, making it easier to fit highlights and shadows in the same range. Normal process will retain the original contrast as intended by the manufacturer and in photochemical printing, you will have to choose between highlights or shadows, not both.

I still do filmgrading on weekly basis, in the Bell &Howell lamphouse, the white light of the lamp is split by dichroic mirrors in Red, Green and Blue channels, each channel has a lightvalve that can be programmed to switch from one setting to another between frames (almost). This is called an additive light source even if the film dyes are substractive. We have modified dichroic filtersmade by Balzers with a narrower bandwidth than the standard B&H ones, resulting in more saturated colors in the print, but most visible in reversal to reversal prints (printstock no longer manufactured).

Reversal film, B&W or color, was the mainstay in 16mm until the mid 1970's. It was used for television news and documentaries, semi professional and education films, home movies etc. Today, there is very little reason to use reversal film except if you want the special look. Much less exposure latitude, much less choice of filmstocks, much less need for direct film projection, much higher prices for filmstock and processing, etc. The current high quality scanners and affordable editing/colorgrading software choices as well as low-cost digital storage have changed the balance completely.

We also use our Seiki optical printer to make blow-up/reductions (16-35 both directions) but also, with a special lens designed by Isco, blow-up from Super35 to anamorphic Cinemascope. Hundreds of shorts were direct blow-up from the S16 negative to 35mm print. This was very common for festivals, only one print needed unless the film was succesful. We made a contact print to S16 positive to screen and adjust the grading, then the final blow-up. We actually did some films from Super16 to Super35 Interpositive to Anamorphic 35mm duplicate negative to 35mm anamorphic print. Needless to say, all these functions are now history, we still do prints for restauration and artists. The digital intermediate has replaced the traditional IP/DN workflow.

Unfortunately, I had about 40 A-Minima spools available that were offered to customers loaded with fresh filmstock, including processing and scanning. Sold all in about three batches but after three years haven't seen one single spool back for processing and scanning. On the black market, the spools are worth more than the price they paid for processing and scanning. Lesson learned. My intention was to keep the A-Minima owners operational as long as possible.

It is advised to shoot a steadiness test, double exposure of a grid chart.

Hello, I am sure we can help you with film stock and labwork.

Printer lights are used in additive colour systems. The white light of a halogen lamp is split into red, green and blue channels, using mirrors and dichroic filters. In each channel there is a light valve, which is nothing more than a mechanically actuated diaphragm controlling the light output of each colour channel. here is a drawing by Brian Pritchard. The lights go from 0 to 50 with 0 being completely closed. During colour timing, the best value for each channel is determined. 25-25-25 is the middle setting, 31-31-31 would be printed one stop darker, 20-30-30 would be more red, etc.

I am sure there are a couple of A-Minima owners in the US who would want to test your prototype.

Hello Santi, It was agreed from the beginning that both direct contact prints and digital scans to DCP were needed. On his previous film 'Other Side of Hope', the negative cutting and film grading was done first and then the scanning and digital grading trying to match the film grading as closely as possible. There were about 25 direct contact prints made of 'Other Side of Hope', mainly shown at premieres in many different languages (subtitled). For 'Fallen Leaves', we did the 4K scan first and remote digital grading, sending over a preview every couple of days. Negative conforming and film grading was done after the approval of the digital version. Since in both films there was a digital and an analog version planned, I had to grade the digital version respecting the negative as much as possible and trying not to introduce any digital-only tricks. Aki commented that in only a couple of years since the previous film, digital laser projection of 4K DCPs has made tremendous progress, certainly in high-end festivals such as Cannes. We finished the DCP preview for Cannes selection minutes before the train from Kortrijk Belgium to Lille, France left. The trains in France were on strike but the producer Mark was lucky to be allowed on the single train to Paris that ran that night because the train crew needed to get home, no payment was allowed. Over all, my guideline for film and digital grading is to respect the negative as much as possible.

The A-Minima has very specific spools, unlike any other camera. You only need two parts, the center core and the flange, identical left or right. I had about 50 spools in stock, they were all sold by us with fresh filmstock and processing and scanning included. Not one has been returned for processing since several years, the empty spools are apparently worth more than the filmstock, processing and scanning (roughly 150€ each). This is a pity for the A-Minima owners who want to use their nice camera and can't find the spools anymore;

Have you thought about making Aaton Minima 200ft reels? They are plastic, left and right sides are identical, with a core in the middle. They are nearly impossible to find. I can supply one if you want, or someone in the US. This would be a very useful and fun project that would make you many friends around the world.

Since we began scanning with our Scanstation two years ago, we noticed the same lateral unsteadiness on Super 8 scans while Standard 8, 16 and 35mm were rock steady. It turns out there is a 5 frame repetition of the lateral movement. After talking to Kodak and Lasergraphics, this is what we found: 1. Kodak perforates the S8 film cutting 5 perfs at a time and the 'knife' cutting the perforations is slightly skewed, not perfectly straight to the edge of the film. When asked why this is not yet fixed, Kodak replied 'it is the consumer division'. 2. The Scanstation adjusts each frame by looking at the perforations and adjusting both horizontal and vertical position of the frame. Because of previous complaints, the scanning software now has an option to only do the vertical positionining of the frame, improving the unsteadiness introduced by the skewed perforations. 3.Using the Resolve Stabilize function, most shots can be easily stabilized. You need to do it shot by shot.

We had several of these for lab work, but they all have gone west, any recommendations on new equipment? It must be useable for working at arms length one-eyed, single handed, not for shooting deer at night.

Thanks for all the attention. The film was shot entirely on 5219, processed normal. Timo Salminen is the DOP; I have worked on the previous Kaurismaki film 'The Other Side of Hope' as well. What do you want to know about the technical parts of this film?

We do this workflow several times per week, mostly to 35mm camera negative, but several times per month to 16mm. We also make 16mm optical sound negatives and contact prints with optical soundtrack; Most of our work in this area is digital-film-digital to add analog feel to digital images. We accept any resolution from HD to UHD and higher.

I got CH-DTPQ-01 and happy with quality and service, I asked a couple questions and they were promptly answered. If you order via their website, you can get 10% off, the code is PROAIM10 (don't know if it still works).