Scanning Film Negs tips / Tutorials?

Donnie

Donnie

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Hi all, I've just bought an Epson V550 from the forums here specifically to scan some old negatives from my wedding day 25 years ago!

Ive googled and Ive searched on here but I just want to know from you guys that scan if theres any specific techniques / tools you use when scanning? ie all I can find is advice on using a rocket blower to minimise dust but also seen some people using cotton type gloves etc? I mean that might be all there is to it but I suspect that there may be other helpful tips out there?
 
Isopropyl alcohol and a microfibre cloth is a good and safe way of cleaning negatives, cottom gloves just add more mess into the equation.

Most on here reccomend using Vuescan to run the scanner as you have more control over scanning settings, but Epsonscan will give you perfectly adequate results too!
 
There was a thread a year or so ago that did some comparison scans, but some of the images will have been lost now due to Photobucket stopping free third-party hosting, so it won't be much use to you! I find that scanning at 3200 dpi resolution on my Epson V600 (similar to the V550) seems to get about the best detail from the negatives, scanning at higher or lower tends to lose some of the detail, so perhaps start there and see how you think it looks. Make sure your negatives and slides are 'shiny side down' to the flatbed glass too, or they'll be the wrong way round and won't scan as well either.
 
Make sure the area is clean - dust, and then damp dust the scanner and surrounding surfaces.
Use a microfibre cloth to clean the scanner glass each time you add a set of negatives to the scanner.
Use a rocket blower to blow off any dust on the negatives and holder before placing on the scanner.

Gloves can be useful, but I never tend to use the pair I have. If you're careful then you should be able to handle the negatives without touching the actual image frames with your fingers.

For the actual scanning process, I do the following on my V550:

1) I have the following settings for B&W negatives (EDIT: Please note that I no longer use the unsharp mask setting - I sharpen later after importing the scan into Lightroom by using Sharpener Pro 3: Output Sharpener plugin from the Nik Collection):
v550_1.JPG

2) I preview the negatives and choose the "Normal" view. I then select each frame with the cursor.
3) I click one of the selected frames and click the Zoom option. I then use the cursor to select an area just inside the image frame:
v550_2.JPG

4) I click thge leftmost of the adjustment controls (the circle with the two red pointers) to get a starting point and then I then use the histogram control to move the input pointers so they line up with the edges of the histogram itself (I sometimes tweak the middle pointer to add or remove a bit of exposure too), and then set the output pointers to the full 0 to 255 range:
v550_3.JPG

5) I then close the histogram, re-select the full image (including some of the border area) with the cursor, then click the Full button to return to the preview image. I repeat this for all the frames in the holder and then use the Scan button to make the final .Tif files.
6) I then edit them further in Lightroom based on my preferences for the image.

I used to use the same process for colour (but using the Colour Negative and 48-bit colour settings for Film Type and Image Type), but I now just do a positive scan of the colour negatives with no ajdustments in Epson Scan and then use a Photoshop action to reverse the negative and remove the colour mask before saving as .Tif files. I used to sometimes get slightly muddy colours just using Epson scan for colour negs. Thet weren't terrible, but the results I get using the Photoshop action give far better colours.

This thread gives details of the Photoshop Action I use for colour negs.

NOTE: I no longer use the above process for scanning colour negatives. I currently use Negative Lab Pro.



I also use Sharpener Pro 3: Output Sharpener plugin from the Nik Collection to add additional sharpening if required.
 
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I opened this can-of-worms a while ago, you have probably seen the thread Alternative scanning software for Epson V550

I didn't get on with Vuescan, personally I preferred Silverfast but was told in no uncertain terms that I was wrong :) . That said, in the end I didn't buy either because they both had quirks like the Epson software and I just put up with that.
 
I've tried the trial versions of both Vuescan and Silverfast, but stuck with Epson Scan. Mostly, I think, because I have a scanning workflow that I find straightforward and which produces results I'm happy with.

The other two packages look like they have great potential, but at this moment in time I just don't feel like going through the learning curve with either of them. I tried a few online tutorials with both but didn't get results that were better than what I can get from Epson Scan (in fact, they were worse), but I'm sure I'd get better results if I gave them a bit of patience and perserverance.
 
FishyFish said:
I've tried the trial versions of both Vuescan and Silverfast, but stuck with Epson Scan. Mostly, I think, because I have a scanning workflow that I find straightforward and which produces results I'm happy with.

The other two packages look like they have great potential, but at this moment in time I just don't feel like going through the learning curve with either of them. I tried a few online tutorials with both but didn't get results that were better than what I can get from Epson Scan (in fact, they were worse), but I'm sure I'd get better results if I gave them a bit of patience and perserverance.
Click to expand...

I could of wrote the exact same paragraph myself

I just use the Epson software

Apart from the obvious like making sure the negs are clean etc

I untick the unsharp mask, for some reason I find it’s detrimental to the image, and I’d read on a few guides to turn it off. Set at 3200 resolution, 24bit colour, tiff file. I also open up the histogram and set the parameters to 0 and 255, for some reason by default it’s 18 and 220(ish) I believe this retains more detail in the highlights and shadows, I could be wrong in that one however.
 
BTW, I found at least two ways of starting up the Epson software, part of the reason I didn't like the Epson software was the way I was starting it up, I was starting Easy Photo Scan, which is anything but "easy". I now start Epson Scan (C:\Windows\twain_32\escndv\escndv.exe) and life is a lot simpler.
 
