35mm
16mm
8mm
65/70mm
VistaVision
IMAX
Maximum Stability
High Dynamic Range Scanning Single-pass color and B&W 2 and 3-flash HDR scanning for the best capture of print film shadow detail.Often, part or all of the original negative is missing when it comes time for an older film to be scanned. This requires that print film be scanned for the missing portions. Whereas the highest density on negative film is about 2.0, the highest density on print film is 4.0 or more. Thus, scanning print film requires up to 1,000 times more dynamic range than negative film.
Click and drag back-and-forth on ⊲⊳ to compare images.Conventional film scanners are optimized to scan negative and not print film, resulting in shadow detail loss or noise.
In contrast, the Director's 3-flash scanning capability can easily capture shadow details on print film at densities well beyond 5.0.
Below are scan comparisons between the ARRISCAN, the dft Scanity, and the Director from the same print film using 2-flash and 3-flash scanning. Images have been digitally brightened 1,000 times to reveal detail in the shadow (i.e. high density) regions. Notice the vertical artifacts, excessive noise, and loss of detail in the ARRISCAN and dft images.
Damaged and Warped Film Scanning Optical Pin Registration (no edge guiding) For the best stability of shrunk and damaged film.Lasergraphics' proprietary 2D optical pin registration system locates up to 8 perforations and is able to register the frame even if only one of the perforations is usable. The frame is stabilized in the X, Y, and rotation axes. Therefore, shrunken film can be effectively stabilized with no mechanical or software adjustments. All optical pin registration is performed during the scanning process, eliminating the need for any post-processing.
Lasergraphics scanners are highly immune to perforation damage and splices while maintaining registration. Lasergraphics' 2D optical pin registration detects the location of all of the holes and then determines which ones are damaged. The damaged ones are ignored while the undamaged ones are used to align the image.
Continuous motion sprocketless capstan servo drive for constant film tension and safe film handling.
Software-controlled adjustable film tension.
Each frame held motionless in gate for optimal imaging of damaged and warped film.
Stable Ultra-diffuse Light SourceStable low-heat LED light source protects film from heat damage and ultra-diffuse uniform illumination from the integrating sphere reduces the appearance of scratches in the film base and emulsion (that do not damage the dye layers) without softening, blurring, or altering the image.
Click and drag back-and-forth on ⊲⊳ to compare images. Warped film scanningWarped film can't naturally lay flat in the gate causing the center to appear shrunk compared to the edges and the resulting output will have a ripple or “potato chip” effect.
Warped film in gate without clamp Warped film in gate with clamp Film Gauge, Format and Type Versatility Infrared Dust/Scratch Detection and ReductionInfrared dust and scratch detection works during scanning to detect and reduce dust and surface scratches without softening, blurring, or altering the image. A defect matte is generated, depicting pixels that have been automatically corrected and defects that require additional attention (if any). The defect matte allows the uncorrected defects to be easily located and addressed in post.
The Director's infrared dust/scratch detection and reduction is superior to conventional (dry gate) scanning and better than scanning with a wet gate. Less messy and less costly too!
Click and drag back-and-forth on ⊲⊳ to compare images.DPX files containing the defect mattes generated by Lasergraphics scanners have been certified compatible with following systems:
Dye Fade Correction and Intelligent Noise ReductionBuilt-in color grading tools for easy dye fade correction, applied during scan, eliminates secondary post-processing step.
Click and drag back-and-forth on ⊲⊳ to compare images. Intelligent Noise ReductionDramatically reduces noise in high density print and negative film.
High exposure B&W negative Soundtrack and KeyKode Reading JPEG 2000 and FFV1 Lossless compression without post-processingArchiving scanned images losslessly has always been the gold standard but results in very large files. Lossless compression can reduce the storage requirement by up to 50%. Traditionally, this is a two-step process.
Our improved encoding capability can scan and compress in a single step — dramatically reducing bandwidth requirements and overall processing time without impacting scanning speed.
Lasergraphics offers an extremely generous trade up program that can increase the capability of your scanning system as your requirements grow over time without losing your existing investment.
Feature Comparison Feature Director ScanStation Archivist Color capture method Sequential RGB+Infrared Bayer pattern Bayer pattern Scanning resolution 13.5K or 6.5K 6.5K 5K Maximum resolution for 8mm Yes Yes No Damaged and warped film scanning Best Good Good Max scanning speed for B&W (fps) 10 60 30 Max scanning speed for color (fps) 7.5 60 30 IMAX and VistaVision Yes Yes No 65/70mm 5-perf and 35mm/Super 35mm Yes Yes No Single-pass color and B&W HDR 2 and 3-flash 2-flash 2-flash Infrared dust/scratch detection/reduction Yes No No Optical soundtrack extraction from scanned image Yes Yes Yes Optical KeyKode reader Yes Yes No Magnetic soundtrack reader No Yes Yes JPEG 2000 and FFV1 encoding New! Yes Yes Yes Built-in editing table w/light boxes No Yes No Free standing Yes Yes No Technical SpecificationsCzech TV launched a comprehensive public tender to acquire a high-end motion picture film scanner. This tender was unique in that Czech TV developed what is perhaps the most stringent, highly detailed pre-purchase scanner testing methodology ever performed to determine which scanner produced the best results under a variety of scanning conditions. They first narrowed their selection down to four scanner finalists to include in the test: the Lasergraphics Director, the ARRI Arriscan XT, the DFT Scanity HDR, and the Digital Vision GoldenEye.
