Better colour neg scanning with VueScan.

April 21, 2008

Better colour neg scanning with VueScan.

Comments (87)

Filed under: photography,tips — Tags: color, colour, negative, scanning, vuescan — BennehBoy @ 10:31 pm

See my photos on flickr.

I no longer use this method, click here for my new ColorPerfect method

Introduction, A Few Simple Options, Film profiles suck, Scanning

Using The Histogram, & The Finished Article

Introduction

Hamrick Software’s VueScan is perhaps the most flexible and powerful piece of scanning software available to photographers today. Many people fall foul of its myriad features and options – it can be quite daunting when you first start the software and begin to explore the different option pages. I’m going to explain how to get the best out of VueScan with the minimum of fuss, the least fiddling, and the least deviation from the software’s default options.

If you’ve already got the software installed (at the time of writing the latest version is 8.4.70), then now is perhaps a good time to reset the options to default, you can do this from within the file menu “File->Default Options”

A Few Simple Options

The first thing I turn off in viewscan is the automatic saving of scans – you’re probably going to want to do things like adjust white balance, white point, and blackpoint before committing your scan to disk, so there’s just no need to have this option enabled.

You’ll also want to turn on VueScan’s histogram Graph, you can do this from the Image menu “Image -> graph b/w”, or by hitting ctrl-2. You want the b/w graph because this allows you to adjust white and black point using 2 graphical sliders (explained later in the article).

Film profiles suck

VueScan comes with some pre-configured film profiles, you may think that these are just great, but in reality they aren’t – they just take control away from you, and will more than likely deliver a scan that just does not come up to scratch. Why? Because each and every roll of negative film you shoot has it’s very own slight variations in both manufacturing tolerance, exposure, film fogging (heaven forbid), and most importantly development. All of these combine to change the film’s base colour density – so by choosing a preset you are using a ‘best guess’.

The good news is that there is absolutely no reason to settle for a best guess, and this is because VueScan will allow you to sample the base colour of your film directly. These tips are available on the VueScan homepage, but I’ve combined them with some screenshots to make it even more clear. So without further ado, here’s how it’s done…

Firstly you need to preview your film. Click the Preview button! When the preview finishes you should select an area of clear film between frames (or in the film leader). If the ‘Lock Exposure tickbox is ticked, untick it (see the picture below this one)

selecting an area between frames in vuescan

Hit the preview button again, when the preview finishes tick the “Lock exposure” tickbox.

Hit the preview button once more, when the preview finishes tick the “Lock film base colour” tickbox.

With these simple steps you have calibrated your roll of film. You only need to do this once per roll, it can be a pain, but it will save you major headaches in post processing.

Scanning

Now that you’ve optimised VueScan for your current roll of film, you’ll want to go ahead and scan some photos. A lot of people like to keep the film borders and frame numbers in their scans, I think this is a complete waste of time – it will also give you more hard work setting levels in post processing because your beautifully crafted photo will be competing with the levels of the border & bright yellow frame numbers. The answer is simple: use the frame crop box to highlight a scanning target just within the borders of each frame.

selecting your frame to scan with vuescan

When you’re happy that you’ve got the frame correctly selected hit the Scan button.

Using the histogram

Now that your scan is in memory you can do some adjustments, there are 2 main ones you’ll probably want to do, the first of which is using the histogram to produce a nice flat image which can easily be adjusted in PhotoShop. Drag the sliding pointers to left and right so that all elements of the graph are between them – if you want to clip some areas then adjust accordingly.

The final adjustment you may want to make is the white balance – find an area in the scan which is neutral and right click on it (hold down control on mac). VueScan will automatically adjust white balance, if you picked the wrong area just try again until you get something that looks correct — You’ll probably only want to do this once per roll (or once for each set of photos with the same lighting conditions) to ensure your scans are colour matched. Double right clicking resets the auto white balance.

The Finished Article

So now it’s time to save your frame, click on the disk icon or use the save image option in the file menu.

