Negative Lab Pro

[predicolous]

No worries 😉 We're here to talk and discuss. That's what forums are all about.

There’s so much more to find about this subject when you google “reasons why to use free software” or “why should software be free” and questions like that.

thank you very much for your lenghty answer, Bulevardi. I really appreciate your efforts taken to present your argumentation!
In my opinion, only discussions like this will help us to see the bigger picture and increase our own limited horizons.

and yes, I really don’t like how the software world is evolving right now: subscriptions everywhere, even in the (apple) app store.
From my point of view there is no need to discuss the licensing model of Adobe. Your points completely state why!
My point was rather meant in support for the pricing model of the plugin which I find reasonable if you compare it to similar offerings like Color Perfect, Silverfast etc.

Thank you very much for your additional input, I will listen to Richard this evening!

However, I don’t think this is the right thread to discuss this indeed very important topic.
Let’s get back to sharing pictures and questions regarding NLP! 🙂

 

[predicolous]

Zorki 4, Jupiter 8 50mm 2.0, Fuji C200, D850 scan, NLP process

Amazing Huss! would you mind sharing your set-up and the settings?

 

[mod2001]

My point was rather meant in support for the pricing model of the plugin which I find reasonable if you compare it to similar offerings like Color Perfect, Silverfast etc.

ColorPerfect is $67, NPL is $99, can't see why CP is not reasonable. Silverfast is a joke, yes.

Juergen

 

[Huss]

Amazing Huss! would you mind sharing your set-up and the settings?

All I did was scan the image in RAW via my camera, then followed Nate's instructions!
Used the white balance dropper on the edge of the film strip. Then cropped out all the non image bit (so no borders etc). This bit is crucial!!! As it really influences the conversion process. Nate stresses this in his tutorial.
Then I opened NLP, left all the stock settings, clicked on Convert. Then for this image I picked the hard shadow option.
That was it!

Super easy, super quick and much better than my old process which had me export to NikFX, then reimport as a TIFF as not only was that fiddlier, but created much bigger files.

I love this plug-in! I wish I had it years ago!
😉

 

[Daniel.E]

ColorPerfect is $67, NPL is $99, can't see why CP is not reasonable. Silverfast is a joke, yes.

Juergen

ColorPerfect needs a college degree and tons of patience, Negative Pro Lab is intuitive and fast. Also the workflow is wonderful. ColorPerfect is all about bloated tiff files and yes I agree about Silverfast.

I never got results that really satisfied me with ColorPerfect 🙁

 

[Huss]

Zorki 4, Jupiter 8, Fuji C200, D850 scan, NegativeLabPro Lightroom plugin.

 

[FujiLove]

When you go to verify the license, it will need to be connected to the internet to have a quick chat with my server. After that one-time verification, it won't need internet. So hopefully you have a way to get that machine on the internet temporarily?

Hi Nate - A couple more questions...

1. How are you planning to distribute updates to the plugin? An email notification + instructions how to download and update it within Lightroom?

2. I've noticed when converting a RAW flatbed scan that the colour balance of the image changes when I alter the curve (whites, darks etc.) Is that due to the current lack of profiles for the flatbeds, or will this always happen due to the way the plugin works?

 

[predicolous]

2. I've noticed when converting a RAW flatbed scan that the colour balance of the image changes when I alter the curve (whites, darks etc.) Is that due to the current lack of profiles for the flatbeds, or will this always happen due to the way the plugin works?

Does this happen when you alter the curve in the plugin or when you alter it in Lightroom after conversion? If the second is the case try using the “tiff copy” option

 

[FujiLove]

Does this happen when you alter the curve in the plugin or when you alter it in Lightroom after conversion? If the second is the case try using the “tiff copy” option

It happens when I alter it in the plugin. It’s not a HUGE colour shift, but obvious. I’ll post a couple of examples when I get a chance.

 

[firstnate]

1. How are you planning to distribute updates to the plugin? An email notification + instructions how to download and update it within Lightroom?

Yes - email + instructions. I may eventually do some kind of notification / update inside Lightroom directly, but it's not high on my development priority list.

2. I've noticed when converting a RAW flatbed scan that the colour balance of the image changes when I alter the curve (whites, darks etc.) Is that due to the current lack of profiles for the flatbeds, or will this always happen due to the way the plugin works?

