CL negative scanning

[DKK]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

 

Does anyone use their CL to scan negatives? I have started using this setup with a Valoi Easy35 and Nikkor 55. I tried Chemvert for reversal, with poor results, before trying FilmLab which I find much better for both B&W and colour. Interesting to hear other experiences and hints and tips.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[LocalHero1953]

I have no experience of scanning with the CL, but there is a lot of discussion elsewhere in the forum about colour negative inversion.

Negative Lab Pro used to be the main recommendation for third party apps/plug-ins for colour negative inversion, but you mention two that I have never heard of.

I scan with a SL2-S, Sigma 70 Macro lens in L-mount, and the same Easy35 you have. I prefer my own inversion, which I have set up as a batch process between Lightroom and Photoshop. That gives me a well-coloured but tonally flat positive TIFF, much the same starting point as if I took an original digital image with the SL2-S. B&W negative inversion is much simpler, obviously, and I do that only in Lightroom. Strictly there's no need to export from raw DNG to TIFF, but working with a DNG that has an inverted curve applied is a pain in LR - the sliders all go the wrong way. Much easier to export as a TIFF after inversion and reimport.

For colour reversal Fuji Provia 100F, which I occasionally use for large format, you can just shoot, import and adjust colours as needed, but I found I got better results in LR if I started with a profile created from a colour target from Wolf Faust - the cost was worth it IMO.

[Markey]

I use an Epson V850 pro.

[DKK]

Quote

Negative Lab Pro used to be the main recommendation for third party apps/plug-ins for colour negative inversion, but you mention two that I have never heard of.

I don't use Lightroom or Photoshop. Chemvert and FilmLab are both standalone apps. 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

I use a slide copier I had back in the days of film, my light source is 3200 K light so easy to set the WB of the CL to tungsten and have a relatively consistent light source. Color negatives have been troublesome, I had basic settings in ACR but, mostly inversion, while some color negs were easy, some weren't. B&W 35mm seems to be no problem with 35mm. With larger format negs, 6x6, 4x5, I don't feel a 24mp sensor is enough. Cropping on 6x6 is fairly severe. So with larger format I use an Epson V700. I have stopped using color negative film, mostly because the return times have been really long 14 days last time, buit for 35 color negs I have I now use the V700.

Edited January 3 by tommonego@gmail.com

[250swb]

Negative Lab Pro is the default software people usually recommend but it can only be used in Lightroom and I only use Photoshop. In Photoshop I use ColorPerfect or Negmaster as plugins and although it's a very old clunky interface Color Perfect works a bit better than Negmaster. As a standalone I use Film Lab. But why three? It's because they all work slightly differently depending on the film so it's worth trying each as a second opinion, followed by the final check and pressing the 'Auto Color' button in Photoshop. There is no rule as long as the colour doesn't look unbalanced so with any software choose the image you like best.

[DKK]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

The only problem I have found with my physical setup is I have to crop a fair bit. I can almost fill the frame, but can't quite focus sharp enough, so I had to add an additional short extension tube.

Valoi are releasing a 120 version, which could be interesting, but is significantly more expensive.