Software for a film/neg scanner.

[AndySig]

I'm not sure if this is the forum but here goes anyway. I've just ordered a film & neg scanner (Quato Intelli Scan 5000) and will need some software to deal with the scans. I've no intention of getting into image manipulation as I will basically want to turn B&W negs into positives, scan in colour slides etc. maybe fiddle about with contrast levels a bit, burn & dodge etc. I'm essentially a film bloke and am not actually interested in the digital world but obviously use of the internet requires a degree of compromise.

I've heard of Photoshop Elements and some free software called Gimp and I've seen plenty of books in the shops which claim to explain both. Which would you recommend or would you in fact recommend something else altogether?

 

[DamenS]

Can't beat the price of Gimp. Photoshop will have more tutorials/forums/advice available. If you are on Mac, consider Pixlemator 2.0 If I could use only one program for basic editing/cataloguing it would be Apple's Aperture or Adobe Lightroom - these cost more than the other alternatives I've listed though.

 

[AndySig]

Thanks for the reply, Damen. I did a bit of googling and came up with this:

http://teckline.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/gimp-246-vs-photoshop-elements-6/

Given that I'm fairly useless with computers it looks like Gimp, backed up with buying one of the books I've seen on it in the shops.

 

[Gary B]

Photoshop Elements is up to version 10 so you might want to look at it closer.

 

[AndySig]

My scanner arrived yesterday complete with Silverfast software (Ai, Plus/Studio and IT8 calibration). I had a very quick play with it and my initial impression is that at least with respect to B&W negs, Silverfast does all that I want i.e. it converts them to positives and allows me to tweak the levels, put a bit of detail in the shadows etc. (In fact it did occur to me that one use for this would be to digitally produce a print which I could then take into my darkroom as a template for the print I want to produce!) It also scans colour slide quite happily.

I've also downloaded but not played with Gimp. I must say that it looks ferociously complex and I'm grateful for Gary B's suggestion.

My question now is: what would either Gimp or Photoshop elements offer me that I cannot already do with Silverfast?

 

[Chris101]

Does Silverfast let you do selective dodging and burning? Perhaps that is not something you would do, but I certainly d&b when I print with an enlarger, and I want my hybrid capabilities to at least match my darkroom ones.

 

[AndySig]

I don't think so but I know you can do that in Photoshop. I just have to find out how. If I could work out how to upload a picture here, I would show you what stage I have got to.