I don't like wiping the glass surfaces of the scanner immediately before I scan a film in case it creates a static charge and actually attracts dust to the glass. I use a rocket blower instead; first the glass in the lid, then the flatbed glass. Then I put the loaded negative holder in place and give the exposed surface of the negs a few quick bursts from the rocket blower, pointing it towards the side of the scanner so hopefully any dust 'exits stage left', then I close the lid and hope for the best. This seems to work OK as I usually have very few 'clone-outs' to do on fresh negatives. Hope this is useful.
 
Mr Badger said:
There was a thread a year or so ago that did some comparison scans, but some of the images will have been lost now due to Photobucket stopping free third-party hosting, so it won't be much use to you! I find that scanning at 3200 dpi resolution on my Epson V600 (similar to the V550) seems to get about the best detail from the negatives, scanning at higher or lower tends to lose some of the detail, so perhaps start there and see how you think it looks. Make sure your negatives and slides are 'shiny side down' to the flatbed glass too, or they'll be the wrong way round and won't scan as well either.
Click to expand...
which round do you put colour film? i recently got a roll of provia developed and today got bad a roll of ektar and both sides look equally shiny to me. All i did was scan it so the film name was the right way round
 
Ben johns said:
which round do you put colour film? i recently got a roll of provia developed and today got bad a roll of ektar and both sides look equally shiny to me. All i did was scan it so the film name was the right way round
Click to expand...

Place it on the scanner so the film name and frame numbers etc. are reversed as you look down on them.

Or, to put it another way, imagine you are inside the scanner looking up at the film. The film name and frame numbers would be the correct way around.
 
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Ben johns said:
which round do you put colour film? i recently got a roll of provia developed and today got bad a roll of ektar and both sides look equally shiny to me. All i did was scan it so the film name was the right way round
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Sometimes it can be hard to tell which side is the shinier... to be honest I thought it was just me becoming middle-aged and on the verge of needing reading glasses! :whistle:

However, if you squint really closely you should see one side is totally smooth and shiny, and the other side has the remains of the emulsion on it, so film seems to vary from 'not as shiny as the other side at all' to 'not quite as shiny as the other side if you look very carefully'. If you scan it the wrong way round you should realise eventually as shop names, road signs, car reg numbers, etc. will be the wrong way round.

I imagine there will be some easy way to tell, such as putting the film numbers a particular way round, but my spare time has been too short lately for me to work this out... and then I'd only have to try and remember it next time I used the scanner! ;)
 
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FishyFish said:
Place it on the scanner so the film name and frame numbers etc. are reversed as you look down on them.

Or, to put it another way imagine you are inside the scanner looking up at the film. The film name and frame numbers would be the correct way around.
Click to expand...

There you go, there's always someone who's got it sussed! So, if that's correct and works on all film types, the simple way to remember this would be: Are the film name and numbers the wrong way round when looking down, as that's the right way to scan film! :)
 
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I always scan with the writing and numbers the right way up and tick the "mirror" box in Vuescan! Never noticed any particular focus problems, if that's an issue?
 
Yesterday and today I scanned 2 envelopes of Kodacolor (Kodak Safety Film 5075) taken in 1978 and processed in local consumer photo labs (in Glasgow, I think). In one of them it's very hard to see the film numbers and film type, in the other both are almost in bold text. I'm assuming this is down to shoddy processing in both cases. Both films are going to be tricky from a colour point of view, but I haven't brought them into Aperture yet to check. However, if you've got wedding photos, they were probably processed in better labs... certainly hope so!
 
FishyFish said:
Place it on the scanner so the film name and frame numbers etc. are reversed as you look down on them.

Or, to put it another way, imagine you are inside the scanner looking up at the film. The film name and frame numbers would be the correct way around.
Click to expand...
Yea that’s how I’ve done it.
Black and white looks very shiny and matte on the other but haven’t noticed that with colour
 
FishyFish said:
I've scanned it the wrong around before - usually if the film is bowed and I want to flatten it without it touching the glass - and I've not noticed any significant difference in quality (although I've not done any comparisons). The main issue is that you have to flip the image, but that's not a problem really.
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Same here and yet to find out if the slight bowing of 120 negs causes OOF in parts of the scan. I would assume the Epson engineers\designers knew about slight bowing of negs in their crappy neg holders and designed the scanning optical system's DOF to cover it...h'mm
 
Hopefully not going to cause chaos with this question,but I've heard in the past that scanning b&w as colour neg gets more info into the file, which was "better" for post processing. Now I can't remember if that was specific to C41 b&w film or not, but does anyone actually do this?
 
Peter B said:
Hopefully not going to cause chaos with this question,but I've heard in the past that scanning b&w as colour neg gets more info into the file, which was "better" for post processing. Now I can't remember if that was specific to C41 b&w film or not, but does anyone actually do this?
Click to expand...
I usually scan them as 'B&W Negative film' but at 48 bit colour, then convert to greyscale in Photoshop. If I ever get half a day free with nothing to do (very unlikely at the moment) then I could do a proper comparison and post example crops of the results.
 
Peter B said:
Hopefully not going to cause chaos with this question,but I've heard in the past that scanning b&w as colour neg gets more info into the file, which was "better" for post processing. Now I can't remember if that was specific to C41 b&w film or not, but does anyone actually do this?
Click to expand...

I did this a few times and it does seem to work well. I'd forgotten it till you mentioned it and i will try it with my next roll.
 
Not sure how relevant this is to this particular thread.... but I've just scanned an envelope of Agfa C22 negatives (that's all it says on the film edge) taken in December 1978. They've been in a flat envelope for nearly 40 years... and each strip was as curly as a capital C! What a struggle to get them in the holder... I have a patented technique involving pinching the very end of the strip down with my finger, bending the top cover down as far as it will go, then removing my finger while letting the top cover snap home. One day I'm going to break the holder, I can see!
 
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