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  1. Transferring some 16mm film reels and most work fine but I have 3 that look like "negatives". Could this be a reel that's wound backwards or perhaps film that was not developed?

    The normal reels display with projector and screen fine, the 3 bad ones look like negative images.
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  2. Originally Posted by Sealilly View Post
    Transferring some 16mm film reels and most work fine but I have 3 that look like "negatives". Could this be a reel that's wound backwards
    No. Well, it could be wound backwards but that has nothing to do with it being negative.

    Originally Posted by Sealilly View Post
    or perhaps film that was not developed?
    No.

    Originally Posted by Sealilly View Post
    The normal reels display with projector and screen fine, the 3 bad ones look like negative images.
    If you plan on digitizing the film you can easily invert it.
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  3. +1 jagabo. His answer is correct on all counts.
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  4. Originally Posted by Sealilly View Post
    The normal reels display with projector and screen fine, the 3 bad ones look like negative images.
    If you plan on digitizing the film you can easily invert it.[/QUOTE]

    Thank you, so is this something I do in post, perhaps with sony Vegas which I have? Do you think this film was intended for a special projector?
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  5. Let's be sure we know what you mean by negative. You mean instead of seeing this:

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    You're seeing this (negative):

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    Not something like this (left/right flip):

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    Or some other flip/rotation?
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  6. I am see'ing this one. I remember see'ing a license plate and it was legible and not backwards.

    Image
    [Attachment 44575 - Click to enlarge]
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  7. I don't use Vegas but I'm sure it has an invert/negative filter. It may be hard to get the colors just right though.
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  8. In vegas, it's the "Invert" filter . Look in the list under Video FX
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  9. Thanks all, I found Invert in Vegas and it worked wonders! Whats best guess on how/why these 3 reels are inverted on film? Just curious so I can give client reasonable explanation. Thanks again everyone!!
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  10. It's the original camera negative. Not a print. Does the film itself look orange? Are there perfs on both sides?
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  11. I assume that these are B&W. Having a color 16mm negative would be pretty rare.

    If you DO have a color negative, then in addition to inverting in Vegas (I use Vegas Pro every day), you may also need to deal with the orange mask used on Kodacolor and many other negative emulsions. I do this all the time in my photo editing program for 35mm still photo negatives, but Ive never been given any color negative film to transfer.

    But if you simply have B&W, then one click in Vegas and you're done.

    Of course you still need to adjust the gamma because most film transfers end up with contrast that is not correct. I use the "Color Curves" in Vegas to do this and have created a preset that is a great starting point for most movie film.

    [edit]Here's a link to where I show the color curves settings that I use as a starting point for B&W movie film gamma correction:

    https://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1540750&postcount=582
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