How do you edit your films in 2013?

[SayCheese]

Assuming you shoot film:
How do you select images for postprocessing, printing or posting?
Please explain!

 

[crawdiddy]

I try to contact print every roll. However, I can get backed up, with many rolls developed but not yet contact printed.

 

[Matus]

I check all my films with loupe after they have been developed. For now I get all of them scanned with lowish resolution by a lab (that uses Coolscan 5000 and 9000) and the selected ones are sent to be scanned by Imacon X5 (the same lab). I do this on rather irregular basis (i.e. larger batches go off for scanning)

I did some contact printing from 4x5", but not from smaller formats.

 

[Godfrey]

Assuming you shoot film:
How do you select images for postprocessing, printing or posting?
Please explain!

Negatives are developed.
Negatives are scanned into DNG encapsulated TIFF files.
DNG files are imported into Lightroom for everything else.
Negatives are shredded.

G

 

[brainwood]

I have a older minolta scanner which I scan most shots and then mark up the neg sheet and go back for the good ones with higher res Minolta 5400. I only preview the low res scans and don't bother saving so I only keep the higher res scans

 

[Spleenrippa]

Negatives are developed.
Negatives are scanned into DNG encapsulated TIFF files.
DNG files are imported into Lightroom for everything else.
Negatives are shredded.

G

Negatives... Shredded...
Man, I hope you have at least 2 solid backups of your work... I can't imagine destroying my 'hard copies!' 😱

 

[froyd]

Negatives are developed.
Negatives are scanned into DNG encapsulated TIFF files.
DNG files are imported into Lightroom for everything else.
Negatives are shredded.

G

Ooof! I just had a hotflash!

I can't say I don't see your point for shredding them, but... it just seems so permanent! Then again, only once I had any reason to go back to negatives I had filed more than 10 years ago, most of the time, they sit in binders collecting dust.

Still, shredding them would take more testicular fortitude and conviction than I'm able to muster!

 

[froyd]

Negatives... Shredded...
Man, I hope you have at least 2 solid backups of your work... I can't imagine destroying my 'hard copies!' 😱

haha... I guess I'm not the only one whose heart skipped a beat!

Still, I'm sure Godfrey has it figured out with back-up etc.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I look at the film on my light table, pick the ones that look interesting and scan them. Once scanned and given preliminary editing to bring the contrast/tonality to where it should be (scans are usually too flat), I look at them to see which ones I truly like. Some that looked interesting on the lightbox don't end up so interesting scanned and edited. The good ones get final editing, including dodging and burning and tweaks to tonality and retouching for dust spots.

 

[Godfrey]

Negatives... Shredded...
Man, I hope you have at least 2 solid backups of your work... I can't imagine destroying my 'hard copies!'

I think it's always shocking to film users when I mention that I shred negatives after scanning. The notion used to shock me too.

But ... Over the thirty years that I've been scanning and working with digital images, I've learned a lot about scanning and getting all the data off the film. Once I have all the data, there really is never any reason to go back to the film, even aside from the fact that I tend to go forwards and only rarely do archive diving for new material. I have a very thorough backup system and policy in place, and a well-worked out file system structure and metadata annotation system.

The film degrades, but it sticks around. Digital data storage takes effort, but never degrades. It's a trade-off.

I have lost track of physical negatives many times over the years, but I have every single digital photo I've made since 1984 on file and easily accessed. I've never lost one of 'em. There are something approaching 400,000 exposures in my image archives now. My goal is to add the remaining archive of about 10-20 thousand film exposures rotting in binders to that cataloged mass and then shred them all and free up the storage space in my office. I'm getting there slowly.

G

 

[noisycheese]

I look at my negs & chromes on a light box with a Peak 8x loupe which lets me see the whole neg. If it is an XPAN 24x65mm neg or chrome, I use my Mamiya 3x loupe that is large enough to view entire 120 negs up to 6x7.

