Image qulity problems when scanning color negatives...

[curtis_basner]

Hello all,

I'm sure someone has answered this somewhere in the forums, but I

couldn't find one, so here goes. I have a Minolta Dimage Scan Multi

Pro medium format film scanner. I have, since owning this scanner for

well over a year, had problems with getting decent image quality when

scanning color negatives. When I scan 120 Portra NC160 negatives,

(and actually ANY color negative), I find that that images (albeit

with NO adjustments AT ALL during the scan) result in pretty awful

color (washed out, inaccurate (leaning toward the cyan)) and generally

low contrast. I am using the Minolta supplied software. I know that

many folks use such programs as Silverfast or VueScan. I tried a demo

version of VueScan to see if the feature that is supposed to

'neutralize' the orange mask actually works, and found that the

quality of the scan didn't improve at all, and was perhaps worse.

 

Today, after doing a scan with no correction, I tried playing with

curves in PhotoShop, and I was able to get what looks a lot more like

the image I would have expected to see, but my 'playing' was

completely random, not systematic, and thus not necessarily

repeatable. In addition, even though the images look lots 'better',

they STILL don't have anywhere near the 'punch' of a pure digital

image. I'm terribly frustrated. Any ideas? If the answer is that

you just have to play around (that is, experiment ad infinitum) to get

good images, I guess I can accept that, however, I know that you true

professionals must have ways to get high quality 120 color negative

scans. Ive heard about add-ons such as the Scan-Hancer, which is

supposed to improve sharpness, but not sure about color and contrast.

 

Perhaps this will be addressed during any responses, but related to

this, is it better to try to manipulate the image during the scan, or

wait until the scan is complete and address changes in PhotoShop?

 

I'd appreciate any help at all. By the way, I've tried a whole

variety of different resolutions, oversampling, etc. with no

differences in the color/contrast problems.

[Ed_Ingold]

Negatives should be easier to scan than slides, which tend to have too much contrast. Both slides and negatives can produce good results, however.

 

I'm not familiar with the Minolta software, being a Nikon LS-8000 owner, but the principles should be the same. Try adjusting the levels so that the histogram is centered with good white and black points. That puts you in a good position to make adjustments in Photoshop.

 

I find that I can get good results with NikonScan, but Silverfast works more consistently with good automation. Silverfast has very powerful tools for negative film, with custom settings by brand and emulsion. If the Minolta software doesn't suit you, try the demo version of SilverFast AI 6 at www.silverfast.com. It's fully operational, but sprinkles little "DEMO" watermarks throughout the image.

[dion_loy]

Most color casts can be removed by bringing up the Levels dialog in photoshop, then

clicking on the Grey eye dropper (between the Black and White ones at the bottom

right). Then click on an area of the photo that should be middle grey. I usually find 5-

6 clicks will fix up the image.

[mendel_leisk]

Try this with Vuescan, following up with Photoshop. It doesn't involve Vuescan's "advanced workflow". It isn't perfect, but may get you in the ballpark. I've done next to no color neg. scanning, but what little I did, this workflow wasn't bad. With recent Vuescan versions though, the color balance seems to have drifted.

 

++++

 

Vuescan settings for color negs:

 

Input|Media Type: Color Negative

 

Input|Bits per pixel: 48 bit rgb

 

Color|Color negative Vendor: Generic

 

Color|Color negative Brand: Color

 

Color|Color negative Type: Negative

 

Color|Color Balance: None

 

Color|Bright: 1.0

 

File|tiff file: 48 bit rgb

 

(This should yield quite flat, dark image)

 

Save 48 bit rgb tiff, open in photoshop, run levels with:

 

autocolor, snap neutral midtones

 

bp: .02%

 

wp: .02%

 

++++

[mendel_leisk]

Also with above, when doing levels step in Photoshop, I pull the middle slider down, to about .75

[johnmarkpainter]

I prefer to do inital Color Correction using Color Balance. But that is because my first

Color Printing experience was working at a Photo Lab that didn't do any Automatic

correction.....all manual.

 

jmp

[nathanael_galler]

First: Silverfast is the best choice for negatives.

 

Then: You have to play with contrast and brightness at different levels of the histogramm (at best in all three color channels), then you get the PERFECT image. scan the negative raw with 48 bit (although with correct settings in negafix/part silverfast) and make all corrections in photoshop - so you have perfect control and can make changes everytime.

 

Of course you have to cut empty tracks of the histogramm before...

[nathanael_galler]

sorry, not different levels of the histogramm, of the gradation curve of course...