best way to digitize movie film

I

IndyUser500

Member
Hi,

what's the best way to digitize 16mm film in order to work with it on the computer in the NLE and After Effects?

By best way I mean without losing image quality.

I've heard of the method of projecting the film and just video taping it with the camera.. if you do it this way do you get the same quality?
 
best way would be to go somewhere that can telecine, but you'd have to pay for the transfer. no way you would get decent quality videotaping a projection.
 
You need to send the negative to a film lab and have it telecined. It is costly. Just a fair warning.

To project it and tape it would not yield usable results. Well, it would be results - but not good results.

use a film lab.
 
ok, well I Was looking into it more,

I was wondering if it's possible to get a film scanner at a reasonable price say a few thousand dollar range?

...
 
How many feet do you have to transfer?

I can assure you it won't cost a few thousand for a minimal amount of footage.

I shoot 16mm all the time. You are better off sending it to a lab and getting telecined and colour timed professionally.
 
IndyUser500 said:
Hi,

what's the best way to digitize 16mm film in order to work with it on the computer in the NLE and After Effects?

By best way I mean without losing image quality.

I've heard of the method of projecting the film and just video taping it with the camera.. if you do it this way do you get the same quality?
Click to expand...

Are you planning to edit in video on your NLE and conform the film to the edited show, release being on film, or do you plan to convert to video, edit, and release as video? If it's the former you can save some money by not worrying too much about the image quality and asking the lab for a "one-light" telecine, the video equivalent of the film workprint used for editing back in the pre-computer days .
 
Hey check these guys out and there prices are reasonable for what they do. They use a Rank Cintel flying spot scanner with High Definition Optics and a High Definition DMG Color Corrector. I found them on Google doing a search while converting some 8mm. The client didn't want to spend much on the footage because it wasn't good enough to justify this quality. I'm thinking of using them on a project that I'm about to do. I have some very high quality 16mm film stuff that I need transfered and they can give it to you on hard drive in a uncompressed format which is the only way to go. We have a local TV station that has a million dollar converter here locally and I might use them. I need to check prices and quality.

http://www.mymovietransfer.com/

Good luck.
 
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