Transferring 16mm silent film to Blu-ray question

Anyone know what company does this? I already checked with one and they only do it to Standard Definition (DVD). Thanks.

 

Maybe this? 16mm Film to DVD and Bluray Transfer Services

 

Thank you!

 

A bit of a tangent, but I remember a lengthy debate (on another forum) about whether or not 16mm had enough information to benefit from BD/HD treatment, and the conclusion was "yes". I don't remember all of the details and parameters (grain, film stock, etc.) but the conclusion was that generally there was more detail than what could be captured with DVD. So, it would appear to be worth the effort...

 

Check out Colorlab for film transfer as well.

 

Yes, thank you for posting.

 

Thank you. Wow, 16mm film can be scanned up to 4k.

 

Vidiot (a member here) has posted in Visual Arts about film Transfers to media.

Hope your project is a success!

 

I'd look into Video & Film Solutions in Maryland. They've transferred a lot of 16mm for me, and their cost by the foot is below average. They go the extra mile for you.

 

http://www.dijifi.com/service/film-transfer/

Have used them for audio services and they've done a great job. Very easy people to deal with and their prices were reasonable (at the time - not sure about now).

 

Correction: I'm not convinced there's anywhere near 4K in a 16mm frame, not even recent emulsions. Because there's only one perf for frame, there's not enough stability in the cameras and scanner to resolve nearly this kind of detail.

A 16mm frame is about 1/3 the size of a 35mm frame, and Kodak always claimed there was about 6K of information in a 35mm negative, and maybe half that much information in a print struck from that negative. Based on that, I'd say you're lucky to get 2K of negative. Bear in mind if you had a silent movie, chances are this a dupe, and every time they copy the material, it goes down X percent in sharpness.

But 2K I can believe. (HD and 2K are essentially equal.) Colorlab in Maryland does good work but is not cheap:

Home | Colorlab

 

Marc, resolution aside, what should one look for in terms of the equipment and expertise a potential vendor should possess to produce a good-quality 16mm transfer? I assume the OP wants to avoid obvious artifacts like gate weave and to have the vendor be able to correct for flaws in the source material up to a reasonable point. Also, would it be worthwhile to receive the finished product in digital format rather than strictly a Blu-Ray disc?

 

If you're working with a silent film (as in silent film, not simply a film without a sound track) please please PLEASE do it at the correct frame rate. Few silents are done correctly in that regard. People seem to have accepted the fact that "everthing moves fast in silent films". They don't. They are just seeing the incorrect frame rate. That's impossible to know, but I always judge film speed by walking gait. If the person is walking at a natural cadence, and things have believable mass and inertia, then it's right.

 

Thank you! Sorry for taking so long to reply. I used the service you recommended to tranfer 16mm (Best-lite correction) to HD. I received today the Blu-ray discs and an outboard hard drive. Looks great! In fact so great that I wonder if I should have opted to 2K insted of HD? I am thinking 4K would be overkill.

 

Would the silent footage be anything to do with Elvis?.................if your avatar is anything to go by.
If so could we have a youtube sample please?

 

No Elvis. I do have footage with Elvis, but with sound! I have never uploaded on youtube or even know how. When I do, I'll post it here first.

 

The difference between 2K and HD is about 7%, if that. I don't think 16mm negative from 2017 has 2K of resolution in it, not even with modern emulsions and pin-registration (which would have to be done in software, since 16 is just 1 perf per frame). Live with the HD.

I do agree that doing silent home movies at 18fps is probably a good idea, assuming they shot around this speed.

 

Thank you. My old Kodachrome film was probably shot 24fps.

 

A good modern 16mm transfer can still look good. Now grant it, this is an HD transfer that is bearing the mark of YouTube compression, but it does indeed look good. This was shot last year on Tri-X stock that is probably about 35-40 years old, so it's a little grainy but the contrast is still good and for the most part it looked OK. Shot with a pistol gripped Bolex at 24fps.

 

This is close (look-wise) to much of the home footage I have. Shot with a Bell & Howell 16mm film camera that needed winding to shoot around 30-40 seconds at a time, depending on speed setting. On my film the license plate numbers of the cars in traffic scenes can be seen clearly.

 

I largely agree based on all the 4K transfers I've seen on Blu-ray for 16mm projects. It sounds nice getting a 4K film transfer but most 16mm negatives just don't have that available resolution in them.

 

On the other hand, a professional friend of mine in the film scanner business always argues with me when I say it's worthless to scan Super 8mm or 16mm at 4K, and he insists that it does make a difference. But... he builds scanners for a living, so I'm not convinced he's an unbiased observer. On the plus side, it couldn't hoit.

Then there's no problem. If the people in the film look like they're walking at the right speed, all is well.