Color Negative IT-8

I know that Kodak doesn't make an IT-8 target from negative material, but does anyone know if it would work to photograph a reflective target with negative film and then scan the film to create a custom profile for that film on their scanner? It seems like a logical thing to try, but computers sometimes defy logic.

I did this using a Gretag-Macbeth colour checker card using C41 film 2 or 3 years ago, then managed to create settings for my Flextight which rendered the grey patches at the correct values. Initially this proved challenging, but soon got the hang of the different controls.

However, using these settings did not seem to extend to natural looking colour in many other images. I did ensure exposure was accurate and processing was normal in my Jobo.

Maybe I was missing something and am happy to be educated as I still have the neg somewhere.

I haven't tried it yet, but I see no reason why you couldn't photograph the newer camera charts and make a correct profile with negative films, actually with any films. I know that Monaco Profiler will make a profile from the relatively small number of patches from the Colorchecker chart, but more patches is better so I would suggest the newer camera charts.

I have done this with a MacBeth Color Checker using Picture Window Pro. PWP has a utility that allows you to fit a box to the Color Checker in the image, then it adjusts all of the color patches and gray scale to fit an RGB profile of the Color Checker. As long as it's the same film, processed the same, and shot under the same light, and scanned the same, you can use a saved version of the profile created by this tool to color correct subsequent negative scans. Yeah, that's a lot of qualifiers. If the color is critical, you'd do best to shoot a Color Checker frame to match the shot you want.

In practice, I find that it's best if I "homogenize" the Color Checker patches first with a little blurring.

Lee