The same reels of film were scanned at the factories of the four film scanner manufacturers under close observation by two highly qualified third-party consultants. The consultants (a director of photography and a film archiving expert from the National Film Awards) were engaged by Czech TV to bring objective independence to the process, avoid any possible conflicts of interest, and ensure that the manufacturers’ scanner operators had no opportunity to manipulate any of the scan data.
The consultants instructed each scanner manufacturer to use its best scanner, have its best engineer/operator perform the scan tests, and give each operator the freedom needed to generate the best possible high-resolution scans. The identical frames from the same test films from multiple film gauges and stocks were scanned on each scanner. The frames were output in 100% uncompressed raw 16-bit color TIFF files, to eliminate potential differences due to codec variations. This methodology provided the most fair and optimal conditions to essentially guarantee the best possible results that each scanner was capable of producing.
More than four terabytes of data were generated, all of which needed to be critically and fairly compared to comply with strict Czech laws regulating public tenders. The data from the four film scanner tests were compared by an eight-person Czech TV evaluation team in an exhaustive blind comparison evaluation. The two consultants also attended the evaluation to provide detailed information regarding the four manufacturers' scanning processes.
High film density detail (i.e. shadow detail) is shown by digitally brightening the image and then enlarging the image in the yellow rectangle which contains the darkest portion of the image.
Lasergraphics Director ARRI Arriscan XT DFT Scanity HDR Digital Vision Golden Eye ConclusionFollowing the blind comparison evaluation, the Director had superior resolution, better color rendition, less noise, and consistently reproduced the most faithful image aspect ratio of the four scanners.
As the comparison evaluation was a critical part of Czech TV's open, public tender, all data, testing methodologies, and findings are 100% transparent and made available to the general public.
IMAX discusses how it generates 8K scans using its Director 13K 65mm scanner to be ready for the impeding adoption of 8K in theaters and in-home televisions.
Los Alamos National LaboratoryThe National Security Research Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory utilizes the Director to preserve the most important scientific and legacy films to support the laboratory's mission of enhancing national security.
Testimonial from PRO-TEK VaultsTim Knapp, General Manager of PRO-TEK Vaults, talks about the success they've had with the Director film scanner.
Park Road Post Goes 10K with Lasergraphics“Two of the key benefits with film are its resolution and its dynamic range. Once we have that in the digital realm, we can then manipulate it to achieve the best result, but first we need to be able to capture the image from film at the best possible quality and this is where we found the Director from Lasergraphics excelled.”
Ian Bidgood, Director of EngineeringFabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored is on a mission to restore the films of Max Fleischer from original prints and negatives. The team and restoration expert Steve Stanchfield at Blackhawk Films, a film scanning facility in Southern California, explains the restoration process using the Director film scanner. Full length video
MPI restores The Wizard of Oz in 4K HDRThe classic Victor Fleming-directed film The Wizard of Oz, which was released by MGM in 1939 and won two of its six Academy Award nominations, has been beautifully restored by Burbank’s Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging using the Lasergraphics Director film scanner.
Casablanca scanned in 4K with Lasergraphics Director 10K at Warner Bros.Since the introduction of 4K UHD Blu-Ray in 2016, studios have been giving their most celebrated titles renewed life by rescanning a film with enhanced 4K resolution, new High Dynamic Range (HDR) color grades, and even remastered audio. Casablanca was recently restored by Burbank's Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging using the Lasergraphics Director film scanner.
4K restoration of Raging Bull to be released in cinemasCreated from the 35mm original camera negative, the 4K resolution version of the movie was recreated on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner, with the soundtrack also being remastered.
Malcolm X – The Criterion CollectionThis new digital transfer was created in 4K 16-bit resolution on the Lasergraphics film scanner from the 35 mm original camera negative. While Warner Bros. has treated Malcolm X well over the years, Criterion's 4K transfer is pretty spectacular.
Bringing Mildred Pierce Back to Luminous LifeThe restoration teams at Warner Bros. and Criterion explain how they used the Director film scanner to capture the silken texture of the nitrate print of Michael Curtiz's classic noir melodrama. Original article
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