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Chapter 3. Scanning

3.1. General Concepts

Spatial Resolution Figure 3.1. Comparison between 2K and 4K

resolution.
Scanning resolution is one key issue
when it comes to scanner
performance. Many tests and
demonstrations have been done to
show the ultimate resolution of film.
Most scanning is currently carried
out at 2K resolution, i.e. the image
is sampled with 2048 pixels per line. Both images are enlarged portions scaled to the same size.
For comparison, HDTV has 1920 The 4K image on the right hand side displays more visible
pixels per line. 4K (4096 pixels per details and appears to be sharper than the 2K image on the
line) scans are sometimes performed left. Although, viewed in a projection, the differences may
be less noticeable.
for VFX, and some productions,
Spider Man 2 for example, have Figure 3.2. Aliasing in digital image.
been done entirely in this format.
Looking at the digital files in
Figure 3.1, a 4K scan definitely
contains more details than a 2K
scan. The trade-offs are scanning
time per frame, data transfer times,
and processing costs.
Care needs to taken that no aliasing
appears in the scans. In digital
imaging, aliasing is a term used
when patterns are created in an
image that were not in the original.
It can be avoided by resampling to a
lower spatial resolution with a
Both images were down-sampled from a higher
digital filter or by an optical filter. resolution. To make the effect more visible, an enlarged
Optical anti-aliasing filter, however, portion is shown. A proper digital filter was used for the
tend to produce less sharp images. upper image and it does not show aliasing. In the lower
image no filtering was applied producing an edgy
structure in the diagonal lines. Aliasing can also increase
the noise or grain in an image as shown in the enlarged
Dynamic Range face.
In scanning, the original film image would represent the
Dynamic range is the other key higher resolution image that is sampled at a lower rate.
issue, meaning the scanner needs to Without filtering similar effects could occur.

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capture the entire density range of

Figure 3.3. Grayscale gradient in different bit depths.
the negative. Even though this may
contain information that will not be
shown in the final image, it gives
headroom to change the dynamics
of a shot to fit creative requirements.
Together with dynamic range comes
the question of quantization. A
scanner has to translate the
continuous range of densities in a The upper grayscale is encoded in 8 bits, which gives 256
levels. more than the eye can differentiate. With each bit
negative into discrete digital less the number of levels is halved. The visual effect seen
numbers. The bit depth or number of in the lower bit depths is called banding or contouring.
bits per channel determines how You may have to view the full size version of the image to
see the effect.
many levels can be encoded. Usage
of 8 bits results in 256 levels, a Figure 3.4. Color processing in different bit depths.
number generally considered too
low for negative film scanning. One
needs more than 100 levels to
produce a perfectly smooth tonal
scale. Lower quantization breaks
graduated colors into visible blocks. Digital scans stand at the beginning of the post production
The effect is called banding or process. Color processing may make banding visible
contouring and is illustrated in where the tonal variation of the original image appears to
be smooth. The image color gradient on the left hand side
Figure 3.3 and Figure 3.4. Color is the original image in this example. It is manipulated
processing may make banding with some typical tools in digital color correction
visible where the tonal variation of (gradation curves). The second image shows the result of
a 16 bit processing, while the last image is the result of the
the original image appears to be same process carried out in 8 bit.
smooth. Therefore, scans with a
higher bit depth than 8 bits are Figure 3.5. Encoding of negative densities in the
Cineon/DPX file format.
needed as source for the color
correction.

Cineon/DPX Format
A commonly used file format for
film scans is the Cineon or DPX
format. It uses 10 bits per channel,
which equals 1024 levels, and
linearly encodes the densities of the
negative above base as shown in
Figure 3.5. One code value in the
DPX file represents 1/500 log D. A
look at Table 3.1 reveals that the
base density of the negative is The DPX file is simply a linear encoding of negative
encoded as 95 rather than zero. That densities. See Table 3.1 for the code values of the marked
happens for the same reason an IN points.
is about 0.2 log D heavier than the Figure 3.6. Scene in log density encoding.
original negative (see the section
called “Characteristic Curve”).