 

[DougFord]

I preview all shots, low res scan.
I scan the 'good' ones using hi res tiff scan.
I dodge/ burn/ sharpen the chosen.
I place all negs in plastic file holders so that I can return and correct my previous erroneous editing decisions. (lol)

 

[Godfrey]

Ooof! I just had a hotflash!

I can't say I don't see your point for shredding them, but... it just seems so permanent! Then again, only once I had any reason to go back to negatives I had filed more than 10 years ago, most of the time, they sit in binders collecting dust.

Still, shredding them would take more testicular fortitude and conviction than I'm able to muster!

LOL!

To me, it's more a matter of trying to clean up the mess in my office rather than being any great effort. Best way to clean up a mess is not to create one in the first place. ;-)

I have a similar meme going with my raw image files. I've been archiving duplicates to a backup archive (separate from the main archive) for years. But, to date, I've NEVER had to go back to the duplicate archive for anything at all.

Lately this is feeling like another bit of wasted effort and energy, I might discontinue the practice of the 'secondary duplicate backup archive'.

G

 

[Lauffray]

I don't have a systematic recipe, I use whatever is more appropriate, most of the time I scan everything in low res, very often I contact print or look at negative on a light table then scan select frames at very high resolution. I used to darkroom print but not since a few months

 

[leicapixie]

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135526

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135526

The color negs developed and scanned at two different labs.
One gives me a CD and negs , cut and filed in envelope.Index print.

The other, more pro, way more costly, high rez. scans, negs not cut.
My B/W i develop and scan.

Prepare files for Kiosk printing.

I used to contact print each roll, but fell behind..
200+ rolls waiting.. So only latest rolls in digital form.
Destroying negatives.. i will have nightmares for weeks,maybe months..😱

 

[Snapper_uk]

I make a digital contact sheet by putting the negs into Clearfile transparent negative sheets, then scanning the whole lot in one go on a flatbed, add text via Photoshop and then print off an A4 physical copy.

It's a lot quicker than making a real contact sheet or scanning each frame individually, and it looks pretty much the same as a traditional contact sheet.

 

[squareshooter]

I squint at my negatives using a loupe if I can find the durn thing. I used to make digital negs on a scanner but am about to get my wet darkroom in working condition. Back to the future, pals.

 

[drew.saunders]

Depends on the camera.

Large format (rarely more than a dozen negatives at a time, usually 4-8 or so):
2400 spi scan on my Microtek M1 of every negative. That's high res for that scanner. I only shoot B&W on the 4x5, but when I shot E-6, I'd still scan them all, since I'd only shoot a few sheets at a time.

35mm b&w, if I shoot just one roll, I'll develop it myself and scan every frame at 4000 spi on my Coolscan 9000. If I am feeling lazy or shoot multiple rolls, I have my local lab (KSP in Palo Alto) develop and contact print, then I scan the ones I like after I look them over with a loupe.

35mm C-41 (I have one roll left, then I'm probably done with color film forever): KSP develops and makes a CD, then I do a 4000 spi scan of the ones I like on the CS 9000.

I keep all my negatives, especially since the large format scans are very far from the best I could get out of them. If I really wanted to do a very large print from a 4x5 negative, I'd pay someone do do a higher res drum scan of it.

 

[Doug Smith]

My negatives and transparencies are my backup, not the scans. I can't imagine destroying negatives as I've had too many hard drive failures and unreadable CD's and DVD's over the years. I had occasion recently to scan some color neg (Vericolor) from the 70's and the color was still as good as it was back then. Currently I have to scan and inkjet print but someday I hope to set up a wet darkroom again and print my best photos, so I would need the negatives for that. My negs will outlive me, but I certainly couldn't say the same for digital files!

 

[brbo]

But ... Over the thirty years that I've been scanning and working with digital images, I've learned a lot about scanning and getting all the data off the film.

How did you scan the film back in 1984 and get ALL the data off the film?