Neg to Digital Conversion colour issues

Justyjust · Apr 18, 2021

I have been trying to get to grips with my colour negative development in negative lab and Lightroom alone but I'm really struggling to get good output without a blue colour cast.

Can anyone advise me on there process and best way to get a good outcome, I have have added some raw images to my creative cloud if you fancy giving them a go.

Thanks Justin

All images shot on my Contax 159mm/167MT with the 35mm 2.8 or 35-70mm 3.5f

Negatives photographed with my Panasonic G9 and the Olympus 12-40 2.8

Kodak Colorplus 400
All shots shot on a bright sunny day

Kodak Ektar 100
over cast days

Folder Link https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/15bd3314-6c6d-4033-49e6-c08e0ba76d13

grat · Apr 20, 2021

What light source are you using?

nmp · Apr 20, 2021

In case you haven't looked at this tutorial -

https://www.alexburkephoto.com/blog/2019/10/16/manual-inversion-of-color-negative-film

Alan9940 · Apr 20, 2021

I downloaded one of your files and tried it. Not getting the blue cast. Did you make sure that the NLP profile was assigned properly in LR? I ask because I had to manually assign it.

Alan Edward Klein · Apr 20, 2021

I don't want to dissuade you from negative color film. But I had problems scanning it as well and went back to chrome film. I just find it easier to scan chrome and get the color right. Plus, looking at the film result with chromes, you know immediately whether you got the exposure right. I prefer Velvia 50 which is pretty saturated. However, Provia 100 is less so and might be good for you.

Alan Edward Klein · Apr 20, 2021

Oh, I forgot. Ektachrome 100 is also available.

Justyjust · May 1, 2021

Alan9940 said:
I downloaded one of your files and tried it. Not getting the blue cast. Did you make sure that the NLP profile was assigned properly in LR? I ask because I had to manually assign it.

I think I've given up with NLP I seem to be getting better results from grane2pixel especially with colour rendition, I'm finding that my lens Contax 35-70 has a vignette as I need to crank it up to about -25 to avoid the orange haze in the corners I'm guessing the vignette from the lens is causing the under exposure orange haze but I'm no pro on evaluating film images.

Justyjust · May 1, 2021

After using grain2pixel I'm getting better results can anyone take a look at my images and give me some advise on what may need adjusting in the image with Lightroom, I think I found that my lens the contax 35-70 gives the images a vignette which seems to be helping when adjusted in lightroom. all shots have been shot with kodak colorplus 400

Alan9940 · May 1, 2021

Color-wise they all look pretty good on my monitor. My only nit-pick, and this is totally my own preference, is skies that lean toward cyan. Since I don't like this, I always do a color adjustment to shift the color more toward something that looks like sky blue.

Justyjust · May 1, 2021

Alan9940 said:
Color-wise they all look pretty good on my monitor. My only nit-pick, and this is totally my own preference, is skies that lean toward cyan. Since I don't like this, I always do a color adjustment to shift the color more toward something that looks like sky blue.

Thanks Alan, The skies are cyan you don't think this is just the Kodak colorplus film do you??

wiltw · May 1, 2021

The sense I am getting is when a scanner is provided with software, with a mode for scanning color negatives, the results are very easy and quick to obtain correct color positives. 50-60 year old negatives on Kodacolor

In comparison, a 40 year old neg done with 'scan positive' (equiv to dSLR shot of neg) and then turned into a positive image with postprocessing software neg-to-positive mode...

vs. the 'scan negative' with scanner software and no tweaking by me

Seeing the number of recent thread on the topic of conversion of color neg shots from dSLR images, I am not seeing much hope for software that does the neg-to-positive as well as the scanner software! Too much fuss and bother to get good results after dSLR 'scan', it seems.

Someeone, PLEASE, prove that last statement to be wrong!!!

MattKing · May 1, 2021

Scanners have three very clear advantages.
The light source is a constant, and known to the designers of the firmware and software associated with the scanner.
The lens and optical path is a constant, and known to the designers of the firmware and software associated with the scanner.
The sensor is a constant, and known to the designers of the firmware and software associated with the scanner.
Once the scanner is calibrated to itself, the scanner and its operator only needs to deal with variability in the negatives or transparencies being scanned.
It is at least theoretically possible to calibrate a dedicated to scanning DSLR and copy stand and fixed light source just as well, but how many are willing to leave a DSLR fixed to such a rig permanently and, perhaps more importantly, can it be done without full access and control of the firmware?

Alan Edward Klein · May 1, 2021

Justyjust said:
Thanks Alan, The skies are cyan you don't think this is just the Kodak colorplus film do you??

One of the reasons I stopped using negative color and only shoot chromes. With chromes, you get what you see.

Alan9940 · May 1, 2021

OTE="Justyjust, post: 2416174, member: 93781"]Thanks Alan, The skies are cyan you don't think this is just the Kodak colorplus film do you??[/QUOTE]

Certainly could be the film rendering; never shot ColorPlus myself. Interesting, though, that my digital cameras many times produce sky blue that leans toward cyan. Maybe it's the digital conversion? It might be a worthwhile exercise to have a good lab make a conventional print from one of your negs and compare the result.

wiltw · May 2, 2021

MattKing said:
Scanners have three very clear advantages.
The light source is a constant, and known to the designers of the firmware and software associated with the scanner.
The lens and optical path is a constant, and known to the designers of the firmware and software associated with the scanner.
The sensor is a constant, and known to the designers of the firmware and software associated with the scanner.
Once the scanner is calibrated to itself, the scanner and its operator only needs to deal with variability in the negatives or transparencies being scanned.
It is at least theoretically possible to calibrate a dedicated to scanning DSLR and copy stand and fixed light source just as well, but how many are willing to leave a DSLR fixed to such a rig permanently and, perhaps more importantly, can it be done without full access and control of the firmware?

You may have outlined the fundamental reason behind inferior color rendition using images of a negative generated from a dSLR.
That paints a somewhat bleak picture confronting everyone trying to 'scan' via dSLR. Especially since scanners handling 4x5 or even medium format get fewer and fewer over time, even if one can deal with expense of a scanner that handels larger than 135 format.

Tim Gray · May 2, 2021

grat said:
What light source are you using?

I echo this.

I tried one of your negs, and got reasonable results in PS. Correcting lens vignetting will definitely help with the orange/red cast in the corners. Certainly had more difficulty than with my negs, but I don't have a Panasonic camera, nor have ever shot with Colorplus, so the whole combo is new to me.

Justyjust · May 17, 2021

Tim Gray said:
I echo this.

I tried one of your negs, and got reasonable results in PS. Correcting lens vignetting will definitely help with the orange/red cast in the corners. Certainly had more difficulty than with my negs, but I don't have a Panasonic camera, nor have ever shot with Colorplus, so the whole combo is new to me.

Thanks for checking the negs out I think my contax 35-70 3.4 does create a lot of vignette it seems, I'm still not very impressed with my colour film camera scans getting the colours right is very difficult.
I have found grain2pixel does a good job though.

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