This is going to be the final part of my intro post on camera scanning. Once I have covered all the basics and concepts of camera scanning I will have closer look on the workflow itself.
In the last part I talked about the six main elements of camera scanning and I have covered camera choice, lens options and light source. Now it is time for the oremaining three items which are copy stand, the film holder solution and finally the required software for negative conversion.
Read MoreThis will be a short video, that shows how quick and easy a workflow for scanning color negative film can be.
Read MoreJust recently I published an Epson Scan tutorial. In addition to this tutorial I recorded a short screencast to supplement this tutorial and elaborate some further details. Unfortunately I only have German copy of Epson scan so please bear with me that I used this version for the screencast. In the mentioned tutorial you can find screencasts from the English version of Epson Scan in order to follow along the tutorial.
Hope you enjoy the video...
Read MoreAfter my video tutorial in the last post, I thought a short follow up post with a detailed example would be helpful. So, no video today, but some further explanations on how I scanned the photograph below. But just in case you have missed the video, I highly recommend going back and watch it. It will give you a good overview of all the tasks required during the scanning process.
Read MoreI always wanted to write about scanning color negative film. Now I was finally able to put together this site with lots of useful information to get started with scanning color film. The main part of this section is the video tutorial that can be found below.
While positive film seems so much easier to scan, obviously you can see the positive image already, it seems some kind of mystery to scan print film. The first thing you hear is, that you cannot get accurate results due to the orange mask. The orange mask and the fact that the image is inverted are of course two complications we have to deal with, but these challenges are not as complicated as you might think. The biggest problem is that we need to accept the fact that there is no accurate or "correct" scan that we retrieve from the scanner. Even during darkroom printing all prints were interpretations. The old Ansel Adams quote about the score and the performance is also true for color film. Once you have accepted this, you are good to go!
Make you own scans, your own interpretations, give the scans your artistic voice. That is what makes home scanning so fascinating.
Read MoreIn preparation of an upcoming video tutorial on how to scan color film, I thought I share some recommendations for exposing negative film especially for scanning.
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Hasselblad 500cm - Ilford FP4 PLUS - developed by viertelvor8 lab in Berlin - 4 minutes exposure at f/8
Black and White printing has always been a mastery that requires many years of learning, knowledge and dedication. Nothing will ever compete with a carefully printed black and white print. However acquiring these skills, maintaining a darkroom and finding the time to print regularly exceeds the possibilities of most people. Digital made things easier, but still it can be regarded a mastery to skillfully make a digital master print file from an analog negative. This tutorial will show you in detail how to scan black and white medium format negatives and than process them in Adobe Lightroom like the old masters did it in the darkroom.
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In my last post I talked about how to prepare Silverfast for negative scanning. Today I aill show you how I mount my medium format film into an Epson V700 film holder. Therefore I have prepared a short video showing how I do the mounting. Let me just tell you real quick why I use the conventional Epson holders and not any kind of third party holders which get good critiques. Well, I have used them, literally every mounting solution availbale for the Epson V-series, and I must say in the end they are not worth the effort. I find the conventional standrad Epson film holder do their job very well. Maybe I am lucky and my scanner is manufactured the way it should be, but I was able to get better sharpness and grain from the Epson holders than from any other holder I was using.
Read MoreWhen I started scanning film, I thought it would be an easy process. I severely underestimated the learning curve required to become a good scanner operator. I intentionally use this term, as it precisely describes what you do when scanning film. Beyond the basic operation of the scanner and software, you need to make basic artistic decision when scanning, similar to those made by master printers in the traditional darkroom.
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Shadow detail comparison of an underexposed negative (left) and overexposed negative (right).
The way we expose film has a tremendous amount on the quality and mood of the final photograph. Of course exposure affects image brightness and contrast, but also quality and color.
Carmencita Film Lab and photographer Johnny Patience both did a wonderful exposure series to demonstrate the effect of under and overexposure to film. Please follow this link to check their series and read their recommendations. You can also find a good film guide from "Mein Film Lab" which explains a lot about the different characters of film. Unfortunately it is only available in German so far.
Read MoreI just recently received these wonderful Fuji Frontier scans from the "Mein Film Lab" in Germany and I was immediately hooked by the shot I took during sunset at a lovely hidden beach at the "Lagoo Maggiore".
Soon I decided to explore whether I could make similar scans at home with my Epson V700 scanner and Silverfast 8. Here is brief explanation of my workflow:
Read MoreKodak Portra 400 - Fuji Frontier Scan by Carmencita Film Lab (Spain)
A simple hardware solution that helps avoiding a phenomena called “scanner banding” or staircase effect that often occurs when using a flatbed scanner such as an Epson V700/V750 for negative scanning.
Scanning has always been a love and hate relationship for me. As traditional color darkroom printing was never a good option for me, I soon started to send my rolls of film to a good lab and have them scan my negatives. The results have always been wonderful and exceeded my expectations by far. Unfortunately this set my goals very high and I never achieved similar results using my personal scanner at home. Of course my V700 cannot be compared to a film scanner or a high class Flexlight, Fuji Frontier or Noritsu scanner. Nevertheless, I worked on my scanning workflow to come a little closer to the scans from my lab.
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