Epson V500

[amir_vii]

<p>I'm scanning a role of medium format film at 2400 dpi, 48 bits.<br>

I'm not sure why my negatives look like this. There is no color and it just looks flat. <br>

http://i40.tinypic.com/nc1gu1.png<br>

I tried checking the color restoration box but then i get a pink hue which looks really bad. <br>

http://i43.tinypic.com/5bp5r6.png<br>

Am i doing something wrong here? </p>

[jerome_ibanes]

<p>I did some scans recently for some landscape work (6x12 negs) of velvia with the V750 and hated the results; which, were comparable to your picture, flat, no tonality. Then I've tried to scan some color film pack (fuji FP-100c) and the results were greatly oversaturated, but of much better quality than the slides aforementioned.<br>

<br />Then I did some B&W scans and the results looked fantastic, using exactly the same setup and software.<br>

<br />This was relatively disappointing, as I don't really need to scan B&W, I can easily (and certainly much faster) make a contact print.</p>

[wblynch]

<p>I find I'm better off not using the color restoration mode in the Epson scan software. I try to get a contrastically flat image and fix it up in Photoshop. A little levels by color channel goes a long way and only takes seconds.</p>

 

[pics]

<p>I also use the Epson V500. I don't allow the scanner to do anything other than scan the slide at whatever resolution I want and maybe dust removal. Color correction, exposure adjustment, sharpening can all be done better in Lightroom for me. Allowing the scanner to make these corrections seems to give wildly varying results. I also usually get a flat looking negative/slide but it seems to be a better jumping off point to work with. All of the slide scans/neg scans in my portfolio were done with the V500. I don't profess to be a scanning expert and I'm sure others can do better but with the equipment I have and my experience it seems to be decent enough for web display.</p>

[thirteenthumbs]

<p>Use a screen capture program to capture the setting box to show what settings you are using. Plenty of free ones available for download such as http://www.wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter.htm .<br>

Scanning is for digitaly recording as much detail as possible from the scanned material, editing software is for making the scanned imformation look good.</p>

[lubos_soltes]

<p>I am not using Epson software, so can't help with settings, but try to scan as slide film and invert colors in PS later and see if there's a difference. If yes, you can tweak with settings probably.</p>

<p>Anyway I prefer Vuescan and I don't allow it to do any post-processing or enhancements. It is much better that way. More work for me later but the final result is better.</p>

[AlanKlein]

<p>The flat color scan is normal when you scan flat. DO your adjustments in post. </p>

<p>Curious, what were you auto color settings during the scan? Auto usually work pretty well. ALso, make sure that only the picture and none of the black borders are selected for the scan. Good luck.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>Certainly in Epson Scan you have the opportunity to preview the scan and make adjustments to contrast etc before you make the real thing. That said you should not (as others say) expect a scan to be perfect without work in Photoshop or similar , and those tools are much more accurate than the fairly primitive alternatives built into Epson Scan.</p>

 

[harry_hoag]

<p>Hi, those scans are looking pretty good to me. As it has been said before, the best way to scan is turn off ALL the crappy auto colour correction stuff in the Epson software. Scanning at a high bit rate with no colour correction is the best way to start. Then in photoshop do this:<br>

http://photoblogstop.com/photoshop/accurate-white-balance-adjustments-in-photoshop<br>

Once you have your white point, black point and grey point "correctly" set up, then you can do your creative grading. The curve tool is best for this.<br>

I say "correctly" because obviously it depends on the look you're going for, but that will give you a technically correct image to work from.</p>