bkev said:
From what I recall of the pit reflection, it's tough to miss but it's there for so short a time it's really an inconsequential loss -- like the wires on the plane in Goldfinger. Just my two cents.
Very much agree, but it's also for that same reason the elimination is such a weird thing to do. The thing is, everyone who sees or have seen Raiders knows that Harrison isn't facing the cobra without safety precautions, before the DVD transfer this reflection was seldom mentioned by fans seeing the film, well known but seldom mentioned, then when this inconsequential thing gets erased it draws an enormous attention to itself to the point where people studying the scene because there was an alteration made. So ultimately the removal gets more known than the original flaw was in the first place.
Harmy said:
msycamore, did you actually compare the BD to those images?
Yes, I did. I own the BD myself and I think it's a very fine release and not nearly as bad as some early screencaps or internet-alarms made me believe, but IMO they tried bringing back the warm hues again with a varied succesful result.
Harmy said:
Well, I did and I can tell you that aside from the print pictures being even more yellow/green tinted, the BD sure shows a broader spectrum of colors than these pictures - and sure, they don't seem to be exactly professionally scanned, so the print itself could be better but you'd be pushing it pretty hard to be judging the BD to have narrower spectrum of colors than this print just from those pics.
Well, you should of course be cautious judging screencaps like that but I'd say you would be pushing it equally as hard then by saying the BD colors seems very much accurate based on those same pics. Should those pics be something you bring up as a sort of yardstick or not?
When I mentioned a broader spectrum of colors I'm talking pre-digital grading, every shot in the BD transfer contains the same shades of colors independant of scene, which ultimately makes it hit or miss depending on what scene you're looking at. It's not like those who are spotting this stuff a mile away believe the colors; teal or orange was invented just a few years ago, it's in the way they are used, often in the way physically impossible with lab-processing.
Raiders was shot mostly on location quick and dirty, to get that consistent timing back in '81 would have demanded an enormous level of accuracy and pre-planning from the cinematographer, set designer and costume designer etc.
I love those LPP pics because of the simple fact that you can see the bronze/golden brown and yellow hues which I very much associate with certain parts of Raiders, in the BD those parts are more headed towards a dull orange/yellow.
And this is of course all my simple opinion, I don't claim to be an authority on what is "accurate" or not, I just tellin it the way I see it. All in all I'm happy with how it turned out, especially with the reverted alterations but I don't see it as the flawless transfer either. I'm also aware of "is there any new release this guy accept?" which is why this is small potatoes, but Raiders is Raiders so it would be unusual if its BD debut wasn't surrounded by controversy. It's one of the most loved films out there after all.