Test of digital printing direct to Super 8mm

[Lee Mannering]

Had a couple of test it prints done with the digital printing to S8. Very lack lustre and paste stripe drifting into the frame centre throughout.
Yet to see any pictures of these latest efforts to S8.
16mm being a larger format has been OK as far as I can tell.

[Philip Hamilton]

Who did the TEST prints for you?

[Lee Mannering]

Hi. Just to clarify.
My test prints were done in Italy and nothing to do with the excellent established material.

Phillip. Italy. They can produce from video/digital direct to 8 and 16. You wait many months.
Viewing my prints you can clearly see the square pixels on screen and if you do scope they will be more visible.
The twin stripe on 8 was spilling into the picture area and I was told to expect this fault.
I guess some will go for it due to cost.

[Brian Fretwell]

As for the square pixels I could see them when I saw the early DLP (1280x1024 chips) presentation of the first Spiderman movie at the Odeon Leicester Square, also when too close to the screen for that IMAX (4K?) presentation of the "Dial of Destiny" last week so nowadays it's a main cinema presentation thing too!!

[Winbert Hutahaean]

I am a bit confused, is this digital printing using chemical products like used to be or exactly printing the picture on to film material, in this case super 8mm format?

[Brian Fretwell]

If he is seeing square pixels it would be printing opticaly from a LCD or DLP projector into the film, I would think as with still photos made from digital cameras onto photographic paper tha is chemically processed> I doubt any direct prining as with inkjet or laser would be able to get a usable resolution.

[Philip Hamilton]

If you are seeing square pixels then that tells me the resolution on the source file was not up to par.

Also - if your provider cannot consistently provide an ALIGNED stripe then this would NOT be an option IMO. There has to be Quality Control here. Problems during production do happen but they should be caught and corrected before sending the print to the customer. No exceptions.

Further what puzzles me - is that if you were doing a TEST and the provider knew this - why would they send you TEST prints with problems? Makes no sense to me.

I do have a print from ITALY. It looks great - no pixels and no stripe issue. So, I know it is is possible.

[Steve Lee]

By the description it sounds like the print has been produced by simply pointing a 8mm camera at a 4K monitor screen, as this would just magnify the screen pixels, especially when it is blown up past the size of the original screen.
When a print is produced using a film recorder, it works in a similar way to DLP projector. The actual image is monochrome with a set of filters passed between the image and the film, with each one having its own exposure on top of each over to build up a colour image. Exactly like the three strip technicolor process. This is why it takes so long to produce a print or negative, as each frame has to be produced individually.
There is really no other way of transferring a video/digital files over to film other than using a film recorder, as these will produce a true 2K/4K image on good old film stock.

[Phillip Campey]

Lee, when you have produced your new trailer reels and 200ft digests these must have been scanned to negative from a digital source yet they look great, so if you’re scanning directly to super 8 bypassing the negative stage why is the quality not the same?, I’ve had a couple of full length prints created on 16mm and there is no square pixels.

[Lee McCaffrey]

Lee, in the first post you bemoan the lack of pictures of this new method but fail to provide any of your own.

[Osi Osgood]

Personally I just think that we shouldn't be too quick to toss aside this Italian option, as this is still evolving technology, and when the old school negative method as well as the lab equipment is no longer serviceable, perhaps this will be a new, really good option, that just needs to work out the "bugs" in the process. After all, we are STILL having issues with striping and such with the old school method.

[Philip Hamilton]

Here you go. I quickly took some snaps with my iphone of the 200' JAWS that was produced in ITALY. Just played it again. Unfortunately the room wasn't totally DARK so the images are not as good as they could be. There is no pixelation. The sound is good throughout. No 'traveling' stripe.

And there it is! Ben Gardner's head !!

[Osi Osgood]

Blimey! Those look pretty darned good to me! I might have to contact h, as I have a few "projects" I would like to see get off the ground!

[Graham Ritchie]

Having Ben Gardner's head on expensive Super 8 film would be no use to me, "as to this day" I have to cover my eyes at that part of the film "cant watch it", have been like that for the last 45 years since I first saw it in the cinema

[Osi Osgood]

My wife is the same way, she days, "Even though I know it's coming, I still jump."