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Kodak Adds Second Daylight Film to VISION2 Product Line
LOS ANGELES, October 17, 2005 — Kodak is expanding the palette of color negative films available to cinematographers. The company has introduced an ultra-fine grain film rated for an exposure index of 50 in daylight. KODAK VISION2 50D 5201/7201 color negative film is available in all formats from 16 to 65 mm.

"This new emulsion is designed to give cinematographers more creative latitude while filming high-contrast exterior scenes in bright daylight as well as shots in mixed color temperatures," says Robert Mayson, general manager and vice president of image capture for Kodak's Entertainment Imaging Division. "Advances in film science and emulsion technology ensure that nuances recorded on the negative are retained through both digital and optical postproduction all the way through to cinema and television screens."

The new emulsion is the sixth member of the KODAK VISION2 family of color negative films, which was introduced in November 2002. The new films offer a wide range of imaging characteristics designed to enable cinematographers to create compelling motion pictures in virtually any lighting environment.

Mayson says that cinematographers who shot early tests around the world report that the new negative sees deeper into both highlight and shadow areas, and accurately records more nuanced details. He also notes that the new film is optimized for use as a recorder output film, utilized extensively in the digital intermediate (DI) process.

Jon Fauer, ASC was among the cinematographers who tested the new negative. "This film definitely proves that the 'film look' is not about grain but exposure latitude," says Fauer. "There's no grain to speak of – it's the finest-grained film I've ever seen, with perfect color rendition, natural skin tones, a huge range of exposure, highlights that don't burn out, and shadows that are rich and dark but with visible subtle detail. Shooting a low-speed daylight film in bright sunlight will allow for less neutral density, so cinematographers can see what they are shooting through the viewfinder." ...

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Get true color, fine detail, and incredibly sharp images — even in high contrast daylight.
KODAK VISION2 50D Color Negative Film 5201 / 7201 is a low-speed daylight film with an expansive dynamic range that delivers more detail in shadow areas — even in high contrast situations. Advances in grain and sharpness — found in all VISION2 Films — make it ideal for recorder output and provide an ultra-clean, detailed image in any lighting condition.

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"This film definitely proves that the 'film look' is not about grain but exposure latitude. There's no grain to speak of — it's the finest-grained film I've ever seen, with perfect color rendition, natural skin tones, a huge range of exposure, highlights that don't burn out, and shadows that are rich and dark but with visible subtle detail. Shooting a low-speed daylight film in bright sunlight will allow for less neutral density, so cinematographers can see what they are shooting through the viewfinder."

— Jon Fauer, ASC

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I've seen the introduction demo in our screening room as they QC the prints for the worldwide launches. Significantly less grain than any other motion picture film, and very sharp images. Even the Super-16 blow-up was virtually grain free.
 

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Posted by Amanda Mundin (Member # 3386) on 10-19-2005, 01:07 PM:
 
Are they planning to stop production of the EXR 50D 5/7245?
Also how about the EXR 100T 5/7248?
 

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Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-19-2005, 01:42 PM:
 
A replacement for Kodachrome for super 8mm
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-19-2005, 01:52 PM:
 

quote: Amanda Mundin

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Are they planning to stop production of the EXR 50D 5/7245?
Also how about the EXR 100T 5/7248?

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October 2004. Effective immediately, EASTMAN EXR 100T Film / 5248 and 7248 has been discontinued and will continue to be supplied until stocks are depleted.

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quote: Richard Fowler

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A replacement for Kodachrome for super 8mm

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KODAK EKTACHROME 64T Color Reversal Film 7280
Catalog No. - 529 2206 Product Code - 7280
EI 64 (Tungsten), EI 40 with 85 Filter (Daylight)
This new Super 8 mm format film offers excellent color reproduction, fine grain and high sharpness. KODAK EKTACHROME 64T Color Reversal Film 7280 is a 64-speed tungsten-balanced film with outstanding reciprocity characteristics, which give consistent color balance and speed over a wide range of exposures. The film process is E-6.

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quote: Aaron Haney

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Looking at the last graph in the Technical Data ("Characteristic-Camera Stops"), it looks like this film has a 13-stop dynamic range, which is pretty remarkable. Am I interpreting that correctly, or is not all of that usable range?

