Scanning Negatives

Meysha · Apr 3, 2005

I just got some negatives developped (no prints) and would like to scan (take a digi photo of them) them into my computer so that they look like real photos.
I know this is possible on a special scanner, but can you do it on an ordinary scanner, or with a digital camera?

I tried to invert the negative in PS but this didn't work and I came out with wack colours.

Thanks,
Vicky!

airgunr · Apr 3, 2005

I really don't know the answer to your question but I might suggest you try taking them to a photoshop/developer and having them scan the negative for you.

I don't think all regular scanners can do negatives and if the one you have does I believe it would need a holder or some type of mount for the negatives. Sorry not to be more helpful.

Meysha · Apr 3, 2005

I really don't want to pay for it, because they're crappy test shots.
(My first ever roll in my brand new Holga!) I'm such a proud mummy! ;-)

Meysha · Apr 3, 2005

I was just playing around in PS again and I got it a bit better.

I Inverted the pic,
then Duplicated it and set blending to Multiply,
Then I duplicated that another 3 times
but on the final layer I changed the blending mode to Overlay (just to lighten it a bit)

That turned out all right I guess. Maybe it's just the bad photo of the negative that I took. Or the out of date film I used.

ksmattfish · Apr 3, 2005

Meysha said:
I tried to invert the negative in PS but this didn't work and I came out with wack colours.

If it's color neg film that's probably the orange film base; when you invert it turns blue. It's necessary for traditional color darkroom work, but a pain in the butt for digital work. I use software that's supposed to invert and get the right color. It gets closer than I do without it, but it still needs tweaking in PS. I haven't scanned enough color neg film to have it figured out to my satifaction yet.

There are devices that are supposed to let you use a regular flatbed reflective scanner with transparencies. I've tried a few cheap ones, and they sucked. There are very affordable dedicated 35mm film scanners these days, but for your Holga shots I think the cheapest option is getting a flatbed scanner that has a transparency drawer. That's what I did, and I think it does a great job on 120 and 4x5. A decent job with 35mm. More than good enough for me to put my stuff on mywebsite, TPF, etc..., which is pretty much all I'm scanning it for.

EDIT: A scanner may seem like an expensive investment, but if you compare it over time to lab charges, it can pay itself off surprisingly quickly.

Meysha · Apr 3, 2005

What's the name of the software you use? and is it freeware?

Yeah I noticed that all the things that were supposed to be red in my picture were blue.

I will get a negative scanner soon when I'm back in Australia, it's just not worth it over here. And it was mainly just to see where the problems were in my holga so I'd know where to tape up etc. Thanks for your help!

JohnMF · Apr 3, 2005

Ive scanned a lot of negs in my job and used both drum scanners and flat bed scanners. The quality on some of these latest flatbeds is spot on. We scan them in as "negitive film transparancy" rather than trying to convert them afterwards in photoshop. I cant remember the name of the scanning software we use though, i will find out for you.

Think its called silverfast

ksmattfish · Apr 3, 2005

JohnMF said:
Think its called silverfast

I use Silverfast too. It came with the scanner, but it had been recommended to me before. Unfortunately I doubt it's freeware.

JohnMF · Apr 3, 2005

yeah, i dont think it is, but as far as i know its quite cheap, about $50 or something. You scanner must have the capabilities to scan negs too. Forgot to mension that

Meysha · Apr 4, 2005

Thanks heaps for that guys, I've made a note of it and will make sure I get it when I buy my scanner!

walter23 · Apr 5, 2005

This is a shareware program that works well in my experience:
http://tucows.com/preview/379932.html

FilmEasyDevelop. You can download a trial version that is fully functional.

I've only used it on low quality reproductions that I made by photographing the negative with a digital camera, so I don't know how it performs on scans.