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Info: Anyone Got A Spare 1300 Bucks? Star Wars 16mm on ebay...

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I had better make a call to my bank manager. As soon as this guy posts some pictures of course.

Creator of Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning to Jedi
Follow me on twitter @jamieSWB. Please support me at - http://www.patreon.com/jamiebenning/

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Holy crap!

IT woukld indeed be ironic if our members did an actual film restoration. And considering the source of the upcoming DVDs we will probably do a better job.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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I'm surprised Lucas doesn't jump on this to get it out of the hands of private collectors.

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!

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You know... If this guy is for real, 1300 bucks wouldn't be that much of a chore to collect. Now if only we had someone with the equipment (and knowhow).

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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Man! I'd love it if one of us got their hands on that . . .

There's that little problem of needing the equipment to scan the film, though. And avoiding massive lawsuits if Lucasfilm ever found out. lol
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If there was a... oh, I don't know: let's say a jetpack, like in that Bond film -- and it was $1300, would you buy it? No? Why not? 'Cause it might be relatively cheap to own, but it's almost completely useless without a pile of extra stuff (fuel, parts, maintenance) to make it work, it's dangerous, and you probably don't have the know-how to get it up and running in the first place.

Guess what? Film is exactly the same.

Getting film is easy. The biggest problem by far is the digitizing. The best and most reliable way to get it done is to buy or build your own telecine. Which is still about 100 times more tricky and several times more expensive than buying the film in the first place.

Everytime I read a "let's make our own film transfer" thread here, I can't help but think of the Monty Python sketch "How To Do It":

Cut to a sign saying 'How to do it'. Music. Pull out to reveal a 'Blue Peter' type set. Sitting casually on the edge of a dais are three presenters in sweaters - Noel, Jackie and Alan - plus a large bloodhound.

Alan Hello.

Noel Hello.

Alan Well, last week we showed you how to become a gynaecologist. And this week on 'How to do it' we're going to show you how to play the flute, how to split an atom, how to construct a box girder bridge, how to irrigate the Sahara Desert and make vast new areas of land cultivatable, but first, here's Jackie to tell you all how to rid the world of all known diseases.

Jackie Hello, Alan.

Alan Hello, Jackie.

Jackie Well, first of all become a doctor and discover a marvellous cure for something, and then, when the medical profession really starts to take notice of you, you can jolly well tell them what to do and make sure they get everything right so there'll never be any diseases ever again.

Alan Thanks, Jackie. Great idea. How to play the flute. (picking up a flute) Well here we are. You blow there and you move your fingers up and down here.

Noel Great, great, Alan. Well, next week we'll be showing you how black and white people can live together in peace and harmony, and Alan will be over in Moscow showing us how to reconcile the Russians and the Chinese. So, until next week, cheerio.

Alan Bye.

Jackie Bye.
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Of all the SW 16mm prints I've seen listed on Ebay, these sound the most beaten up.
Be advised the bidding on these things do get nutty. If the prints look halfway decent, there will be guys with deep pockets jumping into the fray.
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Where were you in '77?

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Originally posted by: Karyudo
If there was a... oh, I don't know: let's say a jetpack, like in that Bond film -- and it was $1300, would you buy it? No? Why not? 'Cause it might be relatively cheap to own, but it's almost completely useless without a pile of extra stuff (fuel, parts, maintenance) to make it work, it's dangerous, and you probably don't have the know-how to get it up and running in the first place.



Perhaps, but wouldn't it be a blast giving it a go?

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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Yeah, it would. Scary and expensive and completely impractical, but what could be cooler than flying around with a jetpack??
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"there will be guys with deep pockets jumping into the fray. "

..and their addresses are....?

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Originally posted by: Karyudo
Yeah, it would. Scary and expensive and completely impractical, but what could be cooler than flying around with a jetpack??

Without proper training and knowledge? Anything other than your ass right after lift-off.

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Originally posted by: Karyudo
[from] the Monty Python sketch "How To Do It":
Jackie Well, first of all become a doctor and discover a marvellous cure for something, and then, when the medical profession really starts to take notice of you, you can jolly well tell them what to do and make sure they get everything right so there'll never be any diseases ever again.

Thanks, I hadn't heard that in a while!
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Well now. Why not buy it and scan only the parts that were modified to make the special editions - by hand if necessary?
That's a few percentage of the film.

Darth Lucas: I am altering the trilogy. Pray I don't alter it further.
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And here's a guy selling hand-built 16mm telecine equipment, for a few thousand dollars.

http://moviestuff.tv/16mm_telecine.html

No, it's clearly impossible. Can't be done.

Nice article on the resolution of 16mm here:
http://www.cinematechnic.com/super_16mm/resolution_of_super_16mm.html

Selected quotes:

"The image resolution of a Super 16mm film negative, using available prime lenses will be at least equal to the maximum possible resolution of uncompressed 1080p HD video" [ideal]
"We do know, however, that resolution of the Super 16 film negative far exceeds that of the NTSC digital video system." [reality]
Darth Lucas: I am altering the trilogy. Pray I don't alter it further.
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Originally posted by: ronlaw
And here's a guy selling hand-built 16mm telecine equipment, for a few thousand dollars.

http://moviestuff.tv/16mm_telecine.html

No, it's clearly impossible. Can't be done.


You will note I never said anything about "impossible," or "can't be done."

I perused this site a couple of years back. Nothing has changed since then. Problems still include:

1. Only SD
2. Only 8-bit colour depth (per channel)
3. Doesn't capture full dynamic range of film
4. Only decent ones are the Sniper and SniperPro, so in addition to the $1300 you'd have to scrape together to buy film, you need at least another $3200

So I stand by my original rant: getting the film is the easy part. Digitizing it is hard.
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The Sniper 16mm Units might be up to snuff visually, but are silent. So more expense (another projector with a line output) and sync work if you want the soundtrack off a movie!
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Where were you in '77?

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I didn't know they made widescreen 16mm prints, much less scope. Does that mean you need a special anamorphic lens to un-squeeze it? $$$

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Yeah, you would need an anamorphic lens on the projector to show it properly on a movie screen. But you wouldn't need it for a transfer.
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Where were you in '77?

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Looks like those auctions were scuttled.
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Where were you in '77?

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If we only scanned the parts that were changed, how would we go about that? Any old scanner is higher resolution than 1920 x 1080, but does film require some kind of special scanner? How do we re-align the frames when we put them together?