4490: Blue Tint on Medium Format Scans

Hi all,

I recently bought a Bronica SQ-AI and when I tested my first scans on my 4490, they came out with a terrible blue tint. I'm sure you've all heard of such a problem before, but I couldn't find a solution so I thought I'd post here. I've had my 4490 for 3-4 years now and have scanned 35mm negatives without any such issue. I even tried some older 35mm negs after coming across the issue with 120mm to see if the same problem happened with them, and they worked just fine. I'm sure that my film holder was not blocking any calibration points and was centered properly. I also changed the film format to 6x6, and the negatives themselves look just fine.

I know i can scan them without any correction in Epson Scan and correct in photoshop, but i'd like to fix the problem, if possible.
Any help is appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

Hi Dave

Could you please post a few more details on how you are scanning? Are all negs coming out blue tinted?
Please mention what software you are scanning with and how you are setting it up.

Pleas also mention what colour spaces you are using.
Assuming you are using Epson scanning in professional mode.

pillicle,
i'm using epsonscan on professional mode. i scan 24bit at 800 dpi, and usually have color correction on at continuous auto exposure and a gamma level of 1.8. this didn't work, so i tried selecting no color correction at all in epsonscan, and they still came out off-colored. all of my medium format negatives are coming out with the blue tint, although none of my 35mm negs have this problem. i'm sure that my film holder is placed properly on the scanner and that none of the calibration holes are covered.

Are you scanning any of the inter-frame space (blank, unexposed film). This can sometimes throw off the software when it's converting from negative to positive.

What kind of film? Self- or lab-processed? I know you said the negatives look fine, but the orange mask could hide a little extra red or magenta that would cause your blue tint after inversion. Maybe it's a processing screw-up? Is this isolated to a single roll, a single emulsion, all your MF film, etc.

--Greg

Greg-
I crop the preview image without any borders/unexposed film before the scan. It's portra 160 developed at the lab, and only the first roll i've developed. Going to try another roll this week..

good morning

davesullivan said:

i'm using epsonscan on professional mode. i scan 24bit at 800 dpi,

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tha'ts good ...

and usually have color correction on at continuous auto exposure and a gamma level of 1.8. this didn't work,

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correct

so i tried selecting no color correction at all in epsonscan, and they still came out off-colored.

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yep ... it all comes down to colour profile. Your computer needs to know when it sees a value for a colour how to display or present that. So I've found the best way is this. Set the colour profile in the settings like this:


then when you get into photoshop ASSIGN that profile to the image.

You have not mentioned if you scan negative as negative or scan negative as positive. If you scan negative as positive Epson scan will be too agressive in removal of dark and light areas (meaning inky shadows and blown highlights. The workflow that I use is below:

in my view ...: Scanning as neg or scanning as pos

let me know how that goes for you

I use color correction on at continuous auto exposure and a gamma level of 2.2 not 1.8.

pellicle,

thanks a bunch for your time. i got a roll of 35mm back today and tried your ICM settings in epsonscan after playing around with the program and noticed that all of them have the same blue tint that i found with my medium format scans..although my 35mm scans normally come out ok, does this sound like an abnormal problem to have? and to answer your question, i don't scan my negs as positives, and haven't had the time to try the technique out, although it sounds interesting.

these are what the negatives are looking like without any color correction, even when the preview image is cropped down to the corners

davesullivan said:

thanks a bunch for your time. i got a roll of 35mm back today and tried your ICM settings in epsonscan after playing around with the program and noticed that all of them have the same blue tint that i found with my medium format scans..although my 35mm scans normally come out ok, does this sound like an abnormal problem to have? and to answer your question, i don't scan my negs as positives, and haven't had the time to try the technique out, although it sounds interesting.

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glad to help.

However it seems to me that you are still not correctly setting the levels as I described in the RED BLUE and GREEN channels. When I do this I get the following

interestingly on in the middle looks almost perfect. Are you perhaps using Tungsten film in outdoor?

still ... did you follow my directions for setting the levels INDIVIDUALLY?

pellicle,

i was just using portra 400, no special tungsten film or anything like that.

when you say setting the levels individually, i'm not sure i know exactly what you mean. are you referring to the histogram/image adjustment options in epsonscan or editing levels within photoshop? when i change to ICM and select colormatch rgb and assign it within photoshop, the image still comes out with just a different shade of blue on it.

Try Epson scan. Leave everything off except use color correction on at continuous auto exposure and a gamma level of 2.2. See what happens.

Hi

davesullivan said:

i was just using portra 400, no special tungsten film or anything like that.

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strange then that one looked so perfect and the others blue then ... obviously you were in different light.

You're sure its not Portra T?

when you say setting the levels individually, i'm not sure i know exactly what you mean. are you referring to the histogram/image adjustment options in epsonscan or editing levels within photoshop?

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did you read my blog posts?

I mean in both places, but the one that is the most important is in photoshop. The only reason to do it in Epson scan is to push that left blue slider hard left into the black. It will make a difference.

when i change to ICM and select colormatch rgb and assign it within photoshop, the image still comes out with just a different shade of blue on it.

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did you see my adjustments and notice how much better they are? The profile makes a difference, but it is not the proper place to get things looking right. It is the proper thing to do so that it looks on other people's monitors and in printing as it does on your monitor (among other reasons)

Please read this post and let me know what you find unclear:
in my view ...: bulk scanning with Epson flatbed

particularly in this post:
in my view ...: quick negative scan tutorial
This diagram should make it clear that I am adjusting all three settings in the scan software THEN again tuning it up in Photoshop.


although in the nikon it is not essential to do this as there is no advantage to pushing the blue channel hard left into the dark as there is on the epson...

So you should on the epson set each of your channels conservatively (to not loose information) like this:


then lastly set levels (holding the Alt key to reveal clipping) in Photoshop