A
Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring
digital imageA digital image is a representation of a two-dimensional image using ones and zeros . Depending on whether or not the image resolution is fixed, it may be of vector or raster type...
s to
photographic filmPhotographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...
.
All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from the computer by a raster file producing program. A film recorder will expose film with a beam of light output by a
CRT-In computing:* The C runtime library , in programming]-In medicine:* Capillary refill time, a medical sign* Corneal Refractive Therapy, in optometrics* Cognitive Retention Therapy, a dementia treatment...
(Lasergraphics) or a focused beam of light from an LVT (Light Valve Technology) recorder (Kodak).
For
colorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
image recording on a CRT film recorder, the red, green, and blue channels are separately displayed on the same gray scale CRT, and exposed to the same piece of film through a filter of the appropriate color.
A
Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring
digital imageA digital image is a representation of a two-dimensional image using ones and zeros . Depending on whether or not the image resolution is fixed, it may be of vector or raster type...
s to
photographic filmPhotographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...
.
All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from the computer by a raster file producing program. A film recorder will expose film with a beam of light output by a
CRT-In computing:* The C runtime library , in programming]-In medicine:* Capillary refill time, a medical sign* Corneal Refractive Therapy, in optometrics* Cognitive Retention Therapy, a dementia treatment...
(Lasergraphics) or a focused beam of light from an LVT (Light Valve Technology) recorder (Kodak).
For
colorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
image recording on a CRT film recorder, the red, green, and blue channels are separately displayed on the same gray scale CRT, and exposed to the same piece of film through a filter of the appropriate color. (This approach yields better resolution and color quality than one could obtain with a color CRT.) The three filters are usually mounted on a motor-driven wheel. The filter wheel, as well as the camera's
shutterIn photography, a shutter is a device that allows light to pass for a determined period of time, for the purpose of exposing photographic film or a light-sensitive electronic sensor to light to capture a permanent image of a scene...
,
apertureIn optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...
, and film motion mechanism are usually controlled by the recorder's electronics and/or the
driving softwareIn computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....
.
Higher-quality LVT film recorders use a focused beam of light to write the image directly onto a film loaded spinning drum, one pixel at a time. The LVT will record pixel beyond grain. Some machines can burn 120-res or 120 lines per mm. The LVT is basically a reverse drum scanner. The exposed film is developed and printed by regular photographic chemical processing.
Formats
Film recorders are (or were) available for a variety of film types and formats. The 35mm negative film and
transparenciesIn photography, a reversal film is a type of photographic film that produces a positive image on a transparent base. The film is processed to produce transparencies, in contrast with negative and print...
are popular because they can be processed by any photo shop.
Single-image 4x5 filmA film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on photographic film, for either stills or movies. It can also apply to projected film, either slides or movies. The primary characteristic of a film format is its size and shape.In the case of...
and 10x8 is often used for high-quality, large format printing.
Some models have detachable
film holderA film holder is a device which holds one or more pieces of photographic film, for insertion into a camera or optical scanning device such as a dedicated film scanner or a flatbed scanner with film scanning capabilities...
s to handle multiple formats with the same camera.
Uses
Film recorders are used in
digital printingDigital printing is the reproduction of digital images on a physical surface. It is generally used for short print runs, and for the customization of print media....
to generate master negatives for
offsetLithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
and other bulk
printingPrinting is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.-History:...
processes. They are also used to produce the master copies of
movieFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
s that use
computer animationComputer animation is the art of creating moving images with the use of computers. It is a subfield of computer graphics and animation. Increasingly it is created by means of 3D computer graphics, though 2D computer graphics are still widely used for stylistic, low bandwidth, and faster real-time...
or other
special effectThe illusions used in the film, television, theater, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s based on
digital image processingDigital image processing is the use of computer algorithms to perform image processing on digital images. As a subfield of digital signal processing, digital image processing has many advantages over analog image processing; it allows a much wider range of algorithms to be applied to the input...
.
For preview, archiving, and small-volume reproduction, film recorders have been rendered obsolete by modern
printerIn computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB...
s that produce photographic-quality hardcopies directly on plain paper.
Film recorders were also commonly used to produce slides for
slide projectorA slide projector is an opto-mechanical device to view photographic slides. It has four main elements: a fan-cooled electric incandescent light bulb or other light source, a reflector and "condensing" lens to direct the light to the slide, a holder for the slide and a focusing lens...
s; but this need is now largely met by
video projectorA video projector takes a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other inconsistencies through manual settings...
s that project images straight from a computer to a screen.
Film recorders were among the earliest
computer graphicsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of pictorial data by a computer....
output devices.
See, for example: IBM 740The IBM 740 CRT Recorder was announced in 1954 and used with the IBM 701, IBM 704, and IBM 709 computers to draw vector graphics images on 35 mm photographic film . The 740 film recorder contained digital to analog converters and a 7 inch, high precision, electrostatic CRT. The raster size was 1024...
Nowadays, film recorders are primarily used in the motion picture
film-outFilm-out is the process in the computer graphics, video and filmmaking disciplines of transferring images or animation from videotape or digital files to a traditional celluloid film print...
process for the ever increasing amount of
digital intermediateDigital intermediate describes the process of digitizing a motion picture and manipulating color and other image characteristics to change the look, and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie before distribution in theaters...
work being done. Although significant advances in large venue video projection alleviates the need to output to film, there remains a deadlock between the motion picture studios and theater owners over who should pay for the cost of these very costly projection systems. This, combined with the increase in international and independent film production, will keep the demand for film recording steady for at least a decade.
