User Manual

Table Of Contents
CinemaDNG Quality Settings
To control the quality of CRI files, use the ‘decode quality’ and ‘play quality’ CinemaDNG
settings located in the Camera Raw panel of the project Settings. These settings are ‘full’
bydefault. On computers with low processor or memory resources, these settings may be
lowered but this will affect the quality of the final render.
Set the Timeline Resolution
DaVinci Resolve displays and renders the output from the scanner using the same resolution
asthe timeline. For example, for 35mm 4 perforation film, a custom resolution of 4096x3072
would be required for maximum resolution.
TIP: For more information on the cropped image area resolutions for all film gauges,
refer to the ‘Cintel Installation and Operation Manual’ in the ‘specifications’ section.
Adjusting the Color of the Scanner
DaVinci Resolve’s film scanner panel gives you control over the exposure and color
temperature of the light used to illuminate the film for scanning. You can adjust these via the
light source master wheel and RGB controls, in order to maximize the amount of information
you’re extracting from each frame, while preventing any part of the image from being
irretrievably clipped. While it’s true that CRI is a raw image format, there’s no latitude beyond
the internal data range used by DaVinci, so be mindful that if you’re clipping data in the built in
video scopes while scanning, it might be clipped permanently in the scanned media.
How often you’ll adjust the color and exposure of scanned shots depends on how much variety
there is in the scenes on a particular film roll. For example, some rolls may have many takes of
the same scene, all of which have the same lighting and which can share the same adjustments.
Meanwhile, other rolls may have a variety of different scenes with widely different lighting in
each one, necessitating you to make individual adjustments for each scanned clip to maximize
data quality.
This is important because the light source master wheel and RGB controls cannot be
automatically changed between scanned clips in a log and capture workflow. This means that
the current light source settings will be used for all clips you scan until you manually change
those settings again, even for clips that you’ve logged from different parts of a film roll. This
means that the log and capture style of working is only advisable in situations where it makes
sense to log multiple clips that share the same light source master wheel and RGB control
adjustments.
Otherwise, it’s recommended you make lighting adjustments on a clip by clip basis, as you scan
each clip, in situations where you need maximum image quality for finishing. Keep in mind that
the goal for these adjustments is to maximize image data from the scan, not to create the final
look of the clips, which you’ll accomplish later in the grading phase of work using the controls
ofthe ‘color’ page.
Chapter – 17 Capturing from the Cintel FilmScanner 388