Guide to scanning and retouching 120 film?

[rus_mehta]

<p>Can anyone point me to a good intermediate to advanced level guide to scanning and (mostly) photoshop adjusting 120 negatives and slides?<br>

I'm new to 120. Know photoshop pretty well but mostly for non-photographic work. I'm looking for a good guide on how to get my scans looking natural and sharp without looking over processed. <br>

Any threads or sites you all have found useful?<br>

Thanks</p>

[ariel_s1]

<p>I don't find my film Photoshop workflow to be any different from my digital workflow as far as editing is concerned. Curves, levels, sharpening, and then go from there to adjust how you want, like selective saturation. Heck, most of the time I just use ACR instead of going into Photoshop.</p>

<p>Scanning should be thought of as a separate part of the workflow. I use my scanner at an intermediate resolution, like 2400 or 4800 dpi because I see no gains from using better. I scan them in as TIFF, telling my scanner software not to do any adjustments on import, so that I can do my color adjustments and sharpening in Photoshop. The only thing I adjust on import is exposure, to compensate for those varying film densities. Decide whether to use your included scanner software, a third party like Silverfast or Vuescan, or Photoshop's Scangear. Play with all of them to see which layout you like better, along with which produces outputs most in line with your tastes.</p>

[jon_porter2]

<p>Sascha Steinhoff touches on that in his books<br>

http://www.amazon.com/Sascha-Steinhoff/e/B001JOVBHW</p>

[richardsperry]

"I don't find my film Photoshop workflow to be any different from my digital workflow as far as editing is concerned. "

 

Really?

 

Dust control has become inordinately important with scanning film. It's a problem much much larger than I ever predicted.

 

It was never this big of a problem with enlarging, few spritzes from canned air, all good. This is not the case with

scanning. Even with excessive, in my terms, external dust control, PS dust removal takes up the majority of the post work

time for me.

 

After the spots are removed, sharpening, contrast, curves, etc is almost trivial in comparison.

 

If you are doing color with ICE forgive the intrusion. I am jealous.

[sfcole]

<p>It depends on what scanner and software you're using.</p>

[ariel_s1]

<p>I am doing color with ICE, but have done a little ICE-less as well. As I said, I view the scanning part separately from my Photoshop adjusting. For cleaning the negatives, I have PEC-12 (or similar, claims are that they're all mostly methanol anyway), NAPHTHA (i.e. Zippo lighter fluid), and PEC pads. I also have one of those anti-static brushes, but be careful as I've left scratches in some of my negatives with this. I recommend going out and doing a semi-serious walkabout shoot with your preferred film and getting it developed. Bring the negatives home and use them to practice and learn what does and doesn't cause irreversible damage. If you hurt the images then no biggie, and if you get usable prints out of them then all the better! Here's my exact workflow:<br>

Blow off the scanner glass, so that there's ZERO dust. I use Windex, as that is what I have seen multiple camera repair shops use to clean all of their lens elements. A can of compressed air will help as well. If you're using a dedicated film scanner or drum scanner, then kudos to you, and you should have less worry about dust. Then, put the negative that you're going to scan into a large tupperware, and make sure a window is open. First blow any dust off with a bulb blower. Use the PEC-12 or other emulsion cleaner (make sure it's safe for the type of film you're using) with PEC pads. Since this is your learning experience, now's your chance to see how hard you can press without causing damage. Consider doing it lightly, scanning the frame in, and then trying to use PEC-12 and rubbing again, just to see how hard you need to press before you've gone too far. The zippo fluid also works, again, this is your test roll, so see what works! In the future, if you have irreplaceable negatives, scan before each step: i.e. blow air, scan, use PEC, scan, use NAPHTHA, scan, use one of the above and rub harder, scan again. Once you've wiped it and it's free from dust to your liking, place the negative into your carrier. Scan it in as a TIFF, having the scanner software do whatever adjustments you'd like. I prefer to have it do nothing, save for exposure and general white balance. Save it in as a TIFF, and from there it's no different from a digital image. Clone or healing brush for dust spots (although I use these tools for digital as well).</p>

[western_isles]

<p>I have had a lot of grief until recently scanning 120. One of my agents would accept them ok but another would habitually turn them down.<br>

1. Get the best quality scanner you can with a Dynamic range of 4. I use the Epson 4870 but would like to get the new Epron 750. These should be the minimum.<br>

2. Scan at as high a resolution as your scanner will allow. I use 12800 at 16% which gives me 16 bit file of about 100 Mb.<br>

3. I don't use sharpening or Digital ice. Former as sharpening should only be done once as a final stage prior to production and latter because ICE and other flavours gives a soft image.<br>

4. Get the film as clean as possible before scanning by using a brush and air blower and also clean the scanner before every scan. You will probably still have to use PS to clean up the image no matter how clean you are.<br>

If you are a contributor to Alamy they have a good set of guidelines on sharpening etc. <br>

I have recently had the experience of Alamy turning down digital images as not good enough technical quality but accepting 120 roll film scans without quible. Digital is not always better.<br>

If you would like to see some of my scanned images then have a look at my website at<br>

<a href="http://www.frankfitz.com">www.frankfitz.com</a> this also has links to Collections Picture library and Alamy. On my site any image with a prefix of "T" is a 120 film scan.<br>

Good luck with your scanning, it is worth persevering.</p>