Hopefully you should now be able to successfully scan colour negative film and be sure that you’ll get consistent results. You’ll need to use Curves and Levels in PhotoShop to get the best out of your scans. Good Luck!

wei

I have followed the steps outlined above, am too ran into the same situation as what post #15 described. However I believe the image you are using is a positive of the color neg, though I don’t understand how you get it to be exposed at such high value (?) When I hit the preview, the film gap is near black. So nothing works as this article intended thereafter. I made sure all the settings are the same under Input (uncheck some boxes) and Color (set white balance to none) as instructed above, still nothing works. Am I missing on any other settings? Also every time when I re-crop the film, VueScan automatically adjust the exposure (or whatever it is). How can I turn this off?
wei

I have followed the steps outlined above, am too ran into the same situation as what post #15 described. However I believe the image you are using is a positive of the color neg, though I don’t understand how you get it to be exposed at such high value (?) When I hit the preview, the film gap is near black. So nothing works as this article intended thereafter. I made sure all the settings are the same under Input (uncheck some boxes) and Color (set white balance to none) as instructed above, still nothing works. Am I missing on any other settings? Also every time when I re-crop the film, VueScan automatically adjust the exposure (or whatever it is). How can I turn this off?
http://benneh.net BennehBoy

The preview image gets inverted by vuescan when the ‘colour negative’ tickbox is checked, that’s why it appears as a positive image in the preview pane.

Vuescan also adjusts the _preview_ exposure view (not the final output) depending upon what is selected within the bounding box, it automatically sets the brightest area as ‘white’ and the darkest as ‘black’, this completely throws out the rest of the preview area. So, by throwing a selection box around the film gap it should brighten up considerably allowing you to fine tune the selection to only clear film area.

I hope that made sense, just play about with it, you’ll see what I mean.
http://benneh.net BennehBoy

The preview image gets inverted by vuescan when the ‘colour negative’ tickbox is checked, that’s why it appears as a positive image in the preview pane.

Vuescan also adjusts the _preview_ exposure view (not the final output) depending upon what is selected within the bounding box, it automatically sets the brightest area as ‘white’ and the darkest as ‘black’, this completely throws out the rest of the preview area. So, by throwing a selection box around the film gap it should brighten up considerably allowing you to fine tune the selection to only clear film area.

I hope that made sense, just play about with it, you’ll see what I mean.
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Elaine

I’ve been scanning negatives with Vuescan and a Nikon LS-5000 using this method, but without using the histogram. I save as a .dng file and open in Photoshop Camera Raw. I make adjustments and then open in Photoshop. Most times the scan requires very little adjustment to the levels and curves. Is it better to set the histogram before opening in Photoshop Camera Raw? I am a beginner and I would appreciate any advice.
Elaine

I’ve been scanning negatives with Vuescan and a Nikon LS-5000 using this method, but without using the histogram. I save as a .dng file and open in Photoshop Camera Raw. I make adjustments and then open in Photoshop. Most times the scan requires very little adjustment to the levels and curves. Is it better to set the histogram before opening in Photoshop Camera Raw? I am a beginner and I would appreciate any advice.
http://benneh.net BennehBoy

It probably doesn’t make much difference – maybe try both ways and see which actually looks/prints better?
http://benneh.net BennehBoy

It probably doesn’t make much difference – maybe try both ways and see which actually looks/prints better?
http://inphoto.infoneu.com.ar Juan Carlos Martins

Since the purchase of my first film scanner a couple of years ago (Plustek OpticFilm 7300) I’ve experimented with more than 70 color negative rolls with the bundled software (SilverFast SE) and lately with VueScan: the results was usually mediocre.

With this simple guide the output is really improved! I started to rescan again my color negative stock, following it’s directions.

Thank you so much.
http://inphoto.infoneu.com.ar Juan Carlos Martins

Since the purchase of my first film scanner a couple of years ago (Plustek OpticFilm 7300) I’ve experimented with more than 70 color negative rolls with the bundled software (SilverFast SE) and lately with VueScan: the results was usually mediocre.

With this simple guide the output is really improved! I started to rescan again my color negative stock, following it’s directions.

Thank you so much.
http://photolog.kraker.de Jacco de Kraker

Thanks for sharing this workflow.

It sounds so logical, it makes sense.

I’ve tried it a few months ago, and I’ve tried it again last week on Fuji PRO 800Z (using an Epson V700)… but I just don’t get the correct colours. Reds go pink, other colours are also all over the place.

Is this such a “different”/difficult film? Does anybody have experience with scanning it? Hints are most welcome.
http://photolog.kraker.de Jacco de Kraker

Thanks for sharing this workflow.

It sounds so logical, it makes sense.

I’ve tried it a few months ago, and I’ve tried it again last week on Fuji PRO 800Z (using an Epson V700)… but I just don’t get the correct colours. Reds go pink, other colours are also all over the place.

Is this such a “different”/difficult film? Does anybody have experience with scanning it? Hints are most welcome.
http://benneh.net BennehBoy

@Jacco, 800Z can be hard to get balanced – you might want to look at a product called colorneg (colorperfect now), I’ve been using it for the last year and it has saved quite a bit of time over the procedure above.

