Why doesn't Vuescan work with NPH and Portra-160?

[Rick]

I'm using a Nikon ls40. Is anyone getting decent color from any color
negatives films with Vuescan?

 

[Erik Krause]

Hello, Rick
you wrote...

I'm using a Nikon ls40.

Me too ;-)

Is anyone getting decent color from any color
negatives films with Vuescan?

Yes, definitely. Try generic negative and advanced workflow. I wrote
something more in my reply to Douglas MacDonald in another thread you
started...

 

[Rick]

Could you kindly repeat your workflow/info, I missed that thread.

I"ve always used Advance Workflow and have tried generic neg and just about
everything else. Many have a bias toward pink/magenta or are just way off the
chart in cyan-world.

Rick

 

[Douglas MacDonald]

If you ever get to scan an off white wedding dress from NPH without
monstrous cyan through it, I'd really like to hear about it. Off and on for
the past week I have revisited Vuescan and come to the conclusion only a
pure geek can ever get it to work properly. Certainly a mere Photographer
has little chance of understanding it.

Douglas
-----------------

Could you kindly repeat your workflow/info, I missed that thread.

I"ve always used Advance Workflow and have tried generic neg and just about
everything else. Many have a bias toward pink/magenta or are just way off the
chart in cyan-world.

Rick

 

[Bruce Graham]

If you ever get to scan an off white wedding dress from NPH without
monstrous cyan through it, I'd really like to hear about it. Off and on for
the past week I have revisited Vuescan and come to the conclusion only a
pure geek can ever get it to work properly. Certainly a mere Photographer
has little chance of understanding it.

Douglas
-----------------

<snip>

Douglas

With the wedding dress, try Vuescan one more time.

Try setting the whitepoint to zero. You need to keep all the highlight
detail in a wedding dress. If you clip one colour channel before the
others you get a real mess of different cast highlights.

Specifically, lock the "image colour" tab and then look at the preview
histogram. You can then individually adjust the whitepoints by channel
to get just the right colour in the wedding dress. This worked for me
last week with a ivory wedding dress (which had been wrongly balanced to
a cyan-white on the drugstore proof prints).

You can then fix the contrast with curves or big radius USM or however
you prefer in your editor, because you will probably get a fairly flat
scan from above.

Bruce Graham

 

[Douglas MacDonald]

Thanks Bruce
As soon as I get a moment, I'll try it.

Douglas

 

[Erik Krause]

Hello, Rick
you wrote...

Could you kindly repeat your workflow/info, I missed that thread.

Ok: Shoot your gray card together with a white piece of paper in bright
afternoon sunlight (for approximately 5500K light temperature).

Follow advanced workflow. Scan (preview) your gray card image and set
white point by right click on the paper and adjust blue and red
brightness in order to get the gray card neutral gray again (look at
RGB display in the status line). Scan your film with these settings.

I've written a tutorial about this, which unfortunately is still in
draft state (no images, no formatting) but contains more information
how to color correct for any color negative film:
http://www.erik-krause.de/tutorial/part1.htm
http://www.erik-krause.de/tutorial/part2.htm
http://www.erik-krause.de/tutorial/part3.htm

 

[Rick]

Thank you, will shoot test shots.

Rick

Hello, Rick
you wrote...


Ok: Shoot your gray card together with a white piece of paper in bright
afternoon sunlight (for approximately 5500K light temperature).

Follow advanced workflow. Scan (preview) your gray card image and set
white point by right click on the paper and adjust blue and red
brightness in order to get the gray card neutral gray again (look at
RGB display in the status line). Scan your film with these settings.

I've written a tutorial about this, which unfortunately is still in
draft state (no images, no formatting) but contains more information
how to color correct for any color negative film:
http://www.erik-krause.de/tutorial/part1.htm
http://www.erik-krause.de/tutorial/part2.htm
http://www.erik-krause.de/tutorial/part3.htm