Scanning with a digital camera

[Carriage]

So RawTherapee has added a film negative mode. From a very brief look it seems quite promising. Potentially a solution for people like me who don't have photoshop/negativelabpro?

 

[Huss]

So RawTherapee has added a film negative mode. From a very brief look it seems quite promising. Potentially a solution for people like me who don't have photoshop/negativelabpro?

Negativelabpro need LR Classic, not sure if it works w photoshop.

You should give it a go and post your results here. I’m very happy with npl as it is super easy to use and gives fantastic results. But it’s not free.

 

[Carriage]

I've done a brief test. Its not one click and so there's still a bit of mucking around with white balance but it helps you get a lot closer to start with and is an improvement I think. Some of the issues will also be my skill in seeing colour cast, I suspect. I'll have another play later.


Using RawTherapee

My previous manual job (using RawTherapee and GIMP)

NegativeLabPro (Thanks to Huss)

Scan by the lab who developed it

 

[Carriage]

As an example to see where it starts you:



This is what you get just cropping out the edges and then turning on the film negative feature

Here's what I got after setting the neutral points of the feature using the helmet on the ground and the shadows in the black bag the lady has.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yve5ljzo92c7fal/DSC_0076.NEF?dl=0 the file if anyone wants to have a play

 

[Huss]

I've done a brief test. Its not one click and so there's still a bit of mucking around with white balance but it helps you get a lot closer to start with and is an improvement I think. Some of the issues will also be my skill in seeing colour cast, I suspect. I'll have another play later.


Using RawTherapee

My previous manual job (using RawTherapee and GIMP)

NegativeLabPro (Thanks to Huss)

Scan by the lab who developed it

Ahh I forgot I did that for you. yeah this really shows how good NLP is and it is so quick and easy to use. Just look at the difference in the sky between that and the store scan.

 

[Carriage]

Yeah, apart from the cost for high res scans, the reason I tried camera scanning was due to what looked like oversharpening and clipping in the highlights and shadows.


Here are some more comparisons between my best efforts with manually working each channel individually, and using the new Film Negative tool then the regular manual white balance tool in RawTherapee.



Old

New

Old

New

Old

New

I think this is a good enough process for me given that I only occasionally shoot colour film or digital and so would only need Lightroom infrequently. If I was using it all the time, it seems lightroom and NLP are probably worth the cost.

 

[inzite]

Thanks to Huss's posts in here it's finally hassle free for digitizing negs! Here are my early attempts with NLP and scanning with dslr.

m6+50 asph - gold 200 scanned with d800e+105micro+NLP. Two things I picked up from this exercise - it's quick and fast and gold 200 is not the finest grained film.

INZ_3801 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3836 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3807 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3803 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3864 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

 

[Huss]

Excellent result Ricky! Love the first and last shots.

 

[inzite]

Excellent result Ricky! Love the first and last shots.

Thanks Huss! another question for you - which film carrier/holder do you use for 35mm or 120? The scans now are acceptably sharp but they could still be sharper if i don't have to hold down the edges of the negs for those ones which aren't perfectly flat - that way i can tweak the focus on 20x live view before I enable the timer. Thanks!

 

[inzite]

m6+50 asph/35iv - gold 200 scanned with d800e+105 micro+NLP

INZ_3804 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3885 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3868 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3873-2 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

 

[Ronald M]

Amazing how old techniques, decades old, come back around. I am sure individual channel , RGB, is always how I would WB a difficult file. It always worked and is always better than I can get by eye and I have perfect color vision according to my eye doctor.
Capture One will do one click levels channel by channel almost instantly. Near perfect color & contrast results.

 

[inzite]

managed to work through some more - which would not be possible if i was still scanning blurry stuff with my epson v500...

m6+50 asph/35iv - gold 200 scanned with d800e+105 micro+NLP

INZ_3934 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3928-2 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3925 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3938-2 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

INZ_3901 by Ricky Cheong Photography, on Flickr

 

[rangefinder10a]

The most important piece of gear is negativelabpro.com

I’ve been reading this topic with great interest as I am interested in going down the route of digitising 35mm and 6cm sq film negs.
I was all set to get a copy stand, light pad and NLPwhen I checked with the NLP website and realised that I would need to have LR6.
I only have version 5 and refuse to subscribe more funds to Adobe for LR6.

So...., this seems to rule out NLP

Would you recommend any alternative systems?

 

[Carriage]

For a super easy system, I don't think there is one apart from NLP for camera digitising. That's why it's gotten people excited.

I've had some success using the new film negative function in RawTherapee but there's still a bit of stuffing around. I've been reasonably happy with it though. Whether it's too onerous for you that's up to you I suppose.


Perhaps see if you can get some raw files off people to give it a go? Ive linked to one at the bottom of post #563.

 

[Huss]

The results are so good with NLP that it is totally worth it to me to be on the subscription model with Adobe.
Think about how important it is to have this available to you. I am primarily a film shooter and sell my work so it is a must have. But even if that wasn't the case I would use it for my personal work. It pays for itself really quickly if you shoot a fair amount of film and send it out to be scanned.

NLP provides the solution. And they just released v2.1 today.

 

[rangefinder10a]

Carriage/Huss
Many thanks for your valuable comments.
Hmm, I’m beginning to think that I may have to review my stance on Adobe.
The process of choice is obviously NLP and the only route available is LR6.
I might just have to relent on Adobe, much as dislike their methods

Thanks
John

 

[Zonan]

The results are so good with NLP that it is totally worth it to me to be on the subscription model with Adobe.
Think about how important it is to have this available to you. I am primarily a film shooter and sell my work so it is a must have. But even if that wasn't the case I would use it for my personal work. It pays for itself really quickly if you shoot a fair amount of film and send it out to be scanned.

NLP provides the solution. And they just released v2.1 today.

Huss,

what type(s) of film holders are you using to take the exposures?

Thanks,

Rick

 

[Huss]

Huss,

what type(s) of film holders are you using to take the exposures?

Thanks,

Rick

Hey Rick. For standard 35mm format I use the Nikon ES-2 with its 35mm 6 frame strip holder. For 35mm pano shots, or images that I want the sprockets to show I use the Lomo Digitiliza 35mm film holder and a copy stand. For 120 film I use the Lomo Digitilaza 120 film holder.

 

[Huss]

Carriage/Huss
Many thanks for your valuable comments.
Hmm, I’m beginning to think that I may have to review my stance on Adobe.
The process of choice is obviously NLP and the only route available is LR6.
I might just have to relent on Adobe, much as dislike their methods

Thanks
John

I gotta be honest I too hated having to go to the subscription model but NLP is such a great tool and super easy to use I looked at the big picture so to speak, and it is worth it.

 

[Huss]

Leica R7, Summicron 50, Fuji Pro160S, negativelabpro.com