Removing Deep Colour Scratch From Film Print - PP.

[SidATV]

Are there any techniques currently used to make the nasty deep emulsion (green/ yellow colour scratches) that film prints can sometimes suffer from dissaper in post production after telecine?

[SteveS]

SidATV said:

Are there any techniques currently used to make the nasty deep emulsion (green/ yellow colour scratches) that film prints can sometimes suffer from dissaper in post production after telecine?

A yellow or green scratch is on the emulsion side -- the image is no longer there, it's been scratched off....

You could probably digitally interpolate the pixels from around the area. But there's certainly no way to get back the original information.

On the other hand, black base-side wear lines can generally be removed by running the film wet-gate.

[Brian Fretwell]

Can you still use wet gate easily? I believe the old chemicals used (Flourocarbons) are considered hazardous and can't be (at least easily ) obtained. new telecines like the Spirit use difuse light sources to get round this.
As I have a 35mm stills enlarger that works this way I can vouch that it works, negs that print well give bad scratches on a cheap film scanner.

[williamM]

you could also use a polarised filter, are the scratches horizontal, how many frames do they last?

[Steven Sigel]

Brian said:

Can you still use wet gate easily? I believe the old chemicals used (Flourocarbons) are considered hazardous and can't be (at least easily ) obtained. new telecines like the Spirit use difuse light sources to get round this.
As I have a 35mm stills enlarger that works this way I can vouch that it works, negs that print well give bad scratches on a cheap film scanner.

Sure, why not? -- I wet gate some of my prints at home... Probably not the same chemicals they used 30 years ago however....

[Steven Sigel]

williamM said:

you could also use a polarised filter, are the scratches horizontal, how many frames do they last?

The scratches are generally vertical and run longitudinally down the film. I don't think a filter is going to help you... You can have horizontal scratching (generally called cinch marks) but that's far less common.

As for how long they last -- it depends on the extent of the damage -- in the worst case, the entire reel can be scratched...

Here's a B&W example of an emulsion side scratch (I don't have a color example handy):

[williamM]

stevens said:

williamM said:

you could also use a polarised filter, are the scratches horizontal, how many frames do they last?

The scratches are generally vertical and run longitudinally down the film. I don't think a filter is going to help you... You can have horizontal scratching (generally called cinch marks) but that's far less common.

As for how long they last -- it depends on the extent of the damage -- in the worst case, the entire reel can be scratched...

Here's a B&W example of an emulsion side scratch (I don't have a color example handy):

nasty, I think that's going to need a wet gate transfer and then some computer enhancement/general fiddling(perhaps that one for later on though) it would help the computer if the scratches move from side to side slightly but it looks like they are pretty straight from frame to frame, still apart from that it seems to be pretty good condition.

[Steven Sigel]

williamM said:

nasty, I think that's going to need a wet gate transfer and then some computer enhancement/general fiddling(perhaps that one for later on though) it would help the computer if the scratches move from side to side slightly but it looks like they are pretty straight from frame to frame, still apart from that it seems to be pretty good condition.

Wet gate wouldn't help here - that was my point. The emulsion is gone.

Scratches generally are straight (although you can get travelling scratches in some circumstances).

A computer could probably hide the scratch partially by estimating the pixels on either side of the scratch, but that still wouldn't look right.

[williamM]

yes a computer will be the only effective way of reducing the scratch but as you say current programs would still leave an odd looking blurry line. best thing is to get a raw unaltered digital copy that can be reprocessed at a later date.