8mm Forum: What color screen

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Posted by Barry Fritz (Member # 1865) on January 03, 2010, 03:49 PM:

I have an opportunity to buy a white movie screen or a silverish one. Which is best for viewing? For film transfer? Thanx

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on January 04, 2010, 10:13 AM:

My opinion: the best for movie transfer is the white one.

(but why people call "Silver Screen" for movie theater?? [Wink]

)

cheers,

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on January 04, 2010, 10:29 AM:

I agree with Winbert, a matt white screen is the way to go. Matt white gives you the same brightness at any viewing angle and the picture will also appear a little sharper. A silver or glass beaded screen focuses the light into a narrow viewing cone, so you get a much brighter picture over maybe a 30 degree viewing angle, but a much dimmer picture beyond that. For Cinemascope a matt white screen is usually better , because if you use a high gain silver or beaded screen the picture brightness will not be uniform across the width of the screen. For film trasfer, I would use a matt white screen to avoid getting a 'hot spot' in the camera image.

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on January 04, 2010, 10:51 AM:

Although not relevant to this discussion, the term "Silver Screen" comes from the days when movie theatres used metallic "silver" coloured screens to improve brightness. Itis also ESSENTIAL for polarised light 3-D presentations to avoid scattering the polarised left and right images.
Martin

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on January 04, 2010, 02:11 PM:

For film transfer it is absolutely essential to have the smoothest surface possible, with no glare (thus no shiney spots) or texture (thus beaded or textured screens are out). I grew up with a silver screen for family slides but never understood why. Perhaps there was a 3D aspiration never realized. It is NOT as bright as a 1.0 matte.

The most successful camera-to-screen transfers I've done actually used, believe it or not, $1 white poster board. It was perfectly smooth to the eye and reasonably thick, so the camera image conveyed no clues as to the screen's nature! The trick of course is to find one that contains no paper flecks or signs of damage from transport or store display. Then I just tacked it to the wall of the room where I did the transfers, which allowed for easy relocation or adjustment.

Posted by Barry Fritz (Member # 1865) on January 04, 2010, 10:03 PM:

Thanks guys. You saved me some time. The white screen was glass beaded. I think I'll try the poster board. Sounds cheap and easy. [Smile]

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on January 05, 2010, 02:03 AM:

Yep Barry, just go to the local drug store and pick up a piece of the foam core poster board (so it will be perfectly straight/flat) and shoot off that since everything else is gonna contain a surface that your camera will pick up..

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on January 05, 2010, 10:34 AM:

I have also used poster board too (which is nice because it holds its shape all by itself!), but a word of caution: the paper coating may not be matte enough, allowing a glare to reflect and shine back into the camera lens if it is close to on-axis with the projector lens (preferable, of course).

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on January 05, 2010, 05:58 PM:

I use foam core board for my home transfers and have had great results...better than some pro (so called) transfers I've paid for!

Bill

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on January 06, 2010, 11:00 AM:

I've thought about doing the foam board route myself. This is an interesting topic!

I've experienced with different colored screens to help with projecting fading films. I came up with a light blue/cyan yet shiny foam type board screen. (only a few feet across), as my theory was that instead of using a fliter in front of the lense, (which cuts down on available light), I would use a highly reflective colored surface, and it worked pretty good!

Since this is a specialized kind of product, you would probably have to go to an art supply store to find it.

It really did work. You don't have the problem of the light being cut down straight from the projector, and the reflective surface of the board also helps compensate for the slight loss of light with the light blue surface.

I encourage others to try it. Of course, it doesn't return perfect color to a faded print, that will never happen, but it does make a faded print quite enjoyable.

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