phil_v. Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 I'm about to try and emerge from the dark ages of photography. I've been an avid 35mm hobbiest for over 50 years, but I'm now leaping into the present by buying a quality PC, Photoshop and a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III (as they say, 'better late than never'). I've read that color negs will be a scanning challenge (compared to slides, which are supposedly less difficult to scan). Unfortunately, color negs make up about 70% of what I've shot todate (as my primary objective has always been large prints), so I sure would appreciate any tips/pointers in this regard. Thanks much... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markw Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Phil: I've done the same, bought the Scan Dual III and have been very happy with it. Scanning color negatives has not been an issue and got good results with the SDIII right out of the box. The biggest frustration has been dust and scratches on old negatives, and even more frustrating, on just processed negatives. Almost makes me want to go 100% digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lachaine Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Scanning negatives hasn't posed any particular problem for me either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich815 Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Use Vuescan set for Generic. At least that was the holy grail for me after driving myself crazy with Minolta's software with my Scan Dual II and later with Nikon's software on my present LS-4000. And be sure not to drive yourself nuts with Vuescan's supposed film profiles. I get my best results with Color Neg set to Generic as I mentioned. That said some color negative films seem to be more forgiving for scanning than others. Ones I've found fairly easy to scan are kodak Supra 100, Porta 400UC and Gold 100; Fuji Reala and Superia Xtra 800. NPH and some of the other Kodak films can be a challenge but exposed right can scan ok too.<p>Click on my name and then my link to some of my galleries to see a variety of my results using many different color neg films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven_clark Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 I use Vuescan so the big frustration is finding the best profiles for some of the newer film especially Fuji. On the other hand with auto-levels or manual grey-balance you can get pretty close to end color pretty quick. One of the coolest things about vuescan with this scanner is setting up batch scanning and "auto scan: scan" so you can scan an entire roll of film without touching the computer itself you just have to keep feeding the scanner with new negative strips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klix Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Easy to scan color negs. Now, B&W negs -- that's another story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_v. Posted October 1, 2003 Author Share Posted October 1, 2003 I appreciate all of your replies and I'm encouraged to read here that color negs are not all that bad (to scan)... From what I had previously read, people were experiencing grain-related problems and had to resort to using noise-reduction software. As far as dust goes (slides and negs), what's the best approach when the scanner, such as the Dimage SD3, doesn't have an "IR duster"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven_clark Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Grain related problems are only when the grain is there. It's not the film scanner that's the problem in this case, it's the film though diffusors have been known to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oliver_tan1 Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Color negatives are pretty fun to scan. And you thought you saw everything in the prints. Think again. Slides are not bad too. The only gripe I have is scanning B&W negatives. Especially Fuji Neopan Acros 100. Other than that, everything's smooth for me. Oh and my Minolta software works just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jespdj Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Scanning colour negatives isn't so hard that it can't be done but my experience is that scanning slides is much easier. With negatives it's harder to get the colours right - the scanner has to compensate for the orange mask of the film etc.; while with slides, the colour is good right from the slide. <p>Like others have said, the main annoyance with scanning film is dirt and dust on the film - even the smallest particle of dust will show up as a white spot on scanned negatives, or a black spot on scanned slides. <p>You can buy more expensive scanners that have a system called ICE (or FARE for Canon scanners) - these scanners don't only scan in light in visible colours, but also infrared. Because the image on the film is completely transparent for infrared and the dust isn't, this allows the scanner to "see" the dust and automatically edit it away in the scanned image. Unfortunately scanners with ICE or FARE are much more expensive than the ones without... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill crookston Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Good comments here on scanning - I'm going to try Vuescan set to generic on my Scan Dual 11 - sounds a sensible thing to try. Cleaning films before scanning is a big problem and the Scan Dual 11 has no ICE. Have a look at www.boofey.com for some ideas on how to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jos_roost Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Phil,<br> About dust and scratch removal: If you don't have the hardware based ICE, you can use various kinds of software to (try to) remove dust. I know of the following:<br> - Photoshop 7 (and also Picture Publisher 10) have an "image healer" feature<br> - from the Polaroid.com website, you can download a program called Dust and Scratch Removal for free<br> - I believe the SilverFast software also has a similar feature<br> - doesn't the Minolta software have a dust removal feature ?<br> Good Luck,<br> Jos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_v. Posted October 2, 2003 Author Share Posted October 2, 2003 Bill: Have you personally used the Booflett duster? It seems to be fairly expensive and I don't know if it's even available in the US. Jos: Yes the Dimage SDIII has dust removal software, but from what I've read, it doesn't work very well (nor does Polaroid's software). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill crookston Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Yes Phil... I've used one since I was part of the design team in 1994 - then it was called the 'CM35', it is now also sold as the 'System 9000'. Many large labs use them to clean up negs that are a little bit 'filthy' before they do anything with them. The lab I use (Loxley's in Glasgow) uses one and my local processor too! Many have been sold to the USA - shipping is £10 as indicated on the website. I've attached an image of mine.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mendel_leisk Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 This is my number one tool for dealing with SMALL diameter specks in Photoshop: http://www.computer-darkroom.com/tutorials/tutorial_5_1.htm For larger, and scratches, healing brush and clone stamp will get you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_demott Posted October 5, 2003 Share Posted October 5, 2003 Color negs generally scan very well (although finer grained films usually seem to do better than those with more pronounced grain). The problem with negatives is getting an exact color balance after you've made the scan (at least that's my experience). If you want to learn all about correcting color in the digital darkroom, get Dan Margulis's book, Professional Photoshop. Slides generally don't present as many problems in matching color, but they can be more difficult to get a scan that encompasses the full density range. Dense parts of a slide can result in noisy, muddy shadow areas in the scan. In other words, both slides and negatives have their pros and cons from a scanning standpoint. Negatives require more attention to color in Photoshop after youi've made the scan, while slides require more attention to the scanning process. As you move into the digital world, you'll learn techniques to deal with both. Both can give good results. Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imaginator Posted October 6, 2003 Share Posted October 6, 2003 My scanner has a lower dynamic range than yours, so I am particularly aware of film exposure issues. Slides with dense areas (very dark) are difficult, and so are negs with dense areas (what end up being light areas in the final image) Basically, there is less tolerance for under/over exposure, so keep this in mind when doing future shots. I used to "underexpose" my slides a bit because they looked great when projected, and also "overexpose" my negs a bit because they print well that way, but now I've found many of these hard to scan so I've abandoned this practice. If possible, bracket your exposures (take several frames at different settings) I am also without ICE dust and scratch removal, and I was shocked to see all the crap that showed up on my film (even negs straight out of the sleeve from the lab) Because of this, I am now sending all my film to a pro lab and paying twice as much (at least I don't have to pay for prints... just request "develope only" and get back sleeved negs) One last thought: let the scanner warm up... the first few scans might "wack out" until it settles in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now