My badly-maintained test reel seems to be more dust than film. Does anyone have experience with something like this? It looks like a better method than using fluffy rollers at first glance.
Any specific type of tape that would be safe for the emulsion side of the film (Not too sticky, no residue)? I know he mentions electrical tape and Post-its, but the world ist filled with so many iterations of the same product, that I can’t help but get analysis paralysis…
To be honest, that seems kind of risky to me. I suppose it depends on your use case, but we have had film that was deteriorated enough that almost all that’s left is the emulsion. I’d be hesitant to use anything remotely sticky and like you said, the variations are many so you never really know what you’re getting.
There are two types of PTRs, at least the ones sold by Kodak: Shiny and Matte. The matte rollers are slightly harder and significantly less tacky. We accidentally bought a (crazy expensive) box of “shiny” 70mm PTR rollers a few years ago, and when put on the scanner, the film just stuck to it. Had to buy a box of the less tacky matte ones.
If you have enough rollers to justify it (and the budget), you can buy a box of 6 small PTRs from Kodak. Part #1549278 from their catalog. They’re $75 each and you have to buy a box of 6, so not cheap. They’re “telecine” rollers because they were originally developed for use on telecines. They’re smaller than standard PTRs, with a 1.5" diameter.
These were developed for film, so you know they’ll work, and they’ll last a long time. We use the 35mm and 70mm versions of these on our ScanStation and on Sasquatch.
That sounds interesting. Not sure where to get those in Germany (yet), though…
However, is that sleeve primarily for smooth film transport or does it also pick up dust particles like the PTRs supposedly do? Because thats the feature I’d primarily wanted to imitate.
…On the other hand I’m just scanning a reel that I’ve wiped with isopropyl alcohol beforehand, and it looks like the dust came off nicely. So for (my) non-commercial use the result looks pleasant enough :-).
It picks up dust the same way as PTRs do. It’s a very basic clean though. They come in different diameters, so you can use them with existing rollers, eg you could purchase something like this:
And then put the sleeves over them and you should be good-to-go.
If you’re using PTRs you need to clean the film first and then clean off the cleaning fluid. Isopropyl shouldn’t be used for sound film (it can strip the magnetic track from the film), it can leave streaks and it can dry out the film. If you’re using it you should lubricate your film after scanning with Film-Guard. Film-Guard will degrade PTRs, it was designed for projectors and use with in-line cleaning.
The PTRs on a commercial scanner can usually be bypassed. They’re just there to assist with removing dust in the air that may settle on the film, and for proper use they need to be regularly washed with soap and water. You can read the Blackmagic Cintel manual here to get an idea:
PTRs pick up a lot of dust and dirt, as evidenced by the state of the rollers after we run film through them. It’s also why there are 8 PTRs in our film cleaner. The film passes through these before getting to the wet area of the cleaner, and after a roll of film has run through the machine they are typically filthy.
If they’re dirty, that means they’re working. And yes, they continue to pick up dirt even after they appear to be pretty dirty. You can see how much more is on them by the end of the reel when this happens. This is why we clean them every time we run film through.
Cleaning, by the way, only takes a second - run them over some packing tape, and then every few days you do a gentle wet cleaning and let them air dry.
