Boon27
Posts: 2
Joined: 8/7/2012
|
Film based IMAX is dead, I wish is was not. with Kodak going bust the ability to print on 35mm, 70mm or 15/70mm now has a time limit, but I will come on to why this is not the end of the big screen format later.
I have researched IMAX screen sizes recently, in the past cinemas were built around IMAX projectors and screens, this worked but as the format got increasingly popular more and more cinemas were retro fitted with IMAX systems. This would be the screen (quality and ratio) sound and projection system. You will find film based and digital IMAX screens have a taller ratio than standard cinema, now with a film like Dark Knight you will see a change in aspect ratio in digital but it will be a greater change in the film based screens, so you will get more than standard cinema screen.
I know most people have the idea of IMAX as that big screen, but with both film and digital I have always thought it was about quality, the image is mastered for IMAX along with the sound, anyone here could make a film and if the film distributors thought it would make some money you could get it in a cinema, I think of IMAX as a quality control especially when we talk about 3D, I've seen some very bad 3D films but never in IMAX, partly based on the different way they project 3D but mainly down to the fact they remaster the 3D just for there own systems.
It's true that digital IMAX is not the same as the film based version but reading recent articles it looks like they are on the cusp of change, any projectionist (if they still exist) will tell you the bigger the screen the bigger the lamp you have to use, with laser light around the corner the power produced from a laser unit could be four times that of the largest film based IMAX screens, I don't think it's going to be to long before we start to see some massive screens in the future.
But saying that if you look at IMAX digital cinemas across Europe you will find them the size of the BFI and Manchester (2 of the largest screens in the UK), they still have the slightly lower aspect ratio that the film based systems but still has the impact you would expect from films like MI4 and Batman. The UK tend to have the largest screen the cinema has as the IMAX screen, the problem is if that cinema has small screens in general there biggest may not be big to you, I know the cinemas just don't plug in a IMAX system, most of the retro fits have building work to raise the night of the roof and maximise the width but they will be stuck with the height and width of the building or main walls.
Personally I have been to some of the smaller IMAX screens in the UK, I have also visited the BFI and Manchester so I know the difference. I know I could be watching the film on a bigger screen but I know it's the biggest screen they have with the best sound on offer, so I get to watch a film I want to see in the best quality available.
I have looked in to the technology behind IMAX digital but it's very hard to get any info, there are some systems that use 2 projectors but you can never get them lined up 100% but yet IMAX has something in place that can do this, from what I can tell it can do this on the fly in real time. I also talked to a projectionist who said the digital system runs a self calibration everyday, this was for image and sound, i could to find anything online about this, I also like the idea when I sit down to watch a digital IMAX film is was check and calibrated that very morning, I don't think the same can be said for standard digital screens.
What I see happening is as laser light hits the market DLP would then be able to drastically increase the physical size of a DLP chip as you get much more light from a laser system, bigger chips equal bigger image and even the ability to go back to the original IMAX aspect ratio even if it is becoming more and more unused.
As for Avengers not being released in film based IMAX, I was told this was a film distributor decision and it could have been down to the cost of printing the 15/70mm film.
Sorry to go on, I like IMAX and it's something I like to research, also having a few people who work in this area helps.
< Message edited by Boon27 -- 9/7/2012 8:51:10 AM >
|
Printable Version
RE: IMAX question - 
Really looking forward to it now, it might not be true IMAX (I agree that it should be advertised as such.) but if its much improved over standard projection then im all for it! I will most likely pop back in on Thursday to say what i thought of it.
Also when the camera rotated it became blurry! Best example is from the scene in the trailer where the camera rotates around the Avengers. It looked horrible! But most of the time it looked great, sound was a little naff to be honest. Not bad per say but didn't blow me away. 
Will be buying my own pair for future viewings! So yeah i would definitely go back, seen the trailer for Promtheus, Amazing Spiderman, Men and Black III and the Hobit which all looked great, the MIB3 time jump was awesome! No adverts too!! I like that! 
Had IMAX written on the side too. Maybe the standard glasses do work and they just want you to wear glasses worn by the blob! But i had a quick look on ebay and people sell IMAX 3D glasses and Real-D glasses so i can only presume they are different. Im going to buy a clip on pair for my prescription glasses, wearing two pairs of glasses is heavy on the nose!
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread