Blackmagic Design Readies Cintel Film Scanner
April 14, 2014

Blackmagic Design Readies Cintel Film Scanner

NAB 2014, LAS VEGAS – Blackmagic Design unveiled a new model of the Cintel Film Scanner designed with an architectural aesthetic that’s so thin it can even be wall mounted.

With consumers purchasing large Ultra HD televisions in massive quantities right now, the demand for great Ultra HD content has never been greater and will become a boom market in the next few years. Ultra HD is incredible quality and there are millions of hours of Ultra HD content that’s been generated over the last 100 years locked up in 35mm film that is stored in vaults worldwide.

The new Cintel scanner will scan negative and positive 35mm film into amazing quality Ultra HD so customers can unlock the extra resolution from 35mm film that no one has been able to see until now. 35mm film is natively 4K so the extra quality is already in the film. This means there is no easier way to generate Ultra HD feature films and television programming for customers to view on their new large screen televisions than scanning filmed entertainment that’s already been produced, including classic hits.

Designed to hang beautifully on the wall, the Cintel film scanner is constructed using aircraft design techniques for a stiff and vibration free main deck to ensure smooth film handling. The core chassis has been designed as a super rigid structural space frame, which results in a design that’s dramatically lighter allowing it to be wall mounted in a facility, making it part of the environment of a color correction suite. Whether wall or desk mounted the innovative design includes sliding doors, built in cleaning rollers and new digital servos to keep your film clean and ensure handling of valuable negative remains gentle.

The new Cintel film scanner is an innovation in technology. Film traditionally has been a mechanical technology and film products have suffered from poor quality electronics that required experienced engineers to keep them working. The Cintel scanner has been designed with the latest Blackmagic Design image processing technology and features a Thunderbolt 2 connection. The high-speed Thunderbolt 2 port provides massive bandwidth for transferring 4K video in real time, so you can connect the device to your Mac and scan the film directly into your color correction system. That makes setup and use extremely fast plus eliminates slow file copying after scanning. Because Cintel is an OS X Thunderbolt 2 peripheral, you get easy to install software updates that add new features and it also means customers have the freedom to upgrade their computer whenever they choose.

In the past when film was the main way to get high quality images for post production, Cintel telecine’s and DaVinci color correction was the standard combination used worldwide. Now these two wonderful brands are back together again because the Cintel film scanner includes a full copy of DaVinci Resolve software. Now customers will get full color correction features included so they can take advantage of the Cintel scanner’s amazing image quality. Customers will never be limited creatively by their equipment because you’ll have incredible film looks combined with the same powerful color correction toolset used by the world’s leading cinematographers!

The Cintel film scanner will include everything customers need for a complete solution to film scanning and grading. The Cintel scanner includes powerful built in Image Mill stabilization and grain reduction, a 35mm film gate (16mm purchased separately), two film spools, a set of four cleaning rollers, DaVinci Resolve 11 software and desk mount feet included. Unlike many film products, there are no fees for installation, no software update fees, no license transfer fees if a customer ever should want to sell their Cintel scanner in the future.

The Cintel film scanner will retail for $29,995 later in 2014.