Kloning the film image for digital high resolution systems

The author discusses the development of a motion picture film scanner at Rank Cintel. Background aspects are also considered. The considerations for such scanners are very different to those required for conventional telecines. The high resolution film scanner must be capable of extracting not only the full resolution detail but must also faithfully extract the complete and exact range of density from the film. The steadiness of the image inter- and intra-frame must be maintained to exacting standards as must be the stability of transfer characteristics. Unlike conventional telecines the high resolution scanner is not required to provide sophisticated colour correction or image enhancement as to do so would negate its function of cloning the film image. The quality from such high resolution scanners is only achievable due to very great differences when compared to conventional telecines:- there is no present demand to transfer at real time speeds. A high resolution scanner will operate at somewhere between 6-30 seconds per frame whereas a conventional broadcast telecine must operate at 24-30 frames per second