Arri Alexa 65 6K Camera

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Spike M.

As far as his love affair with film, yes. The random K numbers he arrives at in interviews aren't consistent with any scientific findings. Testing generally shows that an anamorphic 35mm image peaks at around 4K, with a spherical one closer to 3.2 and 3.5K...

Spike’s correct, not Wally, and it actually varies with the ISO….

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

The measured resolution of 35mm film is about 3.2 – 3.4k….when referring to slow stock, i.e. ISO 50 film. For faster film, ISO 500, in particular, it drops even lower, being around 3.0 k.

This has been known for quite some time by studios which have done tests...

In the real world with real content, a Northlight 2 scanner producing 4K files -

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

...I’d say, with a project in which a facility scans 35mm film at ‘4K’ (which is actually somewhat misleading because the Northlight 2 has an 8K CCD array which produces 4K files), they’ll output at 10bit log DPX.

Now, best practice that some cutting edge facilities (which have the storage capacity) follow? Scan the OCN and output at 16bit DPX. From there, uncorrected content intended for theatrical presentation is graded in DCI P3 space and for theatrical deliverables, P3 is converted to XYZ color space (12 bit pixel depth). For home deliverables (like for instance HD Blu-rays), I’ve already posted the color management pipeline explaining about the ODT and trim pass even revealing typical booking times reserved by Producers for the process here...https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...im#post9623181

Regarding best practice for a DI workflow? That be 16 bit OpenEXR ACES…http://www.oscars.org/science-techno...ESOverview.pdf starting from 16bit RAW digital camera imagery.

4K files will get you what you want off a 35mm frame. It’s only when you have locked down camera frames, no filter, prime/ultra prime lenses that you may push this. The more significant decision-making involves when you have to scan Vision 3 stock, since 10bit log DPX output may not be sufficient, will the facility go to 16bit? That would be better to harvest everything but, it incurs substantially more cost.