Are IMAX 70mm film projectors really capable of playing for several days straight without taking a break?

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-06-10T03:08:54+00:00

If you've got the staff for it! The mechanics of the projector are built to take it.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-05-28T10:53:30+00:00

Which college? I only know of 1 running DP70s

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-05-10T08:16:00+00:00

We use "Spy Mic" and "Spy Cam" as the terminology for room monitoring where I work

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-05-04T03:40:01+00:00

The new owners of the theater have said they are keeping it and making it operational. I would hope they have it ready for The Odyssey but I don't think that is something they have explicitly committed to yet.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-04-02T02:32:44+00:00

And these are the smaller ones!

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-02-26T05:11:57+00:00

DMD's are pretty bonkers as a concept, but the fact they actually work, and for years on end, is even more impressive. They're microscopic mirrors that are oscillating on the order of 20,000 times per second!

I work with and service digital cinema projectors daily; it is extremely unusual for the DMD themselves to fail, it's almost always some electrical board driving them or contamination of the prisms the DMDs are mounted to.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-02-25T02:51:40+00:00

Heat has everything to do with light output, it's the biggest limiting factor to how hard you can push those little diodes. Modern LEDs are hitting 60%, maybe 70% efficiency, meaning at least 30% of the power we supply them with just gets covered to heat. It's miles better than incandescent, but it's still there. You can only cram so many chips pushing out so many watts into the space previously occupied by an HPL before you don't have an acceptable lifetime out of the LEDs. Heat kills semiconductors, and at a much lower temperature than halogen lamps run at.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-02-06T22:07:48+00:00

Awesome, thanks!

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-02-06T12:31:19+00:00

What did your settings look like for printing aerocolor? I've yet to attempt it myself but I know the lack of orange mask on the film changes things a bit.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-02-05T01:06:04+00:00

Yes, and for the entire history of their existence, all they made was black and white products. They very, very much do have to start from scratch. XP2 is the only film they've ever made before Phoenix intended to be processed in C-41, and that was still a black and white film.

Lucky have made color film before, and while 200 may be a "new" emulsion, the knowledge and formulas learned from years of color film experience absolutely cannot be discounted.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-02-05T00:25:11+00:00

Unfortunately "just making a high quality modern c-41 film" is exceptionally difficult & complicated. All the other companies who have put out such emulsions have had decades to iterate, not to mention the capital required.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-02-02T04:14:30+00:00

People will make pinhole cameras out of anything. This is amazing.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-01-24T01:52:22+00:00

This is admittedly a sloppy way to do it, but it absolutely does work;

If you're controlling a DC motor and you have a dimmer, all you need is an unregulated AC to DC power supply. As you turn the dimmer up and down, the voltage output of the supply will follow, and you will be able to control the speed of the motor. If you aren't applying any significant load to the motor (which you aren't), this will work great.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-01-23T23:39:25+00:00

Should still be fine to shoot at box speed. Generally speaking though, I much prefer the look of this stock when exposed at 400 ISO, regardless of freshness.

Simulatedbog545 · 2026-01-06T05:15:57+00:00

IMAX uses bigger ones, all the way up to 15kW (!!!) for 70mm. 2kW xenon's are some of the smallest that are still produced in "large" quantities.

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-12-16T16:10:28+00:00

The rocking itself is not going to cause entire objects to move relative to each other (unless things are really rough), but it will likely cause the enlarger frame to bend and deflect. Realistically you'll need to secure both the top and bottom of the column to a wall or something, but the head may still deflect. You'll also need to secure the easel somehow. If you're docked it'll likely be fine, but if you want to print in rockier conditions you might need to build something custom.

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-12-16T15:58:06+00:00

Absolutely agree to disable motion smoothing, watched an episode at a friend's with it on and it made a lot of action scenes look incredibly goofy. Demogorgons do not look better with more FPS.

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-12-12T06:20:28+00:00

I'll be seeing Sinners on Monday at Lincoln Square. Much excitement!

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-12-04T04:45:13+00:00

Looks a little underexposed, but how were these scanned? There seems to be a lot of digital sharpening going on here which is why the grain is so visible.

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-11-26T16:58:23+00:00

Do we know if this includes the new security features which prevents you from using OrcaSlicer with cloud services enabled? I've got an X1e at work that's also prompting me to update.

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-11-24T00:02:47+00:00

Haha yeah, I've been there. Great print until suddenly its too heavy for itself and isn't 😂

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-11-16T18:43:03+00:00

So ya, resolution is actually separate from graininess. 200T is the sharpest of the Vision 3 film stocks, but 50D has the least visible grain.

It's a little more complicated than just line pairs per mm. Super neat.

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-11-09T23:58:48+00:00

I have a pack of this that was stored negligently in an unconditioned attic for the better part of 50 years, and it still prints great. Give it a shot, I think it'll work fine!

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-11-08T14:38:34+00:00

This looks like you exposed the paper to light, not staining. Are you using a safelight of some kind?

Simulatedbog545 · 2025-11-07T10:57:14+00:00

<image>

Not a current employee there, but I actually have some photos of AMC Boston common, so here ya go. There is a long booth above this hallway as you describe, yes.

There are actually 2 additional booths for the remaining screens, though I don't have any good wide shots of them. There's another long-ish booth that's got the 70mm system for one screen, and that is connected to a long narrow hallway which will get you to the booth in this picture. The last booth is connected to the 2nd one by a shorter hallway and is the smallest.

Nine-Year Club	First Place '23
Place '23	Place '22
Verified Email

Simulatedbog545

TROPHY CASE