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Recording the Cineon image on

intermediate film results in a digital
IN, where the densities are shifted
by 0.19 log D. More information
about the Cineon and DPX format is
given in the appendix.
Figure 3.6 displays the sample This is the DPX scan that was used to produce Figure 1.1.
image in log encoding. Figure 3.7 It is displayed as it is, without gamma correction.
shows 5 enlarged portions of the
Figure 3.7. Specific tonal values in the sample image.
image together with the code values
from the scan of the negative. A
DPX file presents a positive image
but otherwise it keeps the
characteristic of a negative. One
could regard it as the digital version
of an interpositive. It looks “flat”,
the blacks are too high, and the
whites are to low since the
additional tonal values below and
above are linearly encoded as well.
Like film negatives, Cineon/DPX The numbers display the relative log exposure in stops
(top line), the relative linear exposure, and, in the bottom
images are not meant to be judged line, the resulting code value in a Cineon/DPX scan of the
by the human eye. negative.
Nevertheless, a scanner operator or
Figure 3.8. The histogram of the log encoded sample
colorist has to examine the scans. image.
Since a film scanner applies no color
correction, the scan may not look
neutral. The midtones may not
necessarily sit around a code value
of 470 because some
cinematographers prefer to
overexpose the negative by one or
two stops. Examine the histogram in
Figure 3.8. It shows the relative
The number of pixels towards the minimum and
frequency of the code values in the maximum code values is zero. The range of tonal values is
sample image. The number of pixels continuous without gaps.
towards the lower and upper limit of
Figure 3.9. Histogram showing gaps.
the range is zero. A DPX image
with a significant number of pixels
having a value of 0 or 1023 is most
likely the result of a misalignment
of the scanner. Also, there should be
no gaps in the histogram. Natural
images always have a continuous
variation of tonal values. Remember
to display the histogram 1024 pixels
This is an artificially produced example. A histogram of a
wide to recognize any gaps. color corrected image may show gaps, but the raw scan
Figure 3.9 gives an example of a should have a continuous variation of tonal values.
histogram showing missing code

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values in the higher densities.

Figure 3.10. Relation between film transmittance and
Table 3.1. Relation of negative sensor signal.
densities and 10 bit log code
values.
Density Log Code
Label Above Value (10
Base Bit)
D-Min[1] 0.00 95
0.01 102
0.02 107
0.05 122
0.11 151
2% Gray [2] 0.17 180
0.23 212
0.30 244
0.36 277
0.43 309
The digital image sensor in a scanner “sees“ the
0.49 341 transmittance of the negative. Note that the transmittance
0.56 373 decreases with the exposure.
0.62 406
0.69 438 Figure 3.11. Relation between sensor signal and log
encoding.
18% Gray
0.75 470
[3]
0.81 501
0.87 531
0.93 562
1.00 593
1.06 624
1.12 654
90% White
1.18 685
[4]
1.24 716
1.30 746
1.36 777
1.43 808
1.49 839
1.55 869
D-Max [5] 1.61 900 A sensor with more than 14 bit quantization is needed to
1.67 931 produce the desired resolution of 1/500 log D over the
entire density range.
1.73 961
1.79 992 Figure 3.12. Scene in linear luminance encoding (full
1.86 1023 range).

Each line in the table corresponds to an

exposure increment of one third stop. The
numbers in the column titled “Label“ refer to
the markers in Figure 1.1. Enlarged portions
of the marked areas are displayed in
Figure 3.7.
An important precondition for
correctly scanning a negative is the The image is gamma corrected for display on a monitor,
otherwise it would appear even darker.
base calibration of the scanner. The
intensity of the light source in the Figure 3.13. Linear encoding of scene luminance in 16

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scanner must be adjusted bit code values.

accordingly to the density of the
clear base of the film. Otherwise,
parts of the information in the
shadows (if the light intensity is too
high) or in the highlights (if the light
intensity is too low) could be lost in
the scan.

Conversion between negative

density and Cineon/DPX code
values
DPX code value = 95 + 500 *
density above base
density above base = DPX code
The 90% white point is mapped to 1/16 of the maximum
value / 500 - 0.19 code value giving the headroom that is needed to
represent the highlights.

Relation between exposure and Figure 3.14. Encoding of log scene luminance in 10 bit
Cineon/DPX code values code values.

In the scan of a negative film, 90

code values equal a change of
exposure by one stop, assuming the
negative has a gamma of 0.6.

