How to Scan and Convert your Negatives at Home (using Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop)

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In this series of videos I take you through my process of shooting, developing and processing my film at home. In part 01 I introduce you to the cameras I use, the black and white film stock I have landed on, and the constant lighting setup I use for portraits, featuring the Aputure 120Dmkii. In part 02 I show you my process for developing the negatives at home using a changing bag, a Paterson Tank, and Ilford developers. In part 03 I show you how I scan those images into high res files, and convert them to positive 3 ways, including Lightroom Classic, Negative Lab Pro, and Photoshop.
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Items used in this video:
Camera: Sony A7iii
Lens: Sigma 105mm f2.8 Macro
Adapter: Sigma MC-11
Lightpad: www.amazon.co.uk/Huion-Ultra-...
Similar Tripod legs: www.amazon.co.uk/Manfrotto-19...
Similar Tripod Head: www.amazon.co.uk/Manfrotto-Re...
Film Conversion Plugin: www.negativelabpro.com/
#filmphotography #scanningnegatives #negativelabpro

[@paulsaxby7579]

Top Tip: If you know you are going to be scanning(or as in your case photographing) the negs/slides when you first expose your film, shoot a shot of a grey card. Make sure it fills the frame and is exposed correctly. Then, when you photograph the negs, get a correct exposure off the shot of the grey card before you photograph the rest of the negs using the same exposure. It makes getting a proper exposure of the negs way easier and also means you have much less work to do in post production, especially if the frames have significantly large areas of unexposed silver, like when shooting against a black background.

[@DrBrianOCallaghan]

But the light is coming through the negatives, but is reflecting off the grey card. I'd be shooting the negatives in virtual darkness, to prevent reflections.

[@PirHana]

@@DrBrianOCallaghan a matte grey card then?

[@DrBrianOCallaghan]

@@PirHana I'm sorry, I'm not making myself clear. When photographing the negatives, light is coming from the light box, through the negatives and into the camera and is recorded by the sensor. It is also read by the camera's light meter which gives info with which to create an exposure. If you place a grey card where the negative would be, no light will pass through the grey card. The grey card will block the light from the light box. So you will only be getting a light reading based on the ambient light in the room, reflected off the grey card and into the camera. This won't give you any information about the intensity of the light coming out of the light box (and through the negatives). So grey card won't help to create an accurate exposure. Apologies for my lack of clarity before.

[@smiffy5467]

@@DrBrianOCallaghanI think what paulsaxby meant was photograph a grey card on a film frame then photograph the negative of that first?

[@ForgottenTasmania]

A trick to get the camera perfectly aligned above the light pad. Place a mirror under the camera on the light pad and align the cross hairs to the exact centre of the lens. Getting the alignment perfect is important to avoid warping distortion so your negative comes out square. Also the curve isn’t linear as the film compresses the shot somewhat. It’s more complicated with colour. So the plugin really helps decompress the negative. I’ve done thousands of negatives this way, mostly 100 year old ones. Great video, should inspire a few to try it.

[@toulcaz31]

“Align the cross hairs”?

[@ForgottenTasmania]

Nico Cazals yes you align the guides in the camera viewfinder using the mirror. My camera doesn’t have centre cross hairs so I take test shots tethered into Lightroom and add them there, aligning the centre of the lens to the guides. It’s easier to do than explain, sorry. Check out the Peter Kroger book Digitising your photos (same author as the DAM book), an excellent reference.

[@barselino9877]

Good tip!

[@vladnickul]

if you make a grid on the mirror it will be even easier.

[@markheyes9466]

Just in time Sean. With VE day upon us I have been going through my Mum and Dad's photographs from the 40's to 70's including slides and negatives and wondering how best to process them so that I can share them with the family. This has given a great starting point. Thank you so much.

[@JimSollows]

I love the fact that you showed the three different methods to convert the image! Once again wonderful video. I've been doing b/w darkroom work for decades but you explained it in such a beautifully clear way!

[@flexman22]

I don't know what it is about you Sean, but your voice is like a friend.

[@adneomedia]

Pure gold, as always. Thank you, Sean.

[@ThanosStudioArt]

I ve never used film in my life, I only own a digital camera, however its so extraordinary to see the process, my respect for the film users grow even larger

[@aredesuyo]

I used a film scanner when I was shooting film 15-20 years ago, and although that process was much slower than DSLR capture, it was less of a pain in the butt to get the hardware part of the scanning process set up. However, once you have your camera scanning setup perfected, the results are much easier to control with today's software.

