how to export the best quality still image?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 24, 2021
3 replies
1822 views

My OCD is kicking in and I realized that I've always wondered about this.

So I'm working on the restoration of a documentary from the 80's. The film was transferred from a 16mm print (not ideal, but that's all that was available) via a 5k scan. The 5k scan was then brought into resolve where it was color corrected and some of the damage repaired and then output as a UHD master. For blu-ray and dvd menus I exported a single frame of the main title using "export frame" and then brought that frame in to photoshop and just selected the title, deleted the background and then did a little bit of smoothing and enhancement. Looks fine for use as a blu-ray and dvd menu where it is also scaled down. The director now wants that title for use in the packaging of the disks... I've sent what I've done to the graphics guy but wondering if this is the best way to export a still image (I exported as a tiff) either by choosing a different option from the "format" drop down menu in the export frame dialog or just marking a single frame in the UHD source clip and choosing one of the still options in the export media dialog.

If he needs higher quality, I can at least go back to the 5k scan and export the frame from there...Not sure if that's really much higher resolution as the 5k scan includes the sprockets, etc...

thanks as always

Michael

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Steve Griffiths

Inspiring

I reckon the original 5K scan is going to have slightly more resolution than your UHD even once you crop out the sprockets ... but perhaps not enough to warrant the extra work? Hard to say.

Tiff, png or photoshop format should all be fine as a deliverable to graphics.

I'd also suspect that your 5k scan significantly exceeds the resolution of the original 16mm print. At a guess a 16mm print that is around 20 years old and has been projected a few times is going to have an effective resolution down at below HD specs.

I vaguely remember reading a good article, long ago, about perceived resolution of (a well used) 16mm print as something like 900-1200 horizontal resolution? (but don't trust my memory, I don't)

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Michael GrenadierAuthor

Legend

thanks Steve. Yeah, it's just my OCD kicking in worrying about this.

chrisw44157881

Inspiring

if the 5k was exported from resolve not as mathamatically lossless, then you'll have a little compression, ie. even prores compresses a bit.
UHD is only 3840x2160. so you will have less information than a 5k resolution.

and was the TIFF a 16 bit? was the scan or export from resolve a 16 bit?