Key Manufacturers
Traditional film recorder manufacturers have all but vanished from the scene or have evolved their product lines to cater to the motion picture industry.
DICOMEDDicomed was founded in 1968 and in the early 1970s became a leading manufacturer of precision color film recorders such as the D47 and D48. Many of the early government computer graphics applications had their imagery outputted to a "Dicomed"...
was one such early provider of digital color film recorders. Arri produces the
ArrilaserThe Arrilaser is a digital film recorder made by Arri which writes digital movie files onto film after compositing and audio mastering on the computer. Files are sent to the device via a fast gigabit Ethernet connection. The Arrilaser uses three solid-state lasers as a light source, and...
line of laser-based motion picture film recorders. Celco makes a line of CRT based motion picture film recorders.
LasergraphicsLasergraphics, Inc. is a manufacturer of motion picture film scanning and recording systems. The company was founded in 1981, and is headquartered in Irvine, California .- External links :*...
is the latest entrant into the cine film recorder market with its twenty year history of dominance in the traditional film recorder business. Lasergraphics this year, 2006, has reintroduced special order production of still film recorders.
CCGCCG is an acronym for:* Canadian Coast Guard* Castor Cracking Group* Centre for Computational Geography* Chemical Computing Group, a pharmaceutical software company based in Montreal, Quebec...
, formally Agfa film recorders, has been a steady manufacturer of film recorders based in Germany. In 2003 CCG introduced the first motion picture film recorder utilizing LCD technology,
DefinityDEFINITY is a digital film recorder for motion picture applications, produced by CCG Digital Image Technology, the successor of Agfa-Gevaert's film recorder division....
, distributed by Digital Film Systems.
Polaroid, MGI, and AGFA were other producers of past film recorders. The last LVT machines produced by Kodak / Durst-Dice stopped production in 2002. There are no LVT film recorders currently being produced.
In 2008 Cinevator AS, in
Drammenis a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Drammen.The municipality of Drammen was established on 1 January 1838...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
, started shipping The
CinevatorCinevator is a series of real time film recorder/printers produced by the Norwegian company Cinevation. Cinevator AS is based in Drammen, Norway. The Cinevator is currently available in three versions:...
a real-time digital film recorder. It can record
INColor motion picture film refers to motion pictures in color. The first motion pictures were made with silver halide-based photographic emulsion on a clear base...
, IP and
prints35 mm film is the basic film gauge most commonly used for both still photography and motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its introduction in 1892 by William Dickson and Thomas Edison, using film stock supplied by George Eastman. The photographic film is cut into strips...
with and with out
soundSound-on-film refers to a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track,...
History
- Before VTRs were invented, TV shows were recorded to film, for archive and later broadcast on a Kinescope
Kinescope – kine for short, also known as telerecording, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor....
.
- In 1967 CBS Laboratories had a shortly a Electronic Video Recording
Electronic Video Recording, or EVR, was a film-based video recording format developed by Hungarian-born engineer Peter Carl Goldmark at CBS Laboratories in the 1960s....
unit.
- All types of CRT recorders were and are used for Film recording. Like the 1954 IBM 740
The IBM 740 CRT Recorder was announced in 1954 and used with the IBM 701, IBM 704, and IBM 709 computers to draw vector graphics images on 35 mm photographic film . The 740 film recorder contained digital to analog converters and a 7 inch, high precision, electrostatic CRT. The raster size was 1024...
CRT Recorder.
- Later (1970 and 80s) recording to B&W 16mm film was done with a 3M Film Electron Beam Recorder-EBR.
- Image Transform in Universal City
Universal City may refer to a place in the United States:* Universal City, California* Universal City, TexasIt may also refer to:* Universal City , train station for Universal Studios Hollywood...
used specially modified 3M Electron Beam Film Recorders that could be film out color 16mm by using three 16mm frames in a row, one Red, one Green and one Blue. The film was then printed to color 16mm or 35mm film. The video was NTSCNTSC, named for the National Television System Committee is the analog television system used in most of the Americas, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Burma, and some Pacific island nations and territories . is also the name of the U.S. standardization body that developed the broadcast standard...
, PALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television encoding system used in broadcast television systems in large parts of the world. Other common analogue television systems are SECAM and NTSC. This page primarily discusses the colour encoding system...
or SECAMSECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....
. Later Image Transform used specially modified VTRs to record 24 frame for their "Image Vision" system. The modified 1 inch type B videotape1 inch type B VTR is an open-reel videotape format developed by the Bosch Fernseh division of Bosch in Germany in 1976...
VTR would record and play back 24frame video at 10 MHz bandwidth, twice NTSCNTSC, named for the National Television System Committee is the analog television system used in most of the Americas, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Burma, and some Pacific island nations and territories . is also the name of the U.S. standardization body that developed the broadcast standard...
resolution. Modified 24fps 10 MHz Bosch FernsehThe Fernseh AG television company was registered in Berlin on July 3, 1929 by John Logie Baird, Robert Bosch and other partners with an initial capital of 100,000 Reichsmark....
KCK-40 cameras were used on the set. This was a custom pre HDTV video System. Image Transform had modified other gear for this process. At its peak this system was used to make "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood BowlMonty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a 1982 concert film in which the Monty Python team perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl. The show also included filmed inserts which were mostly taken from two Monty Python specials, Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, which had been...
" in 1982. This was the first major DI digital intermediateDigital intermediate describes the process of digitizing a motion picture and manipulating color and other image characteristics to change the look, and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie before distribution in theaters...
post production using a Film recorder for Film out.
External links