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The Kodak VISION2 films are known for their remarkable latitude and excellent neutral tone scale. Kodak VISION2 50D Color Negative Film 5201 is no exception. Not only does it have a very long straight line, the toe and shoulder of the characteristic curve are perfectly capable of capturing additional shadow and highlight detail (e.g. specular highlights).
 

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Posted by John Koutsoumis (Member # 1855) on 10-20-2005, 06:27 AM:
 
Is this the first re-development of 50D since the 1980's??

One DP I met mentioned that one of the reasons why he does not shoot 50D, apart from needing full sunlight, is that it was never developed further unlike the other speeds and therefor your film, shot today will have a 1980's look to it. Not sure he was talking rubbish but he is a competent DP.

I hope more filmmakers take slower speed option, depending on their style. It sees more and more films are shot using 500T.

Would I be right in saying that a lot of bollywood productions use 50D quite extensively? A lot of their pictures just glow and leap of the screen with superb sharpness.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-20-2005, 08:19 AM:
 
The current generation of 500T (5218/7218) is really fantastic. It's not as grainy as previous versions, and the latitude is amazing. I recently shot a few rolls of it in 16mm for a short film that I'm working on, and the shadow detail is unreal. In a year or two, I hope to have a 35mm blowup and we'll see how it looks on the really big screen. I should add that I'm not defending the use of 500T to save money on lighting rentals, but those of us who make documentary films absolutely need a good high-speed stock for use when additional lighting isn't an option.

The reason why the Bollywood stuff looks so great is that almost all of those films are printed directly off the camera negative. This makes nice-looking prints, but risks damage to the camera original with every print. Nearly all American films go through a camera neg->interpositive->internegative->release print process. Occasionally, an "EK" print (made off the camera neg) will turn up and these do indeed look significantly better than garden-variety release prints.
 

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Posted by John Koutsoumis (Member # 1855) on 10-21-2005, 07:08 AM:
 
I thought that would be the case with Bollywood films but I'm sure that low speed stock plays are part in it too

There's nothing wrong with the interpos-interneg process providing great prints from what I've seen. It's how the process is carried out. Funny how films from 3rd world countries have better prints than major trillion dollar productions on a lot of occasions.

You are right though the new 500T is great versatile stock. I've seen the Kodak demo DVD with the Mandy Moore music clip (35mm) and the short the "The Box" I think it was called (16mm). Looked terrific and outlined the true potentials of the stocks. On the back it stated "For High Definition viewing please call the number below..."
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-21-2005, 07:57 AM:
 
The reason labs are forced into contact printing short-pitch originals to short-pitch raw stock is usually the very tight schedules between when the cut negative is delivered to the lab and thousands of prints are needed in theatres worldwide.

Making a dozen or so duplicate negatives for worldwide release takes weeks on a step printer or laser recorder, but only a day or so on a continuous contact printer.

All release prints are made by printing a short-pitch duplicate negative (BH-1866 perfs) to a long pitch print stock (KS-1870 perfs), so release printing has no pitch issues.

(Note: "Pitch" is the distance between perforations. "Short Pitch" 35mm film has 0.1866 inches between perfs, "Long Pitch" has 0.1870 inches between perfs.)

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/support/h1/sizesP.shtml#perfs

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Optimum Pitch for Printing.
Continuous printers used for motion picture film are designed so that the original film and the print raw stock are in contact (emulsion-to-emulsion) with each other as they pass around the printing sprocket, with the raw stock on the outside (Figure 43). To prevent slippage between the two films during printing (which would produce an unsharp or unsteady image on the screen), the original film must be slightly shorter in pitch than the print stock. In most continuous printers, the diameter of the printing sprocket is such that the pitch of the original must be 0.2 to 0.4 percent (theoretically, 0.3 percent) shorter than that of the print stock. With nitrate film and early safety film, this condition was achieved by natural shrinkage of the original during processing and early aging. However, the substantially lower shrinkage of present safety films makes such a natural adjustment impossible; therefore, film used as printing originals is now manufactured with the pitch slightly shorter than the pitch of the print film For 35 mm film, the pitch dimensions are 0.1870 inch (4.750 mm) on print film and 0. 1866 inch (4.740 mm) on original film; for 16 mm film, they are 0.3000 inch (7.620 mm) on print film, 0.2994 inch (7.605 mm) on most camera film.

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