Yes - Basically it's due to rounding errors... I can only set the tone curve points on a 256x256 grid... every time you make a change in NLP (whether to tones or color balance), it's actually doing some tricky math behind the scenes to recalculate the red, green & blue tone curve points from scratch. The math is good, but the limited resolution of the tone curve grid causes some bumps along the way. I'll continue to look for algorithms that minimize these jumps!

 

[Huss]

Basic user question - hopefully..
When I select the make TIFF option, and then Apply, I do not see a TIFF. I do see that there are apparently 2 copies (stacked) in LR, but I only can access the NEF (raw) not the TIFF. I have tried unstack etc.

 

[predicolous]

Basic user question - hopefully..
When I select the make TIFF option, and then Apply, I do not see a TIFF. I do see that there are apparently 2 copies (stacked) in LR, but I only can access the NEF (raw) not the TIFF. I have tried unstack etc.

Did you try the following?
right klick -> stacks -> show all stacks?

(translated the menu from German, hope it's named that way in the english version)

for me the file "(...)-positive.tiff shows up 🙂

 

[ACullen]

I’m loving NLP . I had a dozen or so colour films to scan but was dreading the task using ColorPerfect. CP was slow and sometimes gave really odd results. NLP is vastly quicker. I think it could do with some presets but I love its apparent simplicity .

 

[predicolous]

I’m loving NLP . I had a dozen or so colour films to scan but was dreading the task using ColorPerfect. CP was slow and sometimes gave really odd results. NLP is vastly quicker. I think it could do with some presets but I love its apparent simplicity .

would you mind sharing some examples? 🙂

 

[FujiLove]

Yes - email + instructions. I may eventually do some kind of notification / update inside Lightroom directly, but it's not high on my development priority list.



Yes - Basically it's due to rounding errors... I can only set the tone curve points on a 256x256 grid... every time you make a change in NLP (whether to tones or color balance), it's actually doing some tricky math behind the scenes to recalculate the red, green & blue tone curve points from scratch. The math is good, but the limited resolution of the tone curve grid causes some bumps along the way. I'll continue to look for algorithms that minimize these jumps!

Thanks Nate - appreciate the info.

 

[Scapevision]

It happens when I alter it in the plugin. It’s not a HUGE colour shift, but obvious. I’ll post a couple of examples when I get a chance.

Playing with the trial I noticed the colour shift while changing midtones slider too.

 

[firstnate]

Basic user question - hopefully..
When I select the make TIFF option, and then Apply, I do not see a TIFF. I do see that there are apparently 2 copies (stacked) in LR, but I only can access the NEF (raw) not the TIFF. I have tried unstack etc.

In the Library module, if you are still in "Previous Import" catalog on the left-side panel, you will not be able to see the newly created Tiff file... try changing your catalog to "All Photos" or going to the specific folder where your last import was. You should then be able to see the positive tiff file.

I'm trying to see if there is an easier way to do this, because a lot of people edit in the context of the "Preview Import" catalog, and it isn't intuitive to have to switch.

 

[Huss]

Did you try the following?
right klick -> stacks -> show all stacks?

(translated the menu from German, hope it's named that way in the english version)

for me the file "(...)-positive.tiff shows up 🙂

In the Library module, if you are still in "Previous Import" catalog on the left-side panel, you will not be able to see the newly created Tiff file... try changing your catalog to "All Photos" or going to the specific folder where your last import was. You should then be able to see the positive tiff file.

I'm trying to see if there is an easier way to do this, because a lot of people edit in the context of the "Preview Import" catalog, and it isn't intuitive to have to switch.

Thank you both, will try that.

 

[Scottboarding]

When you say better scanner calibration, does that mean people using film scanners will be able to use the Noritsu and Frontier modes with the same results as scanning with a camera? I really enjoy the results I get, but seeing the video makes me realize what I'm missing.

 

[firstnate]

When you say better scanner calibration, does that mean people using film scanners will be able to use the Noritsu and Frontier modes with the same results as scanning with a camera? I really enjoy the results I get, but seeing the video makes me realize what I'm missing.

Yep, that's the goal. I'm finding it's quite complicated because of the differences in scanning software people use (EpsonScan, VueScan, Silverfast, FlexColor, etc), but with the right scan settings, plus the right calibrations built into Negative Lab Pro, it should be possible to get very very close.