Some great images on here and interesting info....I feel inspired to get my film gear out again!!
My scanner of choice (as I own one) is the Epson V700......I can get decent A3 prints from 35mm negs, but wonder if anyone else is using this machine and if they have any tips or observations?
Ok, received my Reflecta ProScan 7200 this afternoon. I scanned my first roll of film since 2007. I forgot how difficult it was. Not proud of those results but thought I might as well show a few. Should practice more ...
corposant wrote:
Edward - why don't you try a lower-grained color film? That way you can evaluate color reproduction and resolution a little better than a faster B&W.
I do plan to do that as soon as the weather improves a bit. We're at the end of the monsoon in this part of the world and it has been pouring rain non stop for the last couple of weeks. I did try a few scans of older Velvia shots and they seem to be good enough for what it is but from memory I think my Nikon L5000 used to be quite sharper.
Vuescan can save as DNG raw, gave me much better results as the tiff option. Also, never used the film profiles, "generic" was better than everything else.
Morfeus wrote:
Vuescan can save as DNG raw, gave me much better results as the tiff option. Also, never used the film profiles, "generic" was better than everything else.
Now that's an important piece of information. Thanks for that. Will try it tonight. Does this mean that I can maipulate the file in ACR? That would be absolutely wonderful.
As for generic, yep, I have already discovered that it gives better results than the canned profiles.
Yepp, that is what I did. ACR or Lightroom. You get much more headroom for manipulation like this obviously. Go to the output tab, tick "TIFF file". Another tick box will appear: "TIFF DNG format", tick this one also. "TIFF file type" should be "48bit RGB".
Well, the DNG format is excellent, as it is allowing me to work in a familiar environment.
I have also made a new discovery today. I am getting much sharper results scanning the negatives upside down. The manual specifically states that the negatives should be scanned shiny side up, which is a bit strange because the scanning head is above the film. Normally the emulsion side should be facing the scanning head. Anyhow, it is a bit more difficult to insert the film emulsion side up because of the natural curl, and the scans come out reversed right-left, but the results are much better.
Yeah I would skip the film profiles in Vuescan. Also, you know you can edit regular Tiffs in ACR? I would personally skip the DNG stuff, but I'm a lone voice in the wilderness when it comes to that. I also don't think that ACR/Lightroom gives you all the tools you need to correct color neg scans, but again, most people don't agree. I think the only tool you REALLY need is a full fledged curves tool; the ability to manipulate the R, G, and B curves separately, especially in the shadows, can be really useful.
kidtexas wrote:
Yeah I would skip the film profiles in Vuescan. Also, you know you can edit regular Tiffs in ACR? I would personally skip the DNG stuff, but I'm a lone voice in the wilderness when it comes to that. I also don't think that ACR/Lightroom gives you all the tools you need to correct color neg scans, but again, most people don't agree. I think the only tool you REALLY need is a full fledged curves tool; the ability to manipulate the R, G, and B curves separately, especially in the shadows, can be really useful.
A couple ways. The easiest is probably if you use Bridge to browse. Open up Camera Raw preferences in Bridge. Down at the bottom in the "JPEG and TIFF Handling" section, select "Automatically open TIFFs with settings" or "Automatically open all supported TIFFs". The first will open TIFFs that have ACR settings embedding in them in ACR, and other TIFFs in PS. The second setting I think opens all TIFFs in ACR. If you select the first, to open a new TIFF in ACR, just hit command-R or select "Open in Camera Raw..." from the file menu. All of the above can also be done with JPEGs.
If you don't use Bridge, then you need to do it in PS and it's a bit more of a pain in the butt. The bit above about "Camera Raw" preferences applies - set them appropriately through the "Photoshop->Preferences->Camera Raw" menu item. Then, go to the File menu and select "Open...". Select your file, and then change the file format in the popup to "Camera Raw". Then hit enter and do your thing. At this point, the TIFF (or JPEG) file should have ACR settings saved in it. So the next time you pop it open in PS, it will automatically recognize it and open it up in ACR instead of straight into PS. Other TIFFs (and JPEGs) are unaffected.
This is all on a Mac with CS5. It should be very similar on Windows, but the some of the settings might be in different locations.
Also note that DNGs really are a special type of TIFF. The formats are very similar. Since scans don't actually have non-debayered image data (the 'RAW' if you will), then it's really just the same image data that is in a TIFF packaged in a slightly different way. Since PS (and I'm pretty sure Lightroom) can embed and read ACR data from TIFFs and JPEGs, I see no reason to use DNGs for scans. Especially since other programs can't necessarily process DNGs but almost all can read TIFFs and JPEGs. The only thing you lose is if you use some other RAW developer on your scan files that won't work on TIFF files. I'm pretty sure Aperture lets you edit TIFFs and JPEGs. Not sure about other RAW developing programs...
kidtexas wrote:
I also don't think that ACR/Lightroom gives you all the tools you need to correct color neg scans, but again, most people don't agree. I think the only tool you REALLY need is a full fledged curves tool; the ability to manipulate the R, G, and B curves separately, especially in the shadows, can be really useful.
No argument here. This is when anybody who has PS should brush up on the Selective Color Layer.
