Old negs.

[galen_coffman]

I am scanning old black and white negs. 1962-63. Most of them after scan

show up on the computer in various colors. Usually not the entire scan.

Red, yellow, green and an occasional blue. Is this the film or a darkroom

processing that caused this.

Occasionally one will scan correctly.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Aloha

[mendel_leisk]

What does your film look like? Can you determine the make? What format? What Scanner are you using? What software/settings are you using? Can you elaborate on "Usually not the entire scan"?

[philip_oxenstein]

Galen

 

When I first scanned B&W negatives, the image appared to be sepia toned on the PC monitor. Later, I noticed the scanning software I was using had both a 'color' and a 'B&W' setting. I had been scanning in 'color' mode, hence the sepia-like tone. Scanning in 'B&W' mode corrected the images.

 

If this is not the case on your scanning set-up, have you tried desaturating the images in Photoshop after scanning?

 

Good luck.

 

Phil

[galen_coffman]

Not all negs. scan with the color problem, that is what has mystified me. But to answer some of the responses: The film was shot in 1963/64 Using Dandi 120 film. ASA 100 I do not recall what developer I used. Negs. are in good condition, excellent in fact. Scanner is HP G4050 and the Computer program is HP Photo Premier. I can remove the color streaks by going to "Advance Edit" and using the Black and White tools.

These are quality negs. All taken while I studied with William Mortensen in Laguna Beach, California.

So any clues would be most appreciated.

Aloha

[aaron_muderick]

Make sure you are not using ICE to remove dust. ICE will not work with B&W negatives or slides and you can get very bizarre results depending on how the software interprets the data.

[galen_coffman]

Update: I just sscanned six 2 and a quarter negs and 1 4 x 5 in the same template at the same time. The 4 x 5 came out RED while the other six came out blue.

[mad1]

Re-Fix a strip test and try a Selenium intensification on that test... It can help to restore the old B+W film...

[patrick_gainer]

I have an old HP Photosmart scanner for 35 mm film that will color all negatives if you ask for a color scan. It assumes that the negative has the Orange-red bias of a color negative and adds the cancelling bias without looking to see if the negative actually has any color. If I specify B&W scan, it treats everything like it has no color whether it does or not.

 

If the negative is stained unevenly by silver sulfide tarnish, you may have to use more of the software capbility than you would like, because even when scanning in the B&W mode the streaks or blotches may show.

 

Slight amounts of residual antihalation dye which may be different colors in different emulsions may explain the color differences between films. Scanning in B&W mode may remove that problem as may rewashing the negatives in a sulfite solution.

[mendel_leisk]

Try scanning as a slide. You might also check if Vuescan supports your scanner.