Scanning negs on a flat bed scanner

[ClaremontPhoto]

I am trying to scan some color negs on a flat bed scanner.

The basic scan is fine. But the image onscreen is very dark red and negative. Where do I go next?

Using Photoshop Elements 2 Mac I can see an 'Invert' command that turns the image pale blue.

The finished images need only be good enough for website, not for printing. About 600px wide.

Has anybody been here before and can tell me what to do?

Scan attached. It looks fine (?) when printed by the local lab. It looks awful here.

 

[pedro.m.reis]

What scanner are you using? Is it for transparencies?

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

It's a fairly basic Canon. FP630U. But scanning is scanning isn't it? I just need to get rid of the red mask and then turn a negative into a positive.

 

[Pherdinand]

many flatbeds with film adapter have the option to scan as slides(positives) or as negatives. If you scan as negatives, it automatically compensates for the orange mask and inverts. Are you sure yours cannot do this?

 

[pedro.m.reis]

Well, never tryed that way. I think that for scanning negs you need a scanner that has a light in the top, i.e. the "Photo" kind of scanners. Mine is a epson 4180 and works that way.

 

[doubs43]

Jon, your scanner software must have the proper programming for scanning negatives. Read your documentation to see what features your scanner has for that purpose.

Walker

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

What fast responses!

The lamp is under the glass, but the cover is white inside so maybe designed to be reflective?

The software broke when I upgraded to OSX Tiger recently. Canon said that there were no drivers for my OS. I downloaded Vuescan which worked for free although with $ signs all across the scan. Then the dollar signs went away, and the scanner seems to be working like it always did before.

This is a black art. I need Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to sort me out.

 

[oftheherd]

What fast responses!

The lamp is under the glass, but the cover is white inside so maybe designed to be reflective?

...

If you don't have a lamp in the cover, I would guess it is for scanning prints only. If you got anything at all you were fortunate. Even so, some work on hues might still get you something usable, I just doubt it. You might want to try a light sorce of your own over the negaive and see what you get. Good luck.

 

[pedro.m.reis]

The lamp is under the glass, but the cover is white inside so maybe designed to be reflective?

That is what i'm talking about, i think your scanner is reflective only.
Never tryed to scan negs on one, i dont know if is possible.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Thank you guys.

Now, Fox and Dana get over here, I need you. Experiment time.

Otherwise back to grumpy minilab guy for scans. And he hasn't even heard of my xpro plans yet! My E6 film in his C41 minilab.

 

[kiev4a]

Thank you guys.

Now, Fox and Dana get over here, I need you. Experiment time.

Otherwise back to grumpy minilab guy for scans. And he hasn't even heard of my xpro plans yet! My E6 film in his C41 minilab.

Your flatbed has to have a seperate illumination unit in the top and the scanning software will have a seperate option for scanning negatives and slides. The white background in the lid doesn't provide enough reflection to scan negatives. Theoretically you could cobble up a light source behind frosted glass to the light would be evenly diffused and put it on top of the negative. But most scanners have to read something in the scanner hardware in order to offer a negative option ane it would know a home-built illumination is present.

There are some flatbeds that avoid the illuminator in the top by having a film tray just above the light source in the bottom of the scanner. But they usually are at the high end price wise.

 

[dmr]

Has anybody been here before and can tell me what to do?

I've tried it on a very good HP flatbed, but I didn't get very far. 🙂 I did get good results on a B&W mf negative, however.

Here's what I did when I tried to scan color negatives on the flatbed.

In fact, let me try one again and I'll show you what I get ...

First of all, unless the lid of your scanner is brilliant white, put a bright white piece of paper over the negative.

Then set your resolution to at least 1200 lines per inch.

Then scan. Crop to your negative size. This will look like the first frame below.

Adjust your levels, it will look like the second frame below.

Then invert, It will look like the third frame below. Not suitable for framing, but you can see what it is.

Fourth frame below is the same image done on the negative scanner for a comparison.

Oh, did I say that your scanner should be spotlessly clean? 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I'll try that tomorrow.

Mid evening here and bars and girls and photo ops beckon...

Tomorrow is a public holiday.

 

[aad]

Some Canon scanners (like mine) have a removable reflective panel in the cover-could that be the case here?

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

No.

There is no removable reflective panel in the cover.

I've tried lighting the scanner from above, lid open too, and a mirror on top of the negative. every permutation of the above too. No joy.

Today is a public holiday so grumpy minilab guy's shop is closed. Tomorrow I will explain one more time that I want the whole negative scanned not just the part that he decides he likes best.

Seriously, I recently had a print made of an exhibition-winning shot, and when I went to collect it they had cropped it massively because they preferred it that way. At least 50% of the image was missing.

 

[zeos 386sx]

Seriously, I recently had a print made of an exhibition-winning shot, and when I went to collect it they had cropped it massively because they preferred it that way. At least 50% of the image was missing.

I think it is time for you to invest in a first-class film scanner and the means to print your own pictures.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

First-class neg scanner it not a possibility. Second-class scanner maybe...

Any suggestions? Dedicated film scanner, can handle trans and negs, takes a full 135/36 strip in one go, overscans to include sproket holes sometimes and invisible so my wife doesn't see I've bought more 'stuff'.

Every guy's dream machine. I may have to lower the spec a bit.

 

[dmr]

Dedicated film scanner, can handle trans and negs, takes a full 135/36 strip in one go, overscans to include sproket holes sometimes

Lots of us here like the Konica-Minolta Scan Dual IV. The one thing on your wish list it doesn't do is overscan to the sprockets. On film there is a slight cropping with the standard carrier. On slides it gets more than the slide mount allows, including all of the fuzzies on the edges.

and invisible so my wife doesn't see I've bought more 'stuff'.

LOL! It's about the size of a shoebox. It's really inconspicuous.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I'll look into that. Thank you.

She'll never notice a shoebox. She has hundreds of shoeboxes.

 

[brians]

I wanted to fill you in on this one, but I totally forgot the site that I saw before that gave me a bit of info on scanning.

I tried it, but it was near impossible.... I could only get crappy BW scans.

Anyway, here is a resource site:

http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/techniques/negative_film/