Noob Lab Scanning Question

[Shean Mard]

Hello all, first time poster so bare with me. 

Ive recently shot a few 100' on my K-3 using BW and color to test out the camera & some of my lenses. Ive come across the Lab FotoKem and contacted them. When they replied I realised how unprepared I was because they required a lot of information that I didnt know (didnt even understand what they meant, such as scanning information, 10 bits, dpx or prores 444 or 422, raw/log and further encoding. I really don’t know what some this means or what I should go for. I did some research but couldn’t really find anything specific on S16mm scanning.

 

 

• If I just want a viewable file for my black and white to edit on premiere (laptop is not strong at all) what should i go for
• Since 'm shooting on S16 on an aspect ratio of 1.66.1, what is the preffered scanning options or does anything change
• Could i scan in 4k and get a mp4 file for BW
• For the color film, if I want to grade the footage on my mac on premiere, what codec should i use
• Since I’m down this rabbit hole, where can i go to get a better understanding of all this

 

Sorry If this just seems like a bunch of random questions, but I just want a better understanding. Thanks all

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I'm shooting on S16 on an aspect ratio of 1.66.1, what is the preffered scanning options

[Tyler Purcell]

Most film scanners capture in an uncompressed single frame format like DPX in most cases. So if you want a pro res or some sort of i-Frame codec for editing, you'll most likely have to transcode that yourself. Premiere does take DPX and can transcode to a workable file. If your computer is fast enough, you maybe able to edit the DPX right on the spot, but coloring in premiere is horrible so getting it to look good maybe difficult. I use Resolve for everything these days and works great with the DPX workflow. 

Super 16 is native 1.66:1, so yes anyone who is scanning will give you an oddball resolution format which reflects that aspect ratio. 

You can get a 4k file no problem from Super 16, but be aware there is no resolution past 2.5 - 3k ish. So you're just wasting money on the higher resolution scan. 

I would call Cinelab in Boston or Color Lab in Maryland and just tell them what you want, they'll take care of everything from processing to transfer. Fotokem is the last high-end lab in the US, not the right place for a single roll of 100ft film. 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Tyler Purcell

[David Mullen ASC]

DPX files are uncompressed,  not compressed, as far as I understand. ProRes is a compressed format in various amounts of your choosing.

What you ask for depends on what your final delivery format will likely be. 1080P HD, 2160 UHD, 2K cinema, 4K cinema, etc. Though you can certainly convert one format into another, though it's always better to downconvert than upconvert.

For anything to be color-corrected later for a master, you'd usually ask for a log gamma scan, traditionally this been in 10-bit Cineon Log gamma. But then you'd have to apply a Rec.709 viewing LUT in editing in order to see normal contrast. But then you'd color-correct from the log files.

Working with uncompressed DPX files might be too ambitious, you might be better off getting ProRes 4444 files, 10-bit log. I don't think they have to be in a standard video aspect ratio (i.e. 16x9 with a pillarbox for 1.66), I think they can be in whatever size you want but it might be easier to just get them in 1920 x 1080 HD or 3840 x 2160 UHD with a pillorbox (black side borders) to retain the 1.66 : 1 shape.