[Tig] uneven 5242 stock for ARRILaser magazine

[Jeff Christopherson]

Liao,

We had a hell of a time with this problem in Calgary, Canada. While  
we were never able to positively identify the cause, we assumed that  
it was the result of shipping the film from the US to Vancouver, then  
Calgary, with the film alternately being exposed to indoor and  
outdoor temperatures and bounced around in the back of an unheated  
truck.

Our solution was to order a large volume of 5242 as if we were a film  
laboratory - on a pallet, in vacuum packed plastic bags. The packing  
holds the film tight and it arrived perfectly flat. The downside is  
that the minimum order size for this packaging was  38  2000' rolls.  
As we did a lot of production this was not a big concern for us.

Bear in mind, when this happened to us ( early 2006 ) Kodak only sold  
2242 ( Estar ) in the vacuum packed bags so we had to make special  
arrangements. I don't know what they are doing now, call your Kodak  
salesman.

BE AWARE: Even if this film does not have the 3 - 5 mm circles you  
mention, it can still cause difficulties in an Arri magazine. We had  
problems with film that was smoothly "dished", meaning it was the  
shape of a dish and the overall difference in height was only a few  
mm. This film can run, but the platter that supports the film can  
flex down and touch the inner magazine. In our case, we were using  
the older magazines with the copper coating, which was scraped off by  
the platter and got all over the mag and camera, causing big black  
spots in the image!!

My suggestion: Call Kodak and make them aware. This problem has  
happened in other places in the world and perhaps they have created a  
solution I am not aware of.   If you need to get back to work  
immediately, start rewinding as has already been suggested.


Good Luck.

Jeff Christopherson
Digital Film Consultant
Calgary, Canada.

-------
+1.403.708.3452  GSM Cell
Skype: jeffc_calgary


On 12-May-08, at 10:09 AM, tig-request at tig.colorist.org wrote:

> From: "LEO" <liao.zd at gmail.com>
> Date: May 11, 2008 10:12:10 AM MDT (CA)
> To: <tig at tig.colorist.org>
> Cc: 'shuo pan' <intopray at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Tig] uneven 5242 stock for ARRILaser magazine
>
>
> We got this strange batch of 2000feet 5242 stock, they are not even  
> as what we used to have. In a darkroom, by laying them down on a  
> table, and touching the top side of them, some circles are 3 to 5  
> cm higher than others, and some are lower. That causes too much  
> friction in our ARRIlaser feed magazine, of which the motor can not  
> drive the stock rotate. Does anyone know how can we fix that? I try  
> to push the higher parts in, but the stock is still not loose, this  
> doesn’t work.
>
> Liao
>
>