Not so pretty in pink

[R***@theatresupport.com]

I have a few old trailers from the 1970s and an odd reel or two from release
prints, but they have of course had the usual fading. I'm just curious if
someone has come up with a filter combo for virtualdub or even photoshop to do
the basic correction needed to bring them back to watchable. I have my doubts,
since some of the fading is pretty extreme but one never knows.

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by R***@theatresupport.com
I have a few old trailers from the 1970s and an odd reel or two from release
prints, but they have of course had the usual fading. I'm just curious if
someone has come up with a filter combo for virtualdub or even photoshop to do
the basic correction needed to bring them back to watchable. I have my doubts,
since some of the fading is pretty extreme but one never knows.

Not really. A bunch of folks have gadgets that have been sold over the years
to deal with the problem, and for the most part if it's just a little bit of
cyan fading it can be dealt with in telecine by tweaking the shape of the
cyan curve, but once it gets beyond the "slightly pink" point there is so
little cyan dye left that any attempt to bring the levels up to normal adds
incredible amounts of noise.

Jeff Kreines is probably the guy who knows more about this than anyone, though.
--scott

[R***@theatresupport.com]

Yeah, thanks Scott, that is as I suspected. I wonder if when the cyan dye fades
if it leaves a chemical footprint that could be discovered other ways. Slim
hopes. More musing than anything.

Post by Scott Dorsey

Post by R***@theatresupport.com
I have a few old trailers from the 1970s and an odd reel or two from release
prints, but they have of course had the usual fading. I'm just curious if
someone has come up with a filter combo for virtualdub or even photoshop to do
the basic correction needed to bring them back to watchable. I have my doubts,
since some of the fading is pretty extreme but one never knows.

Not really. A bunch of folks have gadgets that have been sold over the years
to deal with the problem, and for the most part if it's just a little bit of
cyan fading it can be dealt with in telecine by tweaking the shape of the
cyan curve, but once it gets beyond the "slightly pink" point there is so
little cyan dye left that any attempt to bring the levels up to normal adds
incredible amounts of noise.
Jeff Kreines is probably the guy who knows more about this than anyone, though.
--scott