Hi, Randy and Michael,
I guess 6K is enough resolution, but the TIFs I have of each 35 mm slide
are approx 36 MB each. 3000 x 4500 (minus some cropping) pixels @ 3000
ppi. You can't put too many of those into FCP, can you? They certainly
crashed Premiere a while ago.
Also, as a side note, top-quality Kodachrome and Fuji Velvia 35 mm
slides are more faithfully captured at 4000 x 6000 pixels, 16
bits/colour, making approximately 144 MB TIF files per image. Frankly,
very few of the images I'm scanning can truly benefit from this
increased scan detail, but some can. It seems that audio-visual
materials are held in sound archives. I have transferred a few cassette
tapes with simple "beep" tones on track 4.
The issue with resolution is that if each slide can benefit from 3000 x
4500 pixel scans, and you've got a 4x4 grid you need 6000 x 9000 so as
to not lose resolution, or in the 3-wide display, 3000 x 13,500 and that
does not take into account vertical images.
I realize we did not achieve that resolution with typical Kodak Carousel
zoom lenses, even with autofocus.
Ingesting the elements is not a challenge, but having attempted it at
high resolution a while ago, assembly IS a challenge. Retaining the
IMPACT of the original show is the challenge. Reference copies are not a
challenge (though still tedious).
As to Mike Biel's point, the cue tracks that he describe were, I
believe, proprietary formats per manufacturer. AVL was the name that
came to mind, but they are now gone. At one point, their controllers
would record all the cues on the audio tape. The later units, described
here from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Computer , merely had a time code
track on the tape.
<quote>
The first Eagle computers were produced by Audio Visual Labs (AVL
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVL>), a company founded by Chuck
Kappenman in New Jersey in the early 1970s to produce proprietary
large-formatmulti-image
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia#History_of_the_term>equipment.
Kappenman introduced the world's first microprocessor-controlled
multi-image programming computers, the ShowPro III and V, which were
dedicated controllers. In 1980, AVL introduced the first non-dedicated
controller, the Eagle. This first Eagle computer utilized a 16 kHz
processor and had a 5¼-inch disk drive for online storage.
The Eagle ran PROCALL
(/PRO/grammable/C/omputer/A/udio-visual/L/anguage/L/ibrary) software for
writing cues to control up to 30Ektagraphic projectors
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel_slide_projector>, five16 mm film
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_mm_film>projectors and 20 auxiliary
control points. Digital control data was sourced via anRCA
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA>orXLR
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLR>-type audio connector at the rear of
the unit. AVL's proprietary "ClockTrak" (a biphase digitaltimecode
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timecode>similar to, but incompatible
withSMPTE <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMPTE>timecode) was sourced from
the control channel of amultitrack
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitrack_recording>analog audio tape
deck. The timed list of events in the Eagle was synchronized to the
ClockTrak. Later versions of PROCALL included the option of using SMPTE
timecode. Most programmers abandoned ClockTrak for SMPTE, as more
multi-image programs began to incorporatevideo
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video>.^[1]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Computer#cite_note-0>
Two separate digital data streams were output from the Eagle, also via
RCA or XLR-type audio connectors. These telemetry streams, called
"PosiTrak", each controlled up to five external slide projector control
devices also manufactured by AVL, known as "Doves". The Dove units
received biphase data from the Eagle via audio cables, and interpreted
the Eagle's data streams to control as many as threeKodak Ektagraphic
projectors <http://slideprojector.kodak.com/ektagraphic/a.shtml>(for
large screens, compatibleXenon
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_arc_lamp>-lamped projectors) and two
dry-closure contacts per Dove unit. AVL also made the Raven, a device
similar to the Dove, for comprehensive control of a single 16 mm film
projector, as well as numerous other external control devices for
lighting, sound, video projectors and sources, etc.
AVL Eagles and associated products, when properly setup and powered,
were extremely reliable. During the 1970s through the early 1990s, when
the products of its competitors were not as reliable nor readily
available, AVL became the industry standard for multi-image control
equipment. However, the development of large-screen electronic media
andHDTV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV>ushered out the era of
film-based multi-image productions.^[2]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Computer#cite_note-1>
</quote>
The first footnoted link is:
http://www.honda600coupe.com/random/AVL/index.html
The second one is 404 gone, like the technology, but the text (but sadly
not the images) is available here
http://web.archive.org/web/20100113083108/http://www.avsquad.com/page8/page8.html
Cheers,
Richard
--
Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
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