Scanning negs - Epson V700

S

Suse

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Hi

I've got an Epson V700 scanner. I've always used the Epson s/w previously, for my Toy Cam work, in black and white. But now that I've just got an M6 and am using colour, I'm finding that I'm not getting very good scans at all.

Someone recommended using Silverfast SE, which has certainly improved the print scanning. But I'm not having much luck with the colour negs. :cool:

Is there anyone else on here that has any tips that they use with their Leica negs scanning on the V700?
 
Color negs are much harder for the scanner to get right since it must try and compensate for the orange mask. Black and white and slide film don't usually have these (some C41 b/w films have the mask). Have you tried the neg-a-fix function in Silverfast? It has a specific set of "canned" parameters for individual film types which can help. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't but they are worth a try.

Here is a good tutorial on using Silverfast that is worth a read:

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/silverfast-scanning.shtml

Good luck,

Doug
---
www.BetterScanning.com
 
I totaly gave up on color-negs for scans, I tried everything to automate the process and give /good/ results reliqbly and it's way too hard/too much work to color correct each frame !
Idealy one would have to photograph an IT8.3 target with each type of film, scan and reverse that, make a profile and use that profile for every other shots. Too much trouble !
 
Suse said:
Is there anyone else on here that has any tips that they use with their Leica negs scanning on the V700?
Click to expand...
???Leica negs? I never knew Leica made negative film as well:p

I prefer scanning in EpsonScan instead of Silverfast SE. Mostly because stupid SE lacks the batch scanning feature.
I noticed that I get the least noise+grain if I scan in the "No colour correction" setting and 48 bit, and later invert+adjust in Photoshop. The image will be in the Epson V700/V750 Film colour space (or whatever its name is). Be sure to assign it when opening the file in PS. Or convert it to Adobe space(or whatever your working colour space is) immediately at opening.
SOmetimes it's difficult to get the proper colours this way, then I return to Silverfast SE and scan that one frame as col neg with the NEgFix tool.
If you are more specific on what exactly the problems are that you encounter, I could maybe help more.
 
There are several things to try.

1. Download a copy of Vuescan (shareware) from hamrick.com and give it a try.
The settings should be such that you capture all the tonal range without clipping and then do final brightness and color adjustments in your image editing software.
2. Flatbed scanners are not as good as dedicated film scanners, but the new Epson is supposed to be pretty close. You will still need to apply an upsharp mask after scanning to compensate for losses in the scan process.
3. I have many tips on scanning on my web site, some refer to the prior models of Epson, but the issues are the same.
4. Also have a look at scantips.com for some good general pointers.

I no longer shoot transparencies, only color negative. It is easier to get the film processed (any one hour can give you negatives), the film has much wider latitude and it is easier to find in the stores. There may be slightly less sharpness then with transparency film of the same speed, but it's not a major difference.

Silverfast works well, but is expensive, the SE version lacks certain useful options. I think it is best for batch scanning where you want to apply the same adjustment to a series of originals. I believe they also have a demo version online.

If you decide to buy Vuescan get the "pro" edition which includes unlimited updates and some other features.
 
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