Ben
http://benneh.net BennehBoy

@Jacco, 800Z can be hard to get balanced – you might want to look at a product called colorneg (colorperfect now), I’ve been using it for the last year and it has saved quite a bit of time over the procedure above.

Ben
Tref

Hey Ben, it looks like you still haven’t done your post on ColorNeg/ColorPerfect.
I’ve been looking around on how to get accurate colour from scans and so far you somehow seem the most convincing. I just want to get RAW scans with colour as they would be straight off the negs, which I can later work with. I haven’t got my scanner yet though, so hopefully when I do I’ll be able to look you up for tips on using ColorNeg/ColorPerfect to do just that.
Tref

Hey Ben, it looks like you still haven’t done your post on ColorNeg/ColorPerfect.
I’ve been looking around on how to get accurate colour from scans and so far you somehow seem the most convincing. I just want to get RAW scans with colour as they would be straight off the negs, which I can later work with. I haven’t got my scanner yet though, so hopefully when I do I’ll be able to look you up for tips on using ColorNeg/ColorPerfect to do just that.
Damien

Excellent! And even though I’m french I was able to read it! Thanks for these tricks, it really improved the quality of my scans.
Damien

Excellent! And even though I’m french I was able to read it! Thanks for these tricks, it really improved the quality of my scans.
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Brent

I had worked many hours learning to tweak Vuescan for both posi and b/w film and thought I could do anything with it. After many years of not shooting any color neg stuff I finally had a need to. I didn’t think anything of throwing Vuescan at it and I’d be off to the races. Wow! Was I wrong. Completely back to the drawing board to get decent neg scans again, and you made my life a little bit easier. Thanks!

I figured if I was able to get good slide scans that negs would be a breeze. Well, actually I think they are, but it’s a totally different game, and one that has to be learned first, as all new games must.
Brent

I had worked many hours learning to tweak Vuescan for both posi and b/w film and thought I could do anything with it. After many years of not shooting any color neg stuff I finally had a need to. I didn’t think anything of throwing Vuescan at it and I’d be off to the races. Wow! Was I wrong. Completely back to the drawing board to get decent neg scans again, and you made my life a little bit easier. Thanks!

I figured if I was able to get good slide scans that negs would be a breeze. Well, actually I think they are, but it’s a totally different game, and one that has to be learned first, as all new games must.
http://pclyseis.blogspot.com Paliakos

Ben,

Really nice and simple tutorial. Some further points I would like to include are:
1. The output settings (tif, raw or simple jpeg)
2. Any use of filters?
3. What about the All frames option? Do i need to meke the above proceedure for every single frame?
4. Which are the crop settings for a standar 35m stripe

I’m still strungling to make nice scans with no luck. Maybe I shoould try colourneg

Thanks anyway.
http://pclyseis.blogspot.com Paliakos

Ben,

Really nice and simple tutorial. Some further points I would like to include are:
1. The output settings (tif, raw or simple jpeg)
2. Any use of filters?
3. What about the All frames option? Do i need to meke the above proceedure for every single frame?
4. Which are the crop settings for a standar 35m stripe

I’m still strungling to make nice scans with no luck. Maybe I shoould try colourneg

Thanks anyway.
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http://benneh.net Ben Anderson

I now use ColorPerfect in my workflow, see the guide linked below:

http://benneh.net/blog/index.php/2010/09/25/vuescan-colorperfect-a-guide/

@Paliakos, belated answers to your questions:

1) For this workflow I used to output in tif format
2) None
3) This one adjustment works for all frames on one roll of film.
4) No idea, I just manually place the crop marks.
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boris

Help! I followed your instructions but now my RAW-Scans are almost black! No idea what happened… Even worse, I can’t reset whatever I did with it. Any idea what to do? I already deleted vuescan, the ini-files – nothing. Tried to calibrate again – still the same mistake. If I click jpg as prefered ouput file this file it is fine and well balanced. Strange isn’t it? I’m running vuescan on a Mac with the Canoscan 8800f
http://benneh.net Ben Anderson

RAW scans _will_ appear almost black, they have to be processed to get the image to look right, and that’s where the plugin comes into the picture.
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Alex

Does it matter if after you hit preview (after locking the exposure) vuescan defaults to selecting the first frame rather than the selection of leader? It also won’t let me use the selection box from frame one to select between the film (so that it defaults at my exposure locking selection. Very interested in making this work as the color perfect method won’t work with what I got! (Intel mac, photoshops cs2 and 5).
http://benneh.net Ben Anderson

Hmm it sounds like you might have the frame size set to auto or some other value in the ‘Crop’ tab in Vuescan, make sure this is set to manual.

If you still get problems try resetting everything to default (option for this is in the file menu).