Oz color difference

[earlyfilm]

Originally Posted by colorfixer

I would point toward a really old, faded print used in the video transfer and a tech that did what they could to make up for a trash print at the time.

Modern video transfers are usually created from film masters and not from prints.

I'd say there are multiple causes for the differences in the two frame captures.

The set labeled "BYE TO OZ_CTC4(Small)", is out of convergence especially in the lower right quadrant and has the color level set very high and the contrast is slightly high.

The image labeled "BYE TO OZ_wierd color(Medium)" seems to have both color and contrast set very low and the hue adjusted very green.

I also suspect that both are not from the same restoration of the film. Each restoration of this title has produced quite different colors. This film was shot with three strip Technicolor (three B&W negatives) and therefore when MGM restored the film there is a huge latitude in color available. Neither shot comes close to the colors that an original Technicolor imbibition color print would have had.

Then the 1939 Technicolor IB prints did not match the circa 1954 Technicolor reissue prints, because of changes in the dyes used. Modern Eastman color prints will have a still different look, and if you see this in a theater today, the digital projection will be different still! (For the record: I've seen both an original circa 1954 Technicolor IB print projected and a modern digital print projected.)

In short, the primary colors used in Technicolor prints, Eastman color prints, NTSC and HD, and theatrical projection, all are slightly different, so when you do the conversion, something is always lost.

Then when you get to the digital camera, it often automatically color corrects to what its dumb computer thinks the picture should be.


Then if you look at these two pictures on two different computers, I'll bet the results are also different.

James.