2K Scan Going Rate?

[donatello b]

2k scan at $60k or $5k ...
you have to work within your budget ...
$60k scan doesn't mean it is 12x better then the $5k - and infact that 60k just might be as good as the 5k or not !

RED at $18k or sony F23 at 150k, cinealta 950 at 100k+ ?????????????
how many here are ordering sony ?

do a 2k test scan on spirit and 2k test scan at 1-2 other places then decide which looks best for your project & wallet.
if you don't have 60k then you go with a different transfer ...

 

[Stephen Williams]

Hi,

Recently I compared a Spirit @ 2K V Arriscan 3k downsized to 2K & 6K downsized to 4K.

The Arriscans were way better with extra dynamic range, no weave. Given a budget I would go 4K Arriscans any day.

Stephen

 

[Eric Jones]

I personally can vouch for Pixel Harvest. I have just finished up a 1200 shot (144,000 frames) feature DI and compared some different vendors and scanners. The scanner at Pixel Harvest is pin-registered and of equal quality to the higher priced offerings. It also has IR dust and dirt removal which was a life saver on this particular job. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

Eric Jones

 

[Manfred Lopez]

I personally can vouch for Pixel Harvest. ...

Eric Jones

This is great to hear, Eric. We are getting closer to the time of deciding the whole DI route. We want to make it work around Apple's new Color app. But we have to do some testing first.

I wonder how long until someone from this forum with coloring experience can comment on using Color instead of high-end dedicated suites.

 

[mezmo]

Hi The The,
You can Datacine/Scan with the 4K Spiit using HSDL to a portable DDR
and take the data home to the Mac and LARGE disk array.
The Spirit needs appropriate boards for this type of DPX file creation.
I think the frame rate is about 15 FPS and the machine is set up for a
tecnicial grade with minor adjustments chasing levels.
You could Datacine the whole film this way as the work is usually done at night and doesn't involve any color correction staff. Also saves a Neg Cut.
Something like the Kona 3 should give you a proxy HD file from the Dpx to
color space convert/correct in COLOR and edit in a HD codec.
For film out i'd suggest a professional solution as FCP can't handle 2K transitions and gading for film requires a close relationship with labs.
Test strips from all major scenes need to be burned printed and screened
to be sure your heading in the right direction with LUTs and the like.
An even cheaper solution would be to drag your Mac/Kona and array into
the post facility and test the whole idea .
This workflow would allow you to produce a pretty cool HD compiled and
graded master of the film for early screenings and compile the cuts only
DPX material in FCP for final compile and a film out grade in IQ/Scratch/ Lustre ect.
I plan to mess with this somtime soon myself so I'll keep you posted.
Cheers Mezmo

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Thanks Mezmo for the informative post. I would be very interested in your final approach. We have also been talking to Laser Pasific, who offer something called the "Indie DI". It is cheap but the down side seems to be that they use HDCam SR as the delivery method, which is not quite 2K. But who knows, they say it is very close to full 2k quality... and after all they are the invetors of HD itself so they probably know what they are talking about.

Anyway, I'll price out your method to see what is involved. Our goal is to arrive at a digital version of the film. Film Out would only be done if there is interest in theatrical distribution. I don't see the point in paying for a print before hand. Most aquisition execs watch movies through screeners and most festivals now have digital projection anyway.


EDIT: Post Corrected.

 

[Michael Schrengohst]

BetaSP is not even close to HD much less 2K. BetaSP is 720x486 pixels.
If you went with a letterbox on BetaSp your vertical res is more like 360.
I would at least go HDCAM or DVCPRO HD.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Thanks Mezmo for the informative post. I would be very interested in your final approach. We have also been talking to Laser Pasific, who offer something called the "Indie DI". It is cheap but the down side seems to be that they use Beta SP as the delivery method, which is not quite 2K. .

LaserPacific uses HDCAM-SR instead of 2K for their "Indie D.I." -- not analog standard-def beta-SP. HDCAM-SR is 4:4:4 10-bit Log 1920 x 1080, mildly compressed -- so is not far below 2K, which is 2048 across, 10-bit Log RGB, uncompressed.

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Oops, my bad. I meant HDCam SR in 2x mode at 1920x1080 with a bitrate of 880 Mbit/s and 4:4:4 color space (thank you wikipedia). By the way, here is a link to a PDF explinig the InDI process from laser pacific. On page four or something it has a worfflow diagram.

http://www.laserpacific.com/pdf/LaserPacific_inDI_v2.pdf

And here is a 56 page white paper on the whole post process. Very thorough and usefull for those who need a primer on all the stages involved.

http://www.laserpacific.com/pdf/Post_Production2.pdf


EDIT:

It looks like, as always, David is right on top of things and has beaten me to my own correction (Damn you Wikipedia for making me waste time :biggrin: ). Anyway, thanks David.

 

[Michael Schrengohst]

That sounds more like it!

 

[mezmo]

Hi The The,
Just finishing a Super 16 feature using the "Indie DI" Sony SR
444 Log Tape /Davinchi/Truelight setup.
Got to say I've had better results from an Optical Blow-up to 35.
Some clipping of whites and obvious noise are a problem in some scenes.
They may have to be scanned and finished 2K.
16mm film grain and the SR compression system may be the problem here.
A friend doing a 35 3perf feature has had better results with the SR workflow. I think "Kill Bill" was done this way too.
Weta and other post houses suggest scanning/ datacine to 2K for all
super 16 work.
My S16 project required a Doco look for a lot of the footage so the "Indie
DI" worked fine for about 90% of the film and saved a lot of money.
The next project requied a more produced look, and needs to be shot well before Red hits the decks.
Hence the interest in the Datacine2K, FCP, COLOR workflow.
It's Super 16 again and the budget is low, so any way to save money
and get the best possible results using new tech are welcomed by the
producers.
The "Indie DI" SR log tape workflow sounds fine for you and your 35mm
project. If there is a slim chance of Theatrical,then all deliverables can be
derived from the Master Graded Log Tape, including Film Out if necessary.
Mezmo

 

[Tom Tomlinson]

Thomson Datacines don't support HSDL

Thomson Datacines don't support HSDL

Hi The The,
You can Datacine/Scan with the 4K Spiit using HSDL to a portable DDR
and take the data home to the Mac and LARGE disk array.
The Spirit needs appropriate boards for this type of DPX file creation.
I think the frame rate is about 15 FPS and the machine is set up for a
tecnicial grade with minor adjustments chasing levels.
You could Datacine the whole film this way as the work is usually done at night and doesn't involve any color correction staff. Cheers Mezmo

They only support hippi (5 fps 2k) & GSN hi speed data (24 fps 2k or 6fps 4k).

 

[mezmo]

Hi Celboy,
Yes thanks for the correction,I got my notes out and it would be a Cintel
box for the 2048x1556 @ 15 FPS. Sorry The The for the Bum Steer.
Somthing like the Cintel Data Mill should do it.
HSDL is also supported by AJA, Autodesk,Blackmagic,Bluefish,DaVinci,
Datavision,Nucoder,DVS(Megacine portable DDR)Max Thruput,Omnitel &
Quantel.
Early days for me on this stuff,please feel free to correct.Will do more research.
Cheers Mezmo