Image Formation
Most film scanners use a CCD
(charge coupled device) or a CMOS
(complementary metal oxide
semiconductor) element as image
sensor. Both types of imagers
convert light into electric charge and
process it into electronic signals. Since the DPX file is a linear encoding of negative
densities, it is also a linear encoding of log scene
The response of both sensors is luminance.
related to the transmittance of the
film. However, the important Figure 3.15. Relation between scene luminance and
scanner sensor signal.
photographic quantity is the density.
Although one can easily convert
transmittance to density, there is a
difficulty. The conversion function
is very steep at high opacity/density
values, as shown in Figure 3.11.
Therefore, more code values or
more bits are needed in the sensor
output than in the final file format,
the film transmittance must be
sampled with a higher quantization
than the density.

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Linear Image Formats

Some people prefer to work with
linearly encoded images instead of
the Cineon/DPX format.
Confusingly, there are at least three
different types of encoding referred
to as “linear”.

Video images which can be

properly displayed on a video
monitor without any
additional transformation.
Video images are not linear,
however. First, they need to The sensor code values represent transmittance of
be gamma corrected as will be negative film, which is not linearly related to scene
luminance.
explained in Section 5.1.
Second, one must introduce
some shadow and highlight
compression to display a natural scene on a monitor.
A linear encoding of the (linear) scene luminance. One can invert the characteristic
curve of a negative assuming normal exposure and an average film gamma of 0.6
(the formula is given below). While this encoding is useful for integration of
computer rendered elements, it is, like DPX images, not easily viewable. Figure 3.13
shows the placement of the reference tonal values. The white point is mapped at 1/16
of the maximum code value and accordingly, the image in Figure 3.12 looks much
too dark if displayed without any further means of correction. Since most of the code
values are used to record the highlight information, a linear image needs more bits to
produce the same detailed shadow representation as a log encoded image.
Some scanners, the ARRISCAN for example, allow one to save the linear sensor
image. Looking at Figure 3.15, one sees the code values are not linearly related to
the scene luminance because they represent the transmittance of negative film.

Although it is not regarded as “linear” the DPX format is actually a linear representation of
log scene luminance, compare Figure 3.13 with Figure 3.14.

Conversion of DPX code values to relative scene luminance

relative luminance = 10 ^ ( ( dpx code value – white point ) * 0.002 * negative gamma )
Commonly, the negative gamma is assumed to be 0.6 and the white point is set to 685.
The result is relative luminance where the reference white is placed at 1.0. To convert into
a format like 16 bit TIFF the luminance values are multiplied by 4095 leaving a headroom
of 4 stops for the highlights. The resulting transfer curve is displayed in Figure 3.13 and
Figure 3.12 shows the sample image in this encoding.
Scroll to next section.

3.2. ARRISCAN
The ARRISCAN was introduced in
Figure 3.16. Low and high image used in the
2004 and shows several features

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distinguishing it from other film ARRISCAN

scanners.

Pin registered transport with

full frame sensor. During the
image exposure film, gate,
and sensor are locked into
position. This results in high
The upper right image is scanned with ten times more
stability and consistency. light than the image on the left hand side. (If you are
High dynamic range by thinking the order is reversed, remember that a negative
combining a low and a high image is scanned.) The left image is shifted down by the
equivalent of 1.0 log D, while the right image is shifted
frame. The scanner takes two up. The resulting images in the second row are combined
exposures per channel. The into one.
first one (Figure 3.16 left
hand side) captures the
negative densities up to 1.0 log D. The second one (Figure 3.16 right hand side) is
done with 10 times more light and captures the densities above 1.0.
LED illumination. LED’s have a much longer durability than the Xenon or HMI
lamps used in other scanners. Also their color stays constant during the entire life
cycle. Another advantage is that the LED illumination produces almost no heat in the
film gate.
Oversampling. The final 2K or 4K image is produced from a 3K respectively 6K
scan to avoid aliasing.
High speed scanning with four frames per second in 2K (will be released at IBC
2005).

3.3. Summary
The widely used Cineon/DPX image file format is a linear representation of negative
densities and is therefore linear to log scene luminance measured in log exposure or
stops.
Image formats with a linear encoding of linear scene luminance need a higher bit
depth.
A scanner sees neither film densities nor scene luminance, it sees film transmittance
which has to be converted to a photographic meaningful metric. Because of this
conversion the internal bit depth needs to be higher than the output bit depth.
A scanner should scan with a higher spatial resolution than the output format to
avoid aliasing.

© 2005 Harald Brendel, Arnold & Richter Cine Technik

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