RE: [Leica] Putting still images to video

["Rodgers, David" <david.rodgers@xo.com>]

Mark

>>You shouldn't need to reboot your system. Just invoke My Computer /
Properties / Device Manager, and refresh the SCSI controller after you turn
the scanner back on.<<

Thanks for the note.  Your suggestion should work, and sometimes it does.
But not always. My system is pretty touchy. I've got several SCSI cards and
a large drive subsystem. I put it all together so I could experiment with
adding native motion and audio to still images using Adobe Premiere, and
play it on a DVD player.  

Importing tiff files -- or any still image format -- to video is a difficult
transition. Computer graphics is non-interleave and the pixels are round.
NTSC is interleave and the pixels are square. Interleave isn't a problem,
the but the round to square pixel isssue is. With a straight import
Photoshop files suffer verical compression (i.e. they look squashed on TV).
You have to stretch them in Photoshop before the import. I'd love to get
Adobe After effects. I understand it makes the transition much easier. Also
has a much better interface for applying motion to stills. 

I've put together some image clips on VCD. It's interesting. Audio can add a
great deal to the viewing experience.  You can even do voice overs. I just
plop the CD into my DVD player and it's like watching a slide show, sort of.
While it's easier than getting out the Ektagraphic, image quality isn't the
same. Sort of defeats the purpose of using Leica. OTOH you can't do motion
- -- pans, scrolls, etc. -- on an Ektagraphic. There's a lot to video. So far
I've just been importing still images, but I may integrate some DV, too.   

I thought saving 16-bit tiff files ate lots of drive space. Tiffs are like
mice. Video (any of various formats) eats drive space like a T-Rex. Takes a
while to boot or reboot my system, because of the drive subsystem. I really
need to change things around, get a separate server for the drive
sub-system. I need to made a separate video and still system. Just no time.
When I scan I switch from slides to negs all the time and I've only had one
or two instances of color shifts. It seemed to me that swapping the side and
stip holders cleared this up. That's probably why the note I read about
scanner exposure memory stuck with me.    

Dave