Setting color balance on C41

[2wenty]

Hey guys,

I have a question and Im not exactly sure how to ask it.

I develop and scan my own film. So far the colors I get off of most kodak stuff is horrible right off the scanner. Very brown. I wanna try and fix this.

Would it make sense to shoot a grey card somewhere on the roll to help set the color?

There is a color adjust on my noritus scanner but just one click is too much of a change (since I use it in stand alone mode).

I don't know, Im just looking for a way to improve the colors of my photos, so far Im not happy.

How did they use to do this back in the heyday of film?

Thanks

 

[gavinlg]

The kodak films tend to go a bit brown when underexposed. For best colors out of the portra's, shoot portra 400 at around 200 and portra 160 at 100, and meter for the shadows. What scanner are you using?

 

[brbo]

There is a color adjust on my noritus scanner but just one click is too much of a change (since I use it in stand alone mode).

You can set your LS-600 (even in standalone mode) to work with smaller adjustment steps. There is a lot of information in "Noritsu Scanner Users" FB group.

I shoot a lot of different films and don't notice any tendency for Kodak films to go brown (relative to other brands) as a whole; apart from some colours like greens that gravitate more towards yellow in Kodak and more to blue in Fuji, etc....

 

[2wenty]

You can set your LS-600 (even in standalone mode) to work with smaller adjustment steps. There is a lot of information in "Noritsu Scanner Users" FB group.

I shoot a lot of different films and don't notice any tendency for Kodak films to go brown (relative to other brands) as a whole; apart from some colours like greens that gravitate more towards yellow in Kodak and more to blue in Fuji, etc....

Thanks ill have to figure that out. I don't really want to pay for the ez software.

 

[shimokita]

Assuming it's not an exposure, development, or scanning issue, the common practice was using light balancing and color correction filters to match the light source with the type of film. These filters are used to adjust the white balance when shooting with color film, particularly reversal film.

I still have a set: LBW 2, 4, 10, 12 (amber-type filters - lowers the color temperature) and LBC 2, 4, 8, 12 (blue-type filters - raises the color temperature). At the moment I don't deal with Color Correction (CC) filters which apply to corrections along the magenta / green axis.

Typically the color temperature was measured with a meter such as the Kenko Color Meter KCM-3100.

I typically shoot Kodak Gold 200 or Fuji PRO400H and don't have any issues without using the above mentioned filters.

Run one roll through the lab to see if that makes any difference. It would not hurt to shoot a color checker such as the x-rite passport.

 

[2wenty]

Assuming it's not an exposure, development, or scanning issue, the common practice was using light balancing and color correction filters to match the light source with the type of film. These filters are used to adjust the white balance when shooting with color film, particularly reversal film.

I still have a set: LBW 2, 4, 10, 12 (amber-type filters - lowers the color temperature) and LBC 2, 4, 8, 12 (blue-type filters - raises the color temperature). At the moment I don't deal with Color Correction (CC) filters which apply to corrections along the magenta / green axis.

Typically the color temperature was measured with a meter such as the Kenko Color Meter KCM-3100.

I typically shoot Kodak Gold 200 or Fuji PRO400H and don't have any issues without using the above mentioned filters.

Run one roll through the lab to see if that makes any difference. It would not hurt to shoot a color checker such as the x-rite passport.

Thank you. I just mostly have problems with kodak. I like fuji's stuff and don't have an issue with it. I just want to figure out how to make kodak look better since it seems like fuji is going to cancel all their film not to far from now.

 

[Derek Leath]

What I do

What I do

I know this is an old thread, but I use a grey card or colour checker.
Shot a few frames with these cards in the photo, then set you grey, black or white points with the card.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Surprised at finding this thread... Good color from C-41 is what these machines (Noritsu, Frontier, and Pakon) were designed to do.

When I start with a new medium or process, I'll do basic test shots of a Color Checking in different lighting. Find an approach that gets it where I want, then continue to use that.