[@alpabopo]

This came out at the perfect time. Just finished watching the second part!

[@paulm8157]

Tip for easy accurate focus: shoot negatives emulsion side up and focus on film grain using cam focus magnify. Then flip image in post.

[@bartondarnell9694]

Paul, great piece of advice. Thanks for the info. Cheers

[@jenohogan9254]

I love this series, it was a lot of fun.

[@michaelgizicki9625]

great series, Sean! inspiring what you do, how you explain and how the results look!

[@stephenreed7769]

A superb series Sean, great work and thank you ✨🙏 Inspirational!

[@christophergrove4876]

Hey there, Sean... I'm old enough that I CAME from film and completely manual exposure. In SOME ways, I miss those days. As a digital photographer, often bird & wildlife, I often have my camera on aperture priority and move the EV Compensation slider back n forth... clickity clickity clickity... and although that may be understandable, in our politically and COVID-stressed times, it can be of value to slow down and be more MINDFUL of the photographic process... keeping you "in the moment"... and this has been SHOWN to be a healing process. I have old film cameras and I've thought of shooting some film... maybe I should prod myself more. Cheers, Sean!

[@NextScamdemic]

Does anyone else love the low-contrasty look at 15:36 ? I was like, woah! Thanks for the awesome tutorial 🙏

[@DanielMartins-ld6no]

Always a pleasure to watch your videos, Sean. Thanks for sharing with us. :)

[@slothsarecool]

I just got into film last month, now I wish I tried it earlier, feels very fresh and kind of exciting to see the results

[@JohnInNH535]

As a professional photographer as well - your summation was point - right - on (to me anyway) as to why I shoot both digital and film. My film images are "for me" first and my digital images for clients, the gallery and not as much "for me" - certainly in what I post from my digital work. I do find that in shooting film - there are no client nor customer expectations as to "staying in my style". There is a downside, however - as your Instagram (or any Social Media) feed will be a bit of a mess, conflicted between "client expectation and "self exploration" between the two. But for that, I made the decision a while ago that my Instagram feed is "my feed", so should reflect who I am and where I am and what I'm playing with - and with a lack of a large number IG followers, it allows me that freedom to explore, fail and sometimes - even succeed. Brilliant three part series...

[@mariuslemoen2313]

A week before this video series started I got a Nikon FG-20 because I wanted to try out film photography. So these videos couldn't have come at a better time. It has inspired me further. Thank you!

[@mengtianwang4974]

what a detailed and thoughtful video! ❤love it soooo much thank you soooo much

[@Ha4r4eset]

Absolutely belter of a video series. Thanks for your work Sean. Learning a lot. I actually managed to take one of the rarely occurring nice portraits of my wife earlier today. Always struggle with her beauty but today was the day. 👍

[@blue47er]

Very informative and done in a relaxed, uncluttered informative style. Great.

[@thetalkingfly]

Love it Sean! I always learn something from your videos and I find you material calming. Thank you, Steve aka The Talking Fly

[@srlkngl]

This is a gem of info, thank you Sean!

[@RyanH0809]

These photos are absolutely beautiful!

[@VAR_life]

This is my summer project sort out, I've got loads of negatives from the good old days to digitise. Thanks for the video ;)

[@andytaveras9532]

You are the Man Sean, Now I am thinking where the heck I have any negatives from back in the day and try this. Thank you so much. Digital takes away a lot of the hard work that was done back in the hay days. Truly amazing content. Thank you Sir .

[@theadnanamiin]

This series is an Master class on film photography.,my respect and love to u for making this series as it take a ton of energy, time and other variable to make such a veido,thanks for being there ur way off work and delivery is poetic and something different that I can only feel,thanks once again for such an inspiration💓💓

[@ArmanzaSuperNova]

Awesome series thus far. Great work.

[@vproven]

Really like the new direction of your vlog. Love these images. Outstanding work my friend. Thanks for sharing.

[@mistermatsuda]

I see my old Minolta X-570 staring at me from where I sit. Ordered new batteries and a light seal kit to revive it the other day. Can't wait to shoot film again. The last time I shot film was in 2006 or so - put it down when I got heavily into DSLRs. Looking forward to bringing that baby out again. Thanks for the inspiration - I've always loved the process.

[@shawnvine4918]

A great set of videos. Thank you. The high contrast prints remind me of some of the fashion photos from the 40's & 50's.

