7d on 35MM Film - Who has an answer

M

MossyPete

New member
I have searched everywhere to get a CLEAR answer on how the Canon Eos 7d would look transfered to 35mm film for projection in a movie theatre.

Come on boys and girls! We need a voice on this!

Has anyone seen footage on 35mm film ?

Can anyone say what the output would look like?? Anyone?
 
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The question is very simple. I don't know how it would look transfered to 35mm and I don't know of anyone who has done it yet.

But I just saw a trailer a friend of mine did on the 7d Shown on a movie screen coming off of a DVD, played on a Blu-ray player and projected through a 2k projector and it looked fantastic. Better than it looked when I watched it on my 50 inch plasma at home.

If it had been on Blu-ray disc or uploaded to their server and shown in HD it would have looked even better.

The only reason I could see even doing a film-out is if that is the ONLY way it will get played. These new projectors are just amazing and you can hook up anything to them. Landmark even has a service where you can play Xbox360 and Ps3 games in the theater. When he had the premiere for Razorblade City, a feature I directed at the landmark in January, it looked amazing coming off DVD and that was shot on an HVX200.
 
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I was wondering the same thing.

I'm going to put together a footage reel this weekend (tonight, tomorrow and POSSIBLY the day after) just to test the 7D's capabilities on a large screen, and I might also see if I can get it transfered to 35mm also as a sample thing. Depends on the cost of course, but it might be a good idea from my perspective.

I'll shoot with Canon EF LII glass, 50mm 1.2, 85mm 1.2 and 16-35mm 2.8

If you guys have any special requests when it comes to type of content in this test footage reel, post it here, but please do it as soon as possible. I'm thinking stuff like low lighting outside at night, indoors in low lighting during the day with windows visible, white walls indoors etc.
Anything specifics you'd like, let me know. I'll see what I can do about it.

I can also make the footage available for you guys if you want to test it yourselves on a large screen.
 
Hello,

We've done a 5dmkii transfer and it turned out very good, but to really gauge how well the 7d holds up it would be best to do a 1 minute filmout test. If you contact dvfilm@dvfilm.com, someone could help you set that up.

My opinion is I think the 7d will transfer with great results if the problems like moire and wobble etc are controlled because everything will be more glaring on a huge screen. But we've transfer SD projects for years with excellent results so there is no reason the 7d can't make excellent results.

Best Regards,
Andy Olson
 
Hey thanks for the info Richard. I'm shooting a movie and I'm curious to know how it would hold up on 35mm.

I have to buy a camera in the next 10 days! I want to go for the Canon 7d, my brother wants to go for the Sony HVR z1. Any ideas?
 
I wouldnt get caught up on this issue. "Bigtime" Filmmakers want us to think that if you dont shoot on 35mm, on a panavision or f900, then your film sucks.

Then films that were shot on the canon xl1, HVX200, and EX1 and projected in theatres proved otherwise.

the actual projected image is around 1K. Some of the cams started with a
720 x 480 image. so 720P and 1080P would look superb. There are issues that have to be controlled during shooting, story, composition, audio, acting etc.
Did i mention story, umm ya, audiences tend to forgive the non 35mm look if the story is awesome.

Also, read the above thread by philip bloom on how the 5D and 7D were projected on a cinema screen.
 
cool, if new projectors can do that there is no point in doing the expensive transfer to film
 
concentrate on doing good films with good scripts. If a distributor picks up your film and wants to do a 35mm transfer, they pay for that.
 
Having 35mm projectionist background and having seen what some festivals, even supposedly big festivals, do with digital screenings - there's no way I'm sending MARIANNE to any of the important festivals digitally.
Watching any movie on 35mm is a huge difference from watching it digitally unless it's a really top notch digital screening, and I'm not gambling my film on that, if that's the screening where potential distributors sit.
 
It's probably shifting more and more these days as technology improves, but a lot of distributors are actually more likely to buy a movie if it has a 35mm print if they plan to screen it. Of course, if it's for dvd/bluray or streaming only then a 35mm print is not needed.

Beside the aesthetic quality added by transferring to 35mm, Java is right on with the screening of film versus digital. I personally have had a couple digital screenings go wrong and seen it happen to others, but with a 35mm print you can almost guarantee that an audience will see your film as you want them too. The 35mm projection craft has been standardized for decades to ensure this and until DCI's become more common, it will be the safest way to screen you movie.

We are starting to do DCI packages as well at DVFilm if you want to contact us about more information. By the way, DCI packages are a digital format for screening movies in theaters that has some standardization to it. Most big theatrical movies are using it now when screening digitally.

Best,
Andy
 
I was interested in getting a short transferred to 35mm so the local theater might play it before a movie, but the quote I got from a reputable NYC lab was $500 per minute with a $500 setup fee. Ouch. It would've been more than double the budget for the 6 min short.
So you're talking around $50k for a feature-length project. Yeah, I'll let someone else pay for that.
 
Hey Tim,

Our price for a HD feature transfer to 35mm is significantly less than $50k. The rates are here with a calculator link at the top. You can get prices for a 6 minute short as well.

PM me or email for more info if you are interested.

Best,
Andy
 
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