Cintel Scanner can't stabilize some 16mm films

Hi everyone, it's my first time here and I hope I'm posting this in the right section.

We are a small film preservation studio and our main film scanner is a Cintel with optional 16mm gate and KeyKode audio reader. We love working with Cintel and it delivers great results when scanning 35mm film.

However, scanning "some" 16mm films turns into a challenge, and sometimes outright impossible. The problem we're experiencing is stabilization. I've done countless experiments with various settings, X-Y stabilization on-off, audio, no-audio, HDR on-off, etc.

I've updated the Cintel software and firmware, including KeyKode accessory update to the latest versions. I'm now running Cintel 6.0 software and the latest beta 02 of DaVinci Resolve Studio. Upon seeing on the release notes that Cintel 6.0 software would improve 16mm stabilization, I was excited but unfortunately nothing changed for us.

I've narrowed down the problem to perforation detection. Perforations on films with a transparent base can't be easily detected by Cintel and therefore can't be stabilized. Frames jump all over the place. Just to confirm, I did some tests by simply painting the perforation side with a black marker, creating a higher contrast between perforations and actual film made Cintel easily detect them and stabilize the frames. However it's of course not ideal nor feasable to do this to whole film. I'm really hoping someone from support would shed some light on this issue because a large portion of our library consists of these kind of 16mm film prints.

I'm adding two frames with and without perforation painting. You'll see that when painted, Cintel can stabilize the frame in the center.

Thanks in advance to anyone.

Alper

[Gavin Lucas]

Hi Alper,

16mm can be particularly challenging for (x) stability due to clutter and perf damage etc.,

Can you please contact support with your issue and get a ticket raised, and supply them with a short 5 second clip (.cri's) of both scenarios; In addition please supply us a copy of your latest Cintel-0.log when suffering this issue for us to review further.

Thanks

Hi Gavin, thanks so much for the answer.

The films we are trying to scan are in very good condition, with no warping, no shrinking, zero perf damage. Additionally the problem we're experiencing is not related to the "image stabilization" option. We use Y-stabilization for shrunk or stretched film when the playback is wobbly. This issue seems like it's caused by Cintel's lack or perforation detection on clear film stock, as I detailed earlier. We don't have this problem when scanning dark or colored film stock.

I scanned 5 seconds with both scenarios to share with the support team but I don't exactly know where to upload them.

I sent an email to the support team by the way, awaiting their response.

Thanks again for the advice. It's very frustrating to experience this with perfectly fine films, especially while thinking about purchasing a second Cintel.

I hope it gets resolved soon.

Hi Alper,

16mm can be particularly challenging for (x) stability due to clutter and perf damage etc.,

Can you please contact support with your issue and get a ticket raised, and supply them with a short 5 second clip (.cri's) of both scenarios; In addition please supply us a copy of your latest Cintel-0.log when suffering this issue for us to review further.

Thanks