We are a company specialized in working with ‘small’ format film.
Our professional quality 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm, 16mm and Super16 Film Scans are ready for editing on any digital postproduction platform or simply viewing them on any home DVD System.
Digitalization is done frame by frame: every frame of film becoming a video frame, ensuring this way the total absence of flickering in the image and extraordinary quality.
With the goal of obtaining the highest quality, we use the lastest technology to offer a service along with current professional standards.
These are the steps we perform:
1-Inspection and Cleaning
First, we check and repair any damaged splices, torn frames, broken perforations, etc.
We also clean any dirt from the film to avoid leaving hair, dust , etc. in the image.
We handle the film with maximum care to avoid any damage.
2-Scanning
We digitize your 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, 16 mm or Super 16 film; scanning frame by frame to HD 10 bit Uncompressed digital files.
Each frame is captured directly on the emulsion side of the film using the highest quality optic system.
Our telecine uses diffused cold light source that ensures that during the process the original material will not be damaged by changes in temperature, or curved due to the heat. This implies that the focus and the lighting of the image will be accurate and uniform both in the center and at the edges of each frame.
Our system captures at a very slow rate, longer than real time playback speed. The slow transport of the film built into a precision system prevents scratches, damage from excessive stress or pulling of the original material.
The capture is performed with a high quality sensor of 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution with Uncompressed SDI output.
3-Color Grading
During scanning and later, in postproduction, we adjust the light and color of each scene to iget the best from the original image.
Our telecine system allows the correction of all image parameters: definition, contrast, color saturation, control of red, green and blue lights in high and low, gamma, pedestal, black, clipping highlights, etc. to preserve or even improve the original image when necessary.
4-Digital Restoration
Once digitized and adjusted, the image is processed with a digital restoration software to perform electronic cleaning and definition improvement.
We apply a series of computer processes that help to repair any stain, scratches, fungus marks, etc.
In addition, we reduce the grain and get a cleaner, sharper image, all that without losing the “look” of the film image.
These correction processes are optional, as the cusomer might choose the raw aspect of the uncorrected image.
5-Output Transfer Format
Finally, we create digital files in the format and compression required by the customer, we also record the files to HDD, DVD or USB memory.
If the films were shot at 18 or 16 frames per second, we modify the speed so when you play them in a video system, which is at 25 frames per second, you can see the motion properly.
Usually we scan in uncompressed AVI files 3840 x 2160 pixels 10bit with Blackmagic codecs, and we can deliver the job either in that format or convert the files to QuickTime (.mov) uncompressed, TIFF sequence, Apple ProRes, H.264, DVD image, etc … almost into any format you may ask for.
After conversion, the files are recorded on a hard disk or pen drive. Keep in mind that every minute of uncompressed image occupies more than 8 GB in HD and 32 GB in 4K UHD.
If you need the files urgently to start editing, we can upload a compressed version for you while you wait for the raw files.
Once your work has been delivered we keep the files on our computers for two or more weeks to guarantee you can still get your files in case anything happens during transport or before you had made a backup.