[@nerwanisnoone1937]

Thanks so much for this Sean! I've just managed to follow all this and have scanned my first Fomopan 100 film :-) I bought all stuff used off ebay so my total cost was only about 50 quid which I was delighted with. I used my iPad as a lightpad and found that I could suspend the negatives above the iPad using an old photo frame, thus removing the pixilation via depth of field. I used an old Takumar 50mm f/4 macro lens for the scanning which worked beautifully.

[@MiladJP]

Thank you again and again for really educating us and actually saving us a lot of money.

[@taylornoel]

Love the commentary at the end. I’ve always been a film guy- though I shoot a lot of digi also- and I’ve always struggled to explain why I love it so much. Loved your explanation. 👌

[@barryburns911]

Thanks for this series, Sean. It brings me, sort of, full circle. I'm of the film age and resisted digital for quite a while. I never did learn about film developing though and this simplified method looks very enticing. Thanks again.

[@FrederickSim]

Lovely shoot Sean! I really dig into getting continues light to shoot, then self develop and scanning. Worth the 3 weeks wait for the whole 3 parts series!

[@jrooney58]

I found that the fun of film was to go into the darkroom and print my images. There’s nothing more exciting than seeing an image slowly appearing, seemingly out of the ether, as you gently rock the developing tray.

[@shkspear52]

Such VALUABLE information!! Thank you!!

[@chrixiane]

Been following and it’s a nice educative series for photography aficionados

[@SummerDesireINA]

Been waiting for this!!!!!!! Thanks Sean!!

[@PeterArnold1969]

Even though I'm not going to do film photography anymore, I can't go past one of your videos, Sean. It was very interesting to watch.

[@RC-74]

Thank you Sean, this is pretty much the same process I've used to digitize my old 35mm color slides. Of course since they aren't negatives I don't need your exact same processing steps, but I use my camera on a tripod facing downwards onto my small "light table" to get the image digitized. Glad to see I'm not a total moron for not using a scanner.

[@craigfouche]

Enjoyed your 3 part series, thank you 😎🎞📷

[@enmunfi]

First photo with the Fuji is my favorite, is so beautifull the composition simple and elegant, nice video

[@caulacau2318]

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing!🥂

[@mohitrahaman]

This is sorcery. Sean you're a magician.

[@Chiheb.C]

Thanks a lot 🖤 big respect from Tunisia 🇹🇳

[@jan_phi_lip]

This was so helpful! Thank you very much!

[@ricardonavarro4942]

Great series !! I love your videos

[@borjarr]

Ive been in film for 3 years now, sending it to a lab for develop and scanning. I just bought a digital camera a month ago, and now IM BACK TO FILM! great series!

[@henrybrylowski1332]

I've pulled.out my old film 35mm this past year. Brings back memories

[@rasc-travel]

Great coincidence. I was just looking for a way to digitize and develop some old negatives from my parent’s. This helps a lot. Thx

[@68goldbear]

Thanks not only for the technical but your insight,also.

[@willilaufmann38]

Thanks Sean brilliant I will give this a try soon on some of my old films

[@Peugot905]

Wow the 6x6 format really works well with her!

[@gregstevenson7401]

Great little series Sean. I really enjoyed this episode because it really tied it all together with your philosophical aspect on growth and creativity and not just the how. I especially liked the Fuji portraits because er... I like dark backgrounds.

[@radharcanna]

An excellent tutorial. Thank you.

[@grainyrolls]

Great step by step process. You make it less intimidating to jump into film and medium format. I always wanted to experiment film but didn't know where to start with. I think I know now. I will have to grab one of those Yashica or Mamiya TLR. Always loved those vintage cameras. Thanks again for the inspiration. You did it again.

[@SmearOnStandby]

Loved to see you experiment in this creative medium :)

[@HumblyNeil]

This is great Sean, I started negative scanning last year and took great joy in digitizing bygone photos from my childhood back when my pocket money could only afford me cheap printers to develop my SLR photos. I'm happy to provide you with info on how to timestamp photos so that the EXIF is accurate to when you took it. :-)

[@maneeshpanwar5722]

this was very useful and informative video.. and gives me a thought to convert all old negatives to digital, thanks for great video...

[@bennyk6705]

Been waiting all week for this... 😬

[@zayton332]

when comes to the curve stuff, wow, this man knows Magic！！

[@lightboardsaustralia4448]

I realize this was produced some time ago, but it was highly relevant for me today. Thanks Sean, I love your work mate!

