Jump to content

Vuescan settings for Portra 400UC


Recommended Posts

I asked a while ago about good 400ASA color negative film for scanning. The

consensus seemed to be in favor of Porta 400 UC or NC. I just got the first roll of UC

back, and I'm having some trouble with colors - everything looks a little too blue-

green for my taste. In vuescan's color settings I used portra 400VC for the film and

white balance for the color balance settings. Anyone know of any options that might

work better than this?

 

If I get a chance, I'll upload a photo tomorrow when I get back to my other computer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got zilch experience with color negative film and Vuescan, BUT, this is workflow I settled on with some unidentified color neg. film. Wouldn't hurt to try:

 

++++

 

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? Try with and without.)

 

bp: .02%

 

wp: .02%

 

++++

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found the Kodak Supra 100 or 400 profiles to work fairly well as a starting point.

My theory is that since the technology in the UC is similar to the Supra technology,

the profile should perform similarly. But, I could be wrong ;)

 

I prefer to do any extra color correction in Photoshop. A slight cast isn't something

too major to worry about in the first scan. A lab has to do slight color correction on

all the prints from negs anyways, so scanning should be similar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To get exact colour from any colour neg film in Vuescan, follow Hamrick's instructions under Advanced Workflow on the Vuescan website. This involves scanning the leader to nail down the orange mask hue. From there I use white balance and typically a 25% blue reduction to compensate for what I assume is a light temperature differential.

 

(Incidentally, I tried a roll of this Portra 400UC because of comments on this forum. It may be fine for portraiture but for landscapes I can hardly imagine anything worse. Great colour, horrible latitude, horrible acutance. Might as well use slide film as this stuff.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Use Supra 400 or RG 400 (similar, one is slightly warmer) if you like

low-contrast results, use Generic if you want high-contrast results.

Always used Advanced Workflow.

 

Dale, according to my exposure latitude test, a mixed sun/shade scene,

Portra 400UC is among the leaders for wide exposure latitude at -3/+5.

It scans much less grainy in shadows than Portra 160NC.

I'll look again and try to see what you mean about acutance.

Somebody on Usenet remarked that it performs poorly in overcast

weather, but it seems OK so far (haven't had much of this lately).

The only flaw I noticed was too-sudden red transitions in skin-tone shadows, which is perhaps why some pros prefer the other Portras.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

here's my settings using version 7.6.51. i just upgraded and i find the newest vuescan to have less noise and better color rendition than the previous verison 7.2.9 i've been using for awhile. color tab for me includes:<br>

<br>

color balance: white balance (may toggle between auto levels at times)<br>

brightness 0.65 (prefer to brighten via level/curve in photoshop)<br>

kodak<br>

portra<br>

400vc<br>

printer color space: sRGB<br>

film color space: built-in<br>

output color space: sRGB<br>

monitor color space: sRGB<br>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Chi! I tried your settings but for the most part preferred

the following, which seems to be an improvement over Generic:

<P>

Most everything default, including Brightness 1<BR>

Kodak / Royal / Gold 100 (Gen 2)<BR>

Log (dark)

<P>

The log-dark setting seems key, because otherwise the scan is too bright. Results of these settings seem a bit better than Generic

log-medium due to lower contrast and more-glowing saturation.

The Portra VC settings were too red-brown.

<P>

P.S. Just got back from Idaho where we had some rainy and overcast

weather, and can report that 400UC excels under such conditions.

I detected none of the murkiness so detested in 400VC and even seen

sometimes in Supra 400.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...