A team at Digital Film Technology (DFT), which provides high-end film and digital post production solutions for a variety of media, has been awarded an Academy Award. In a ceremony held at The Beverly Wilshire, LA on 20 February, Volker Massmann, Markus Hasenzahl, Dr Klaus Anderle and Andreas Loew were each awarded a Scientific and Engineering Award for the development of the Spirit 4K/2K film scanning system, which converts film to digital and video formats. The system incorporates a custom-built dual line scan sensor from Dalsa.
Each year, the Academy honours the achievements of scientific and technical innovators whose work has had a significant and lasting impact on the motion picture industry. The Sci-Tech awards celebrate the technical advances in film processing, sound, lighting, and special effects. This year, Digital Film Technology has distinguished itself with the Spirit 4K/2K, which incorporates a continuous-motion transport mechanism enabling full-range, high-resolution scanning at much higher frame rates than non-continuous transport scanners.
The Spirit products are high speed, high precision film scanners that scan film images in 4K or 2K resolution to convert the film to a digital media format for editing, compositing, distribution, and archival. DFT has installed more than 450 systems of the Spirit family worldwide. Dalsa has an ongoing, long-term relationship with DFT as an image sensor technology provider.
Dalsa's custom dual line scan sensor was developed specifically to meet DFT's demanding technical requirements for the Spirit film scanners. It is a very high precision sensor that achieves exceptional image quality. The sensor was also designed with anti-reflective properties to eliminate surface reflections during the film scanning process.
'DFT's Spirit 4K/2K film scanner has become the de facto standard in digital intermediate post production systems,' said Gareth Ingram, Dalsa's vice president and general manager of digital imaging. 'We are extremely proud to have been able to supply the advanced imaging technology needed to develop the world's best high-resolution, multi-format film scanners. Congratulations to DFT and its dedicated team.'
'The continued cooperation with Dalsa in the design phase of the sensor enabled us to achieve the challenging performance goals for the Spirit 4K/2K imaging sensors,' added Markus Hasenzahl, project manager for DFT's Spirit 4K/2K.
The Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony generally takes place approximately two weeks prior to the main Academy Awards ceremony, which will be held on 7 March.
