I'm still (sadly) outsourcing our films, primarily because a consumer 8mm/super 8 film scanner still doesn't exist.MovieStuff wrote:I've been long thinking about a new form of WorkPrinter that would be a sort of table top model capable of handling only the 50 foot reels. It wouldn't be fast but it would have a small camera built in that imaged directly off the film. Now, while cheap color cameras don't have terrific color or very good resolution, black and white cameras usually have superior resolution and an extended grey scale, compared to color cameras of the same calibre.
What I propose is a WorkPrinter with a built in black and white camera and RGB color wheel to break the image into color separations. Three black and white video frames would be taken of each film frame; one for red, one for green and one for blue. Special software would allow a preview of playback in black and white of just one of the separations, just to check motion. The frames would be combined into a color image when the file is rendered out with the appropriate speed change.
Now, here's the really cool part: Since the images haven't been combined into a final AVI, the color could be controlled with slider bars as red, blue and green adjustments. A preview window would show the final color for one frame and markers would let you make color and density adjustments on a cut by cut basis, frame accurate.
So the idea is that you would make the initial "scan" of the film and then work out all your color and density adjustments and then render. Because the camera is imaging directly off the film, and in black and white separations, the image should be reallllly sharp and because you are working with color components, the contrast and color fidelity should be outstanding.
At least in theory....
I see the unit looking a lot like the little tape recorders in the old Mission Impossible show. It would take about an hour per 50 foot reel to scan but the results should be pretty nifty.
Roger
While your new musing sounds like a mechanical Foveon (very appealing in light of the cost of those 3CCD cameras) - it probably would still lack the ICE,ROC,GEM features now standard with any 35mm film scanner, and the size would likely consume excessive workspace.
If you can ever witness what Applied Science Fiction's "ROC" feature can do for faded film - you're in for a treat. It's fully automatic and saves lots of editor time.
http://www.asf.com/products/roc/filmROC.shtml
While we're dreaming...how about a Nikon 8mm scanner with a "drop in" loading capability.
