New UltraPan8 music video "Limitless"

[Nicholas Kovats]

This is the first officially commissioned UltraPan8 music video as per flutist, Rozalind MacPhail. It is called "Limitless". Rozalind wanted to invoke her wonderful upbringing on Toronto's mystical and beautiful Ward Island. The film is part of her national DVD audio/video release and tour called "Head First", i.e. http://seaandbescene.com/2013/11/rozali ... ead-first/

You can find the film here, i.e. https://vimeo.com/81306448

Technical: UltraPan8 2.8 Bolex camera w/ 10mm Zeiss Tevidon. Camera modification by Jean-Louis Seguin (bolextech@gmail.com). I purchased the last remaining local rolls of Ektachrome 100D color reversal for this video. I used a variable ND filter at f5.6. Mostly tripod mounted. Processing by Niagara Custom Lab with scan by John Gledhill at Bitworks.org.

[carllooper]

Hi Nicholas,

it's great to see even more ambitious work being done.

if only you could get a technically better scan going - there should be a lot more information in the film than you're currently squeezing out if it. Not necessarily in terms of sharpness (but you could get more) but more so in terms of dynamic range. Much of the information looks like it's being severely crushed. I imagine that's due to the scan being only an 8 bit jpeg scan and subsequent grading is eating into that bit budget. With an HDR scan you'd have so much more lattitude with which to work. But in any case I can't talk - I've been sitting on 200 feet of UP8 50D, not producing anything to show at all - and that's a thousand times worse!

Its awesome work mate. Keep it up.

Carl

[Nicholas Kovats]

Thanks, Carl.

Perhaps you could engage John Gledhill in a friendly dialogue? I am well aware of the true potential of film particles as I am somewhat your understudy. Keep in mind though that reversal has a more "compressed" latitude relative to negative. But then again you should these projected with the UP8 projectors here in Toronto. Projected reversal can be simply awesome.

[carllooper]

Projected reversal can be simply awesome.

I'm sure John Gledhill will be doing the best he can with what he's got, ie. there wouldn't necessarily be anything more he himself could do to give you any better result.

But for sure. That's the reference you need. Project the film version next to a digital version, both at the same size. You'll need to adjust the digital screen brightness to match the projector's brightness (and possibly readjust gamma to ensure optimum display). But that's the proper test. If you can see more in the film than in the digital version then it's that 'more' (whatever it is) which is not getting through.

Of course it doesn't mean you'll have at your disposal anyway of resolving that - but at least it gives you a kind of intuitive image (mental reference) as to what the technical goal would be. I mean we often have a grasp of that anyway but seeing them side by side in reality - as opposed to in memory - gives us a much more vivid image of it.

What I have to do is put my DIY 16mm scanner back together again and put some UP8 through it. And post some results.

C