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The Retroscan does a pretty good job...


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I scanned a 16mm test roll on a Retroscan.  Here is the video. After putting on YT it only looks so-so.  Scanner produces more sharpness than you can get on YT. Although I don't know much about this, just learning the ropes. Maybe there are some tricks and coughing up some $$ to YT.  Vimeo looked worse than YT, so I took it down. I don't like to sign my name to poop.

This is all raw scans. No post processing.

This is a frame from the end where the film was punched. (Kodachrome is 1941 vintage.) I didn't do any single frame focusing. Just ran the film through from an earlier test film. Then had to reduce it to put on the forum. I was surprised at the sharpness of the holes. Not flatbed scan quality, but still better than I thought I'd get from this unit.

1797319633_kc_g_003.2048x1536_02182lr.thumb.jpg.7ac225e74ae16d14616e1dec6d4441b7.jpg

The scanner does not do clear edge film good. Had tons of trouble with clear edge film. Very jumpy. You have to buy a more $$ lasergate to read clear film. Hopefully get one in a few months. The camera sensor also had some artifacts that show up when you scan white leader. They don't show on images. Dirt on the sensor. But not from me, just how it came out of the factory shop. Disappointing.

I like that it can export single file TIFF or JPG. 

If you got some interesting documentary / underground / historical / stag 16mm that you want scanned I will scan for free...but you share digital files with my archives.  I have to like the film and it has to be short. 400 to 800 foot reels.  (I got ADD and get bored scanning this stuff.) I prefer silent films. I would have to run sound films through a projector to capture the sound then marry to the film. I prefer not to run other people's films through the projector. But if it is something of interest I may do sound, but narrated sound only. I have some interesting narrated 'art student' films from the 40's. Girl goes in the woods, strips down, etc. The films say they are for art students only. I will work on one of those soon to see about the sound. 

Write direct if you want free scans...but Google my name and see my work first. Do you think your film will fit my likes? I don't mind home movies if they are interesting and time capsule material. And no harm in running them by me. You pay shipping both ways, other than that scans are free. If you want single image TIFF then you supply a hardrive or flash drive.

Film is fascinating stuff!

w1000w@aol.com

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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Here are a few additional Retroscan tidbits.

I scanned another 16mm film in JPG - BW 379 feet at  2048 x1536. (That is the max res for 4:3) The file size was 17.5 GB for 15,160 JPG files and took about 21 minutes to convert into single image files once it was scanned. (Maybe faster with better hardware. I got a $300 Walmart Computer.)

The compressed AVI file for the 379 feet JPG scan was 7.05 GB. I don't know if it would have been any different in TIFF. I will have to do a TIFF scan sometimes to see what it produces. I expect it to be about 4 times bigger in space than JPG. I need to get more storage worked out. 

The Retroscan can scan in compressed and uncompressed AVI and QuickTime MOV in 4:3 and 16:9 JPEG, BMP, PNG and TIFF. So far just ran a few reels in JPG. I will have to see what it all means by testing different options. The specs on the Retroscan say 8BG RAM. My computer has 4GB RAM and seems to work OK. But have not tried giant reels and all the other scanning options as yet. I have not scanned any 8mm, will give it a try down the road.

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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If you are interested in learning about old time film handling here are a series of 16mm film I put up at the Internet Archive. 

https://archive.org/search.php?query=film handling 16mm teoli&and[]=mediatype%3A"movies"

The AV Geeks had one of these projection films. They said they sell DVD's of the film for $10. I contacted then, they said it was a low res DVD and asked what I was using it for. I told them to put in my film archive and to watch. After I told them that, they would not reply to my emails and would not sell me a copy. Worked out OK for me. I got 6 projection films for next to nothing.

….F the Geeks.

 

 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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Here is a scan of a splice detail on a film scanned in TIFF. Single TIFF files are about 3.28mb in 2K 4:3 on the Retroscan. (Although this sample was 4mb.)

Click on image to view larger.

590616040_flap_001.2048x1536_0001947.jpg.418fb428b982af4ae57980354329279f.jpg

This was not done as a single image scan, but was taken out of the scan sequence of the  film. So it is representational of what you would get when scanning a movie. (Plus I had to reduce it to post on the forum.)

I didn't do any special focusing. Maybe it can be done slightly sharper if the film was fine tuned for focus before running. But I think it is a good sample as-is for what the Retroscan can do for sharpness.

I hope to give you a rundown of the Lasergate in a few months.  As I mentioned previously, the standard Retroscan 16mm gate does poorly with clear edge film. A good portion of the film in my Archive is clear edge. So consider what type of film you will be scanning when buying a Retroscan to get the right configuration.

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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I did some experimenting with TIFF scans vs JPEG. I scanned a 232 foot 16mm mixed reel of a 1939 bear hunt of Kodachrome and BW. The scan produced 9,219 files. TIFF = 77.5 GB and JPEG = 17.2 GB. The individual files varied, but averaged 9GB for TIFF and 1.98 for JPEG.

The TIFF vs JPEG showed no difference in viewing.

Raw scan

bearhunt_001.2048x1536_09140 tiff 45.jpg

If you have a scanner it is very easy to bang out films as raw scans. Although prep and cleaning of the vintage film takes time. This one took over an hour for repairs and cleaning. Tons of breaks, scotch tape splices, etc.

 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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Here is the 16mm bear hunting film scanned on a Retroscan 2K scanner.

They hunt bear, deer and rabbits. Possibly shot in PA or the Tri-State Ohio Valley area, but could be anywhere in the mid-Atlantic / East Coast region. 'Atlantic White Flash' gas station sign clearly visible.

The home movie that was spliced together with scotch tape. Parts of the film were suffering from vinegar syndrome and warped. Lots of breaks and blown sprocket holes.

Some nice vintage Kodachrome color footage mixed in with the BW. Much of the color is remarkably good. Kodak changed the recipe for Kodachrome in 1938 and most of it has held up pretty good in dark storage. Prior to '38, most of the Kodachrome has color shifted. Film stock codes (color and BW) date the film as 1939.

16mm Kodachrome had an ASA rating of 10. That made it pretty hard to shoot at dusk or dawn. Some of the footage in the film is greatly underexposed and had to be pushed in the scan to view the images.

All scans raw, except for some of the underexposed BW film which was pushed.

I was going to work on Bushman's Holiday, an 'art student' nudie film with narration from the 1940's. But the sound film has all clear film sprockets as opposed to black film sprockets. The standard Retroscan will not scan clear sprockets well, so will have to wait for the Lasergate. I'm itching to get going with sound scans. It is like a puzzle putting it all together.

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Someone on the Forum dismissed the Retroscan as nothing more than a toy, implying it as useless. The Restroscan is no toy, it can produce usable scans, much better than a Wolverine for example. If you are a pixel peeper demanding the best quality scans, then you won't  be happy with the scans. But for my use, it works out O.K.

Now, if I hit the lotto I will buy a Lasergraphics scanner for my archival work. With the Lasergraphics I'd also have to buy a house or rent an office to house it. No room here. The Retroscan is a small footprint scanner measuring 12 x 15 inches at the base. But for a scanner that cost less than the on site set up cost for a Lasergraphics, the Retroscan is a good tool for the budget conscious small gauge film archivist. The company that makes them said they sold 15,000 units worldwide. I have never seen a used one come to market as yet. I guess the users are satisfied enough with them. And if not satisfied, nothing anywhere near the price range for them to buy anyway. 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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