SAMPLE 1 - THE TRUTH ABOUT FRAME SCANNING

We have received numerous requests concerning what is the best film transfer process to achieve the highest quality result. Many people inquiring on having their films transferred have been told that frame scanning is superior to all other transfer methods and the only acceptable way to convert films to a digital format. This is not correct as it will depend on the quality of equipment and technical ability of the operator more so than the type of equipment being used. We felt it was important to conduct our own investigation and provide the results for people to compare quality and be better informed about which process to use. It's essential that people see for themselves with real examples of what is being offered in the industry, rather than "We are the best don't accept any other method except ours" approach that is misleading and confusing to the public.

TEST COMPARISON BETWEEN THE CINE-TRANZPRO AND FRAME BY FRAME SCANNING:

A sample 8mm film from the 1950's was selected and sent it to a large well respected Sydney based transfer company to have the film scanned, frame by frame. This particular company was selected as they use the highest quality professional scanning equipment available in Australia. We then used our own manufactured Cine-TranzPRO to transfer the same film to compare the difference in quality. The above comparison will help you to decide if the results justify the added cost of frame scanning. The two samples displayed above vary slightly due to the different optics used and white balance settings that can give film either a blue or yellow tint if not set correctly. Remember, always ask to see a sample video clip of the service providers work, not just a still image capture, as many will be projecting onto a wall and claiming to be performing frame scanning or other high end transfer techniques.

From our observation the technical quality of Frame Scanning is virtually identical to the result achieved using our Cine-TranzPRO which captures in real time. Hopefully this test comparison will demonstrate that frame scanning is not the claimed 'only transfer method' Remember to insist on seeing transfer examples before making your selection of service provider. If they hesitate to offer a sample then its possibly because their transfer quality may not meet professional standard. Both the frame scanning and Cine-TranzPRO systems provide excellent quality so pricing, reputation, experience and location will often be the determining factor.

Remember, that some film has been poorly captured by the original photographer making it impossible to achieve a perfect result with any film capture system. An experienced operator can work wonders in post production to correct bad lighting, colour problems, flashes between frames, burned frames and to some degree poor camera capture technique.

STILL IMAGE CAPTURE:

The image below is a single frame capture in full PAL 720x576 resolution comparing the sharpness of capture between the two systems. Width and height have been cropped slightly to fit onto our presentation. Apart from some colour variation the two images are almost identical in sharpness and clarity.

SAMPLE 2 - FRAME BY FRAME SCANNING COMPARISON - OLD 16mm FILM

This example film is a very old documentary from Indonesia we converted using the Cine-TranzPRO system. Our client wanted the best possible conversion. At the time we felt the quality could possibly be improved and out sourced it to be scanned frame by frame. Some sections of the frame scanned version were worse and other sections slightly better than our Cine-TranzPRO version. The side by side comparison has been included below to allow you to decide which is the better quality. Pricing was nearly twice the cost using the frame by frame method and the audio track could not be reproduced due to the way frame scanning works. The frame scanned version displayed more grain than the Cine-TranzPRO however some sections of film were a little sharper than the Cine-TranzPRO, especially where the film displayed camera shake. There are pros and cons for both versions however one is not vastly superior to the other and choice will depend upon price and preferred quality.

FILM FORMATS:

There are three main film formats commonly used for home movies. Eastman Kodak developed the 16mm format in the early 1920’s. Some ten years later in 1932, the 8mm format was introduced. This was actually called Double 8mm at that time because the film was actually 16mm wide and needed to be turned over in the camera to expose each 8mm width of the film. During processing the film was split and joined together forming 50ft lengths of Standard 8mm film. A lesser known format was the 9.5mm film first introduced in 1922 by Pathe. Film in this format still exists today although fairly rare and are generally only copies of commercial films of that era.

1965 saw the introduction of Super 8mm film with sound capability later added to this format during the mid 1970’s. Considering the actual size of the image area on the 8mm wide film stock (approx 6mm x 4mm) remarkably clear images were possible. The development of Super 8mm offered a slightly larger image area with marginally better image quality. The following is an example of the three most popular film formats.

FILM TRANSFER TO DVD

Technological advancements in the area of photography have seen a number changes in the way we record moving images. Analogue video spelt the death of 16mm and 8mm film as a recording medium. MiniDV had a brief innings of just a few years and we are now moving into the age of High Definition stored on memory chip which will no doubt be replaced with something smaller and better in just a few more years.

The need to keep up with this relentless advancement in technology has given rise to the film and video conversion industry. During the 1980’s many people had their 8mm and 16mm film transferred to VHS video in an attempt to immortalize these precious movie memories. It was soon discovered that analog video has a shorter life span than the film that it was replacing. Major film studios are actually fighting a losing battle in an attempt to digitizing archived movies before they are eventually lost due to age and atmospheric contamination. Huge amounts of effort and cost are going into the restoration of feature movies.

Once film and video are in digital format they can be copied to other playback mediums without the inherent loss in quality associated with copying analogue formats.