Just bought my first M - what film for scanning?

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m4gnus

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Hi All

I actually wanted to ask some questions regarding film, but first I just want to share my happiness with all of you; I just bought a Leica M6, and I am just so excited! I have been in love with this camera for years, but as I am a student it has been hard for me finding the money to buy it.

But yeah, I found a M6 from 1988 (same year I was born) and a 35 summicron v2 for $1600, and I couldn't recist.

My question is, if you can suggest any good film for scanning? We have an Imacron scanner at my school.

I like the Kodak Portra 160 and 400 NC. I like color film. Will these be good to scan?

I can't wait to start shooting with my new camera :)
 
C 41 films are easiest to scan. You need to know how to color balance it is all that is tricky

All you need to know

yellow balances blue
red balances cyan
magenta balances green

You will need to visually be able to see the difference in cyan/blue and magenta/red .

A neg may be off two colors at one time, like orange or purple.
Orange is both red and yellow so you have to fix both and they are not both necessarily the same amounts.

The very latest Portra films are better than the originals. The new has been out a few years now.

Keep film clean. Clean and inspect with a glass before scanning.
Do not depend on software to clean up a mess.

Get the color and density right from the scanner. Fix everything else in photoshop.
 
I find astia particularly easy to scan. Of course, you have to expose it properly, but it scans like a dream (and they put each frame in those fancy "stay flat holders").

Seriously: E-6 has the single advantage of being easy to scan. All because of the god awful color balance issues with C-41.
 
I don't think it's fair to dismiss all c41 without qualification. If one scans as a 16 bit tiff then they all need some work to sort out the colour, that comes with the territory whatever the film.

Personally I'm tending to xp2, just because it's so scanable
 
like i said to my friend a while ago.. today scanning is an art too...no easy way to get it right 100%. You need to know your lens character and film also. Since you have access to Imacon Scanner, i suggest you surf around kodak site to see how portra supposed to "look". But in the end it's your judgment to see color the way the lens did. that's why I guess it is sooo tricky.

have fun though with your m6 and 35 cron, im still saving to get one also.
 
I think that the film is really a minor issue here ... my recommendation is to concentrate on your scanning technique.

With your school's Imacon, it would be a good idea to learn the software. Learn the personality of the scanner and learn how the software fits your needs and abilities.

I own the Epson v700, and I love it. I have more than gotten the value out of it ... it's paid for itself many times over. But at first it was a bit frustrating to learn. In the end, I now know how it responds to certain films, and I can compensate. I've experimented with different software, including VueScan and SilverFast but I've stuck with the native Epson software. It's the most intuitive for me.

With regards to Astia ... I love slide film, don't get me wrong. But unless our friend here (m4gnus) is experienced at using E-6, he's going to have frustration with E-6 exposure in his beautiful M6. I'm not discouraging anyone from using E-6 / slide film, but regular negative film is much more forgiving in terms of exposure latitude. He might want to wet his feet with some cheap rolls of drugstore 200 ISO film first, before he graduates to Astia.

In terms of film, there are still lots of great films being made nowadays ... like I said way back in the beginning, I don't think any one particular film scans much 'better' than another. Each film has a personality, and the scanner is only rendering this personality as a .tiff or .jpeg -- to the best of its ability anyways.

My personal faves (for colour) are Ektar 100, Fuji Pro400H (when you expose it at 320, that is), and the Portra line. These are all beautiful films. Reala is good too, but I like Ektar better.

For b&w, the C-41 process stuff from Kodak and Ilford is actually quite nice. Nice contrast and very sharp grain.

Good luck with your film adventures! You have an absolutely beautiful camera + superb lens ... now go take some photos! Post your photos when you have them. We'd love to see what your results are like! :)
 
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Thank you so much for all replies. I think I will start off buying a bunch of Portra 160nc and 400nc. And maybe some XP2.

I can't wait to start shooting with this camera. I am just so excited about it, and even though I know it will probably take a long time to get used to, I am sure I will love shooting with it.

Thanks again, and I would love to post my results when I get some ready.
 
m4gnus said:
Thank you so much for all replies. I think I will start off buying a bunch of Portra 160nc and 400nc. And maybe some XP2.
Click to expand...

You might want to skip the 400nc and go directly to the new 400 as color and contrast wise its pretty much the same as 400nc, plus Kodak has made other changes to make it even better for scanning.
 
I'd go with the new Portra 400, it is very easy to scan, and has wide latitude for over/under exposure.

If you're shooting fashion or something, and you need the colour to be perfect, it's tricky, but for 99% of us, you tweak it until you like how it looks, not much more to it than that.
 
I also recommend slide film and Bryan Petersen's book Understanding exposure. It's not really that tricky to expose with the M6. I shoot slide film in mine all the time. Here's a recent shot - M6 TTL, 135 elmar.
13340004.jpg


and one with the 50mm Summicron
13340022.jpg


Cheers,
Eric
 
dootie in dootie out. If you make sure your input is good, the scanning is trivial with vuescan. If, however, you accidentally underexpose while using a polarizer, be prepared for some time at the monitor.
 
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