Color film scanning: negatives or diapos ?

[JPS]

Hi !

I feel like trying shooting COLOR film, but as I'm going to scan my images, I don't know which is best ? Negative or diapositive films ?

Any tips, ideas, advices ?

TIA,
J-P.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dias are easier to file and find. Negs are less critical for exposure. If you go for neg, go for Ektar 100 (not much less critical.).

Cheers,

R.

 

[sahe69]

Getting colour right is easier with slide film however the scanned pics normally end up being more contrasty, hence when scanning slides which are contrasty in the first place it can get difficult to get details in shadow areas. Colour negs on the other hand are more forgiving in this respect, but as said, getting the colours right is sometimes difficult.

Kodak UC 400 is also a nicely scanning colour neg film, exposed at EI 320.

 

[dmr]

I've had good luck scanning both, as long as the exposure is good, and the film is in good shape.

There is a learning curve to scanning film!

 

[JPS]

Thanks Everybody ! I'll go for dias, then !

Happy New Year !

J-P.

 

[Fujitsu]

A roll of Portra 160 NC is maybe €5. You should try both and decide yourself.

 

[mfogiel]

In my opinion you should try colour neg film first. Try Portra 160 or 400 exposed at half box speed. Get Vuescan and learn to use the profiles. Get a grey card and learn to adjuct WB manually. Learn to use ICE. Learn to adjust the image in PS to get the colours you like. Then try slides - you might need to apply some multipass techniques to recover the shadow detail, etc. Above all, make sure you have an adequate scanner to begin with - flatbeds do not have sufficient Dmax to recover shadow details efficiently from the slides.

 

[Cron]

for me it's easier to scan slides, much better colors as with negative film

 

[Robin P]

Salut Jean-Pierre,

Just to confuse you even further I'll say that in my experience negatives are much easier to scan than slides!
As sahe69 mentions above the problem with slides is that they are inherently contrasty and it's always easier to add contrast rather than remove contrast in post processing.

I think the choice of film should be influenced by the intended final use of the image - if the end product is to be a print then negatives (or digital 😱) is easiest, but if you have a good projector then it's hard to beat the magic of a projected slide and it might be worth the trouble of scanning a few selected ones.

When away on a trip now I shoot colour slide and chromogenic (C41 process) B&W, the DSLR is left at home🙂

Cheers, Robin

 

[JPS]

In my opinion you should try colour neg film first. Try Portra 160 or 400 exposed at half box speed. Get Vuescan and learn to use the profiles. Get a grey card and learn to adjuct WB manually. Learn to use ICE. Learn to adjust the image in PS to get the colours you like. Then try slides - you might need to apply some multipass techniques to recover the shadow detail, etc. Above all, make sure you have an adequate scanner to begin with - flatbeds do not have sufficient Dmax to recover shadow details efficiently from the slides.

Hi mfogiel (Marco ?!?) !

Thanks for the all the tips ! About grey card and setting WB, this of course could ONLY work is was using a DIGITAL camera 😎 ! With a Leica M6, it's out of question...

I've been photographying for so many years, using films before the age of computers and scanners... that's why scanners are a new thing for me... else, I've been shooting digital since the beginning, as well as DSLR... and post-processing images is not really a problem...

As for the scanner, I just bought a Reflecta CrystalScan 7200 and am starting to discover the tips and tricks...

Anyway... as I'm NOT a pro, photography is only a hobby for me, and is used "also" to pass the time and force me to LEARN things... if it was too easy, I certainly wouldn't be so happy !

Have a marvelous New Year...

J-P.

 

[JPS]

Salut Jean-Pierre,

Just to confuse you even further I'll say that in my experience negatives are much easier to scan than slides!
As sahe69 mentions above the problem with slides is that they are inherently contrasty and it's always easier to add contrast rather than remove contrast in post processing.

I think the choice of film should be influenced by the intended final use of the image - if the end product is to be a print then negatives (or digital 😱) is easiest, but if you have a good projector then it's hard to beat the magic of a projected slide and it might be worth the trouble of scanning a few selected ones.

When away on a trip now I shoot colour slide and chromogenic (C41 process) B&W, the DSLR is left at home🙂

Cheers, Robin

Hi Robin !

How nice to meet you again... after so many years... (I should have thought you would hang around this site 😉 !).

Although I still use my D700, I jumped back into film buziness because I was a bit fed-up with kind of "ready-made" images and wanted to shoot REAL black-and white again !

...note that I found that a "well processed" digital image converted to B&W gives more details than the same ISO value on film... 😱 ! So now, I'm still trying out all possibilities to JUSTIFY the $$$ spent on Leica M6, 2 lenses, scanner and so on...

Anyway, I'm having FUN and that's all what counts in the end, isn't it ?

A very Happy New Year to you and yours...

See you soon in here ! (BTW, tomorrrow I'll be off to Brasil for 3 weeks 😀 !)

J-P.

 

[JPS]

Fujitsu and Cron !

Thanks for the tips ! I guess that, after having tried many B&W films at different ISO values, I'll do the same with COLOR films ! It doesn't cost much and... what a FUN !

Cheers,
J-P.

 

[Jamie123]

Thanks for the all the tips ! About grey card and setting WB, this of course could ONLY work is was using a DIGITAL camera 😎 ! With a Leica M6, it's out of question...

I think what he meant was that you can use a grey card so you can set the correct WB in your scan program. Most programs have pre-set profiles but it's always more accurate if you shoot a grey card and set the WB manually.

As for slides vs. negatives, I strongly recommend that you use negatives unless you have a good scanner. Most flatbed scanners don't have an adjustable light source so they have a hard time handling the density of a properly exposed slide.

 

[mfogiel]

Jean Pierre,

Using a grey card can be very beneficial even if you shoot film, as the film profiles available are never 100% precise, and BTW, you might have some colour casts from mixed lighting or reflections. Particularly if you shoot portraits or still life, it makes sense to waste one frame with a gray card in it, so that you can then adjust the WB manually, and scan the whole batch with the same setting.

Marek

 

[JPS]

Haaa ! That's a good one ! I haven't thought ONE minute of the possibility of setting the WB on my scanner :bang: ! But of course.... it's a great idea !

I LOVE to be surprized ! ...and to learn one thing -at least- every day !

Thank Marek and Jamie !

🙂
J-P.