[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Transformania 1 report (non-technical)
--- Forwarded mail from ranthony at duart.com
Rob,
I will attempt to give you my perspective, as a "film guy", on this
past Saturday's shoot-out and you may post it if you feel it is of any
benefit to the TIG.
First of all, thanks to Dave Satin and all the crew at SMA for opening
up and providing the rest of us this opportunity. The afternoon
started with the beer Dave had promised as well as the chips that
Domenic provided. After about an 90 minutes of sipping and dipping
and munching on the pizza that SMA also provided, we were broken into
2 groups. Group 1 started in the Ursa suite and group 2 naturally
began with the Spirit. I was in group 2. As we settled into the room
our colorist, Billy {(Gabor?)-I'm sorry if that is wrong} introduced
himself and the Spirit to the group. Being a "film guy" I can't begin
to report the technical aspects of the machine or of the setup of the
room. I will leave that to those more inclined (unfortunately Chris
Bacon was unable to attend). I can tell you that in an effort to make
the comparison valid, no noise reduction or secondary color correction
was used on either machine. Billy started the demonstration with a
piece of film that included a variety of vivid colors as well as a
variety of skin tones. I was quite impressed with the resolution of
the picture. After showing us what he could do with the images on
this piece film, he put up a couple of the rolls brought by the
TIGers. The first was some footage of a woman and child sitting on a
pink wicker sofa. Again the resolution was great and I was very
surprised at the lack of Moir_ in the wicker. After looking at and
making 1 lite transfers of the submitted footage, we moved as a group
to the Ursa Diamond suite. Once again to make the playing field level
the colorist moved with the group. Billy put up the same footage and
matched via split screen to some of the stills stored from the Spirit.
Here, my impression was that it took a little more effort, on the
Ursa, to get to the same correction. The resolution was not quite as
sharp as the Spirit, but this was ONLY noticeable (to my eyes) in the
split screen. The image was a very close match when some level of
masking was applied in the Ursa. At this point I had to leave, due to
an attachment to parts of my anatomy, which my wife would have cut off
if I'd stayed any longer(it was Saturday night).
The bottom line in my "film guy" eyes is that both machines are
capable of making very good pictures. The Spirit may do a better job
on certain types of footage than the Ursa. I'm sure there are jobs
for which the Ursa would be better suited. One thing that I think a
large number of people in this industry forget, when you look at the
transfer in the telecine suite, that is probably the last time that
footage will ever be seen on a 7-10,000 dollar monitor. My feeling is
that, were I paying for the transfer, the deciding factor would
probably be the colorist. This is not said to (further?) inflate the
egos of a large portion of the TIG. Just as I would give certain
types of print jobs, within the lab, to specific timers, I think
specific colorists would be better prepared to make the most of
certain negatives.
That is my take on the shoot-out. Again my thanks to all at SMA for
this opportunity.
Please let it be known that all opinions are those of the writer, who
is in NO way compensated by either Cintel or Philips.
Rick Anthony
Duart Film and Video
--- End of forwarded message from ranthony at duart.com