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Another ScanStation Sample


David Cunningham

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Hi All,

 

Here is another Super 8 ScanStation 2K scan sample. This footage was shot this past summer on Vision3 50D (negative), Ektachrome 100D (reversal and Velvia 50D (reversal). I used a combination of a Pro814 (rebuilt Canon 814 AZ from Pro8mm) and a Canon 1014 XL-S. The scan was a flat 2K scan by Gamma Ray Digital in Boston. Grading and editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro CC on a MacBook running 10.9.

 

Be sure to view it at 1440p. The grain is still squashed and muddied by Youtube compression, but it's not as bad as long as you set it to 1440p. I uploaded a 2K Prores 4444 file.

 

I've been very happy with the ScanStation for my own home movie projects. I still like Pro8mm (Millennium 2K) and Spectra (Spirit) for my wedding work because they are very good at grading and I get an easy to work with file back. Doing flat passes on the ScanStation ultimately yields better results, but lots more man hours of grading and rendering.

 

Pro8mm now has a 2K upgrade for their Millennium and the frame grabs I've seen look great. Looking forward to testing it out.

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I just wanted to throw out there this Provia 100F Super 8 sample.

 

Huge thanks to Phil at Pro8mm for giving me the opportunity to be part of this film test! This may have been a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shoot Provia 100F in Super 8. I got to use the remaining test batch for some home movies.

 

I love the fine grain, gentle softness and rich but accurate colors of this stock. It's too bad it's not regularly available. :(

 

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Hi Jose,

 

sadly it's not readily available. This was just a test run from a 100ft bulk roll of still 35mm cut down by Pro8mm as a test only. I just got lucky enough to get the left overs. :)

 

Because if the limits of his slit and perf machine some of the length was wasted so it only comes in about 45-47 feet. But. It was still fun to shoot. I live the look. It looks like 70s 16mm to me.

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About $100k for a Scan Station, Kinetta is more, digitizstion is affected by Moore's law and systems like the servo in a Spirit Or Cintel machine which used to occupy racks of cards can be done on a single controller. Likewise CCD and CMOS (I think Scan Station is a cmos sensor) camera chips have gotten better and or features which were once just in sensors out of the price range of a scanning machine have been incorporated into more reasonably priced sensor/camera systems.

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The ScanStation is a great product, remember seeing it at a trade show few years back. I love the optical lineup for the registration, works great.

 

The Super 8 stuff looks awesome, thats what modern film stocks can deliver. I wish back in the 80's and 90's when I was shooting Super 8, that kind of stock existed.

 

Good stuff! Love the 1440 mode on Youtube, I'll have to experiment with that more often. ;)

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Never heard of it. I Wonder what the price tag is on a unit like this. Seems like there's quite an evolution in film scanners lately... moving away from the fridge size units to light weight models that scan to files instead of video.

 

Hi Ian,

 

Rob is about right on the price. However, it's still the size of a fridge! It's about 4' wide and stands at just under 6' tall. With the 35mm option (which ups the price substantially), it's slightly taller because the central camera/lens housing is larger.

 

We're extremely happy with it so far - we've had ours in house since about August of last summer and both Super 8 and 16mm look fantastic on it. Great dynamic range, too, which makes it possible to do really high quality scans of reversal and prints as well.

 

-perry

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Makes me want to have more kids so I can shoot more Super 8!

 

There is no better home movie film format that Super 8 (and a little 16mm!). It just captures a feeling better than the starkness of video. You'll have that forever and so will your kids.

 

ScanStation does look great although the compression on YouTube is harsh even at that high resolution.

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Makes me want to have more kids so I can shoot more Super 8!

 

There is no better home movie film format that Super 8 (and a little 16mm!). It just captures a feeling better than the starkness of video. You'll have that forever and so will your kids.

 

ScanStation does look great although the compression on YouTube is harsh even at that high resolution.

I know what you mean. I've been shooting S8 for 11 years steady but have a 3yr old daughter now who is the subject of 90% of what I shoot. I showed my home movies to some friends recently (S8 Vision3 on Bluray) and they were mesmerized. I know they weren't pulling my chain because i meant to just show a couple of minutes, thinking that my home movies wouldn't be exciting for anyone else, and they were like "no this is amazing, leave it on!" I doubt the same material on HD video would have had the same effect.

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Makes me want to have more kids so I can shoot more Super 8!

 

There is no better home movie film format that Super 8 (and a little 16mm!). It just captures a feeling better than the starkness of video. You'll have that forever and so will your kids.

 

ScanStation does look great although the compression on YouTube is harsh even at that high resolution.

 

Will,

 

I've seen your reset Vimeo posts. Your kids are still plenty young enough for home movies to be fun. I love your most recent fall footage! Very jealous of your 35mm!

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I know what you mean. I've been shooting S8 for 11 years steady but have a 3yr old daughter now who is the subject of 90% of what I shoot. I showed my home movies to some friends recently (S8 Vision3 on Bluray) and they were mesmerized. I know they weren't pulling my chain because i meant to just show a couple of minutes, thinking that my home movies wouldn't be exciting for anyone else, and they were like "no this is amazing, leave it on!" I doubt the same material on HD video would have had the same effect.

I have one co-worker that's the same way. I always preface the Super 8 showings with "you don't have to watch this" or "I understand if you're busy". But, she loves him (my son) and the films. :)

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Will,

 

I've seen your reset Vimeo posts. Your kids are still plenty young enough for home movies to be fun. I love your most recent fall footage! Very jealous of your 35mm!

Thanks David!

 

I started with Super 8 but went down that rabbit hole to 35mm pretty quickly. I actually love regular 8mm for the same reasons I originally loved Super 8. The roughness, out of focus, grain and burn-ins. Super 8 is almost too good now!

 

I definitely recommend people look at Eyemos for some 35mm fun.

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Hi Gabriele,

 

David got ProRes 4444 files from us, I believe, which are not LOG. The ScanStation can do 10 or 16 bit LOG from negative, but only as DPX.

 

When we do a "flat" scan of print or reversal, we're basically making sure the full dynamic range is captured, and nothing is clipped or crushed. The result is a relatively low contrast scan that will require a second pass in a color correction system to really pull out all the details.

 

While the scanner can do primary grading when the image is captured, it's really better to do that later on a properly set up grading system where you have a lot more control. The idea is get everything that's on the film in the scan phase, and then tweak later.

 

-perry

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