DillonVFX
Newbie
Anyone else here encountered the problem of scans of Velvia 100 having a red/magenta colour cast? I'm using a Plustek 8200i with Vuescan. Also from the colorperfect website they seem to not have a profile for Velvia so how should I go about making the colours from the scans render as accurately as possible?
wilonstott
Wil O.
Yea, I've had that before. I generally shoot Provia, and it has a tendency to scan blue.
I don't use IT8 targets for calibration (I've heard good things though); instead, I generally toggle between "white balance," "neutral," and "auto color" in Vuescan. I have tried doing linear scans with ColorPerfect, but I think it works better with color negatives--I've had mixed results with slides, and it takes a long time.
I essentially try to get as close as I can with the color presets in Vuescan, and I generally mess with the white and black points in order to get as much information out of the slide as possible. Then, I play with it in Photoshop or Aperture. I do all of the contrast adjustments, and then I select a neutral gray/white/black, and that ususally gets it there. I use the slide as reference, but you have to remember that the color of the backlight you use for slide viewing influences your perception of the colors on the slide.
I don't use IT8 targets for calibration (I've heard good things though); instead, I generally toggle between "white balance," "neutral," and "auto color" in Vuescan. I have tried doing linear scans with ColorPerfect, but I think it works better with color negatives--I've had mixed results with slides, and it takes a long time.
I essentially try to get as close as I can with the color presets in Vuescan, and I generally mess with the white and black points in order to get as much information out of the slide as possible. Then, I play with it in Photoshop or Aperture. I do all of the contrast adjustments, and then I select a neutral gray/white/black, and that ususally gets it there. I use the slide as reference, but you have to remember that the color of the backlight you use for slide viewing influences your perception of the colors on the slide.
tsiklonaut
Well-known
Yep, Velvia 100 is called a "Redvia" by many scanning experts for a reason 
IT8 calibration helps very little with a dedicated V100 target (I have one too), since the red cast in the shadows is on the film. Stripping a tiny bit of shadow-end in the curves by observing their distribution usually fixes this, but do not overdo this since the colors get messed up pretty quick.
Velvia 50 rules but got to say the Velvia 100 can work wonders on sunsets/rises though, I think it's the intended niche for this particular film, also occasionally can render otherwise dull mid-day shots somewhat "interesting". Plus V100's vastly better reciprocity performance over the V50. So overall I reckon it's not a complete fail by Fuji
IT8 calibration helps very little with a dedicated V100 target (I have one too), since the red cast in the shadows is on the film. Stripping a tiny bit of shadow-end in the curves by observing their distribution usually fixes this, but do not overdo this since the colors get messed up pretty quick.
Velvia 50 rules but got to say the Velvia 100 can work wonders on sunsets/rises though, I think it's the intended niche for this particular film, also occasionally can render otherwise dull mid-day shots somewhat "interesting". Plus V100's vastly better reciprocity performance over the V50. So overall I reckon it's not a complete fail by Fuji
Fernando2
Well-known
Yes, V100 is strange indeed!
Shoot a grayscale target with it; no, shoot many grayscale targets under different light conditions and with different exposures, and you'll instantly figure why.
Red in the deepest blacks, cyan in the shadows, magenta in the highlights.
Yet, it's very sharp (sharper than modern RVP50; not sharper than good old Velvia 50), finely grained, with ultrawide exposure latitude for a slide.
And no pepper grain in the sky like the Provia100F.
Love it and hate it at the same time.
Fernando
Shoot a grayscale target with it; no, shoot many grayscale targets under different light conditions and with different exposures, and you'll instantly figure why.
Red in the deepest blacks, cyan in the shadows, magenta in the highlights.
Yet, it's very sharp (sharper than modern RVP50; not sharper than good old Velvia 50), finely grained, with ultrawide exposure latitude for a slide.
And no pepper grain in the sky like the Provia100F.
Love it and hate it at the same time.
Fernando
PaulCooper
Established
Why not go the RAW scan way and fix the color in PS afterwards? I do that, and seldom there is a slide I can't match.
marameo
Established
Do you think you can post some resized tiff of the scan just to see what can be done?
kbg32
neo-romanticist
FYI, when I worked for The Image Bank Years ago, many photographers were switching to Velvia and experiencing the reddish, magenta cast on their transparencies. A Fuji rep came to the company after months of complaints and explained why Velvia had a strong red cast. It was very noticeable on skin tones. Even people of color looked sunburned. The rep/tech explained that Velvia was produced with a bias for the Asian market. Asian skin tones are quite "pale" generally. Velvia's reproduction of skin tones was to help add some "color" to an otherwise "paled" skin tone.
GarageBoy
Well-known
If that's true, it would add some color to fair skinned Caucasian people, but it doesnt
kbg32
neo-romanticist
It does to most users that I know of. It is quite possible that they changed the color bias. Back in the 1990s, the cast was quite noticeable on many skins.
And yes GarageBoy, this is quite true.
And yes GarageBoy, this is quite true.
nikku
Well-known
Velvia 100 is my favorite slide film (Velvia 50 is a close second). Like PaulCooper above, I just scan to TIFF and adjust in PS after scanning. Easy peasy.
Any decent image editor should be able to fix any color cast issues.
Any decent image editor should be able to fix any color cast issues.
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
True, but only when the OP has a calibrated monitor to view the scans on, or any and all color correction in scanning or PS would be futile.
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