[Tig] optical printer as scanner

[Jeff Kreines]

Note that the original JK printer comes from the days of reversal  
stock -- negative is much more prone to scratching and of course dirt  
is much more obvious -- running negative on it might be pretty messy.

I know a lot of the West Coast optical guys usually worked with IPs  
rather than negatives when they did optical work (those were the  
days).  Often those IPs were step-contact printed on an Acme Step  
Printer, for better registration.

I'm not sure that running negative in a Moviestuff or a JK is that  
good an idea.  When I run negative in my optical printer, I use a  
liquid gate -- not something you want on your desktop!  (Mmmmmmm, PERC!)

However, there are many good Oxberry and RP and Acme printers out  
there that can easily be turned into a scanner -- with better  
registration than, say, a converted Moviola upright.  (That one  
scares me, Bob!)

The Kinetta Archival Scanner Joe mentioned is designed for scanning  
extremely damaged film -- it can accommodate shrinkage over 6%  
(haven't yet found any film that shrunken), torn and missing perfs  
(without repairs), and all sorts of obscure formats -- including 8/ 
S8/9.5/16/S16/17.5/22MM EHK/28MM/35MM 2/3/4 perf -- and 35/32, too.   
Paper print scanning on special order.  Originally designed for the  
Library of Congress, where the first unit has been working sans  
problem for nearly three years.  Building a second machine for them now.

Most of the shrunken film that it can handle can only be optically  
printed using special "shrunken heads" with special pins -- and one  
needs a set of them for various degrees of shrinkage -- not easy to  
find these days.

It's designed to be upgradable as new sensor technology becomes  
available, and has many unique features designed for archives and  
their special needs.  Not intended as a telecine replacement.

We might make a more affordable desktop version, with a reduced  
feature set, if there's demand.

Jeff "information only!" Kreines