Hey Harmy, first of all thanks for all the work you have done to preserve these films. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.
I watched most of Return of the Jedi last night and I couldn’t help but noticing an issue with the blacks. They look severely crushed in 2.5. I thought this might be due to the source material with the BluRay, but then I looked at version 1.0 and the blacks didn’t look as crushed there. In some scenes it’s more obvious than others, but this is a glaring issue to me and I surprised no one else has brought it up. I also felt as though the brightness level is set a little too low. Again, comparing it to 1.0 where the brightness level felt right. Fleshtones and overall colors are a bit too red for me personally, especially on the Endor scenes. Han looks like he’s spent three years on a tanning bed, not frozen in carbonite. I saw a print of Jedi about 4 years ago and I don’t remember it looking like this. Just wanted to share my thoughts.
1.0 looked a bit overly lightened, kind of bleached out.
But no, you’re not the first person to make this complaint. I think you are the second. I know you say you’ve seen a print, but part of the issue is that everyone who has seen multiple 35mm LPP scans can tell you that some parts really are quite dark. He includes so much of the 35mm footage, that I suspect he pushes it to as far as is reasonable, and then brings the BD footage to a matching level. Either way, aside from a couple Emperor shots, it should be at least as bright as the BD. I do wonder if the shot of the crossed sabers in front of his face might have been better with increased brightness, regardless if it makes his ‘slugs’ visible. But that’s my only contrast complaint.
As far as the red skin tones go, it is indeed quite variable. Those extremely bright shots are thanks to the 2004 mastering. As someone who has messed with the color of this film, the skin tones do turn bright red when you bring down the blues (generally, the film needs that done, though to a lesser degree than ANH. I’ve done it manually and with Neverar’s LUT, and it results in the way Harmy’s looks). The severity of the redness depends on the monitor and calibration, but I agree that a few shots looked more natural in 1.0.