[@johngrubb007]

Hi Sean. Great series. I still have my Canon A-1 and F-1 from the mid-'80's and a Voightlander rangefinder that I picked up a few years ago. I took the Voightlander and the F-1, along with 10 rolls of film, with me on a trip to Mexico. This was a few years back and I also took my Canon 60D. That had to be the best photo trip that I ever had. Leaving the digital at the hotel on many occasions, I would go out with just the film cameras. It really did show me the benefits of slowing down and really picking my shots. I carried that over when I took out the 60D. For processing, I had the film developed at a lab without prints. I have a Canon 3000 flatbed scanner which wasn't really expensive at the time and had a blast discovering how my film shots really turned out. I used Photoshop for processing. Kind of like the old days where you had to wait for your films to get developed to see how well you did. Your series reminded me about that experience and now I want to dive into my supply of film and get out and start using it again. Thanks for this series, I really enjoyed it.

[@chaowang0524]

Brilliant brilliant video

[@ferrydrums99]

Very clear, step-by-step videos and beautiful pictures. I've shot 5 rolls of 35mm colour film and I've been waiting to use B&W to develop it by myself, so these videos are very useful! :)

[@michaelgibbons3196]

Great job Sean, going to dig out my 503 cx ond get some 120 film.

[@mendezproductions]

Great Videos Love it

[@stevenbudd3725]

Hi Sean. Thanks for the steer. I've since bought a copy stand to simplify alignment and the process generally. My Sigma SD Quattro H and Sigma 70mm DG f2.8 macro is proving perfect - an absolute resolution monster, that swallows everything in the film and produces digital files that leave me pleased as Punch. I started with film aged 14, with the family Yashica rangefinder and 47 years later I'm lucky enough to have a 1957 Leica M3, with a 1970 Summicron 50mm f2 version 3, to really bounce back into analogue. I've made one small change to your process by turning the film emulsion side up and using a glassless holder. I figured it avoided any small reduction in clarity that may come about via the image passing through the film carrier and glass. I'm sure a side by side comparison would be impossible to differentiate but my OCD was hungry and it's the same principle used in enlarging, in that there's no layers between the projected image and the paper. Anyway, I'd like to go back to my cell now... Your channel was one of the first I subscribed to and I'm perpetually grateful to enjoy thoughtful, sensible, articulate pieces that inform, entertain and illuminate. Really top drawer stuff.

[@charlesgough3528]

RIGHT ON! I was wondering how you invert a negative in LR! THanks Man!!

[@ChrisPugh]

It has helped. Thank you, good sir.

[@tunkufawzy]

Thanks for a great trilogy video series , first watched it when you released it. I have since developed more than a hundred rolls of film initially using DF96, now DDX, Ilfosol 3, Rodinal and CS41 at home. You are right I found myself 63 years later from 135 to 120. Thanks for the journey.

[@Dadbros420]

Mind blown when you inverted the point curve, had no idea you could do that for your negatives!

[@StoryDrivenThomas]

Great vid! Very useful.

[@toddfinoch]

Loved this series of videos. I am on the edge of getting into film photography. I've had an old Minolta Hi-Matic G2 my grandparents bought back in the 80's and I used to play with as a kid. I took it out for spin with 36 exposures and was blown away how amazing the nostalgia of the photos made me feel. I am also in love with the process and how it has made me slow down. I think with digital I have had a mindset that even if I don't a shot has potential, I will shoot it anyway just in case. Like you said, it's about self discipline though and I plan on trying to think with that same mentality when shooting digital now.

[@GonzoTheRosarian]

I started photography at an early age with a Brownie camera. Film has always been a passion. I went to digital late in the game but have now come back to film. Was looking at the best way to scan film and I am convinced this is the way to go./ thank you for the video. And BTW the Fuji shots at the end are my fave, what detail!

[@andrewcroft2570]

Great video Sean, I've had a DSLR for 10 weeks, I've just bought myself a Canon AE-1 and want to not only develop my own film but scan the negatives. This has been a really helpful video.

[@JacekSopotnicki]

Agree, if you don’t want to invest in equipment it’s a great way to do it, but you can buy old trusted Epson scanners really cheap now. Anyway thanks for sharing, it brought some analog days nostalgia back - much appreciated!

[@rogerwyatt3246]

What an interesting trilogy. Even though I most likely will never return to shooting film, I always learn something when watching your videos. Yesterday while rummaging through my studio I took a look at my storage of negatives that go back into the 1960’s. I dug out my negatives from covering a Beatles press conference in New York City back in 1966. I took a look at your tutorial on digitizing film negatives then running them through your digital darkroom process. That in turn inspired me to take my 56 year old images of the Fabs and see what those images might look like with the far greater control than I had back then. I’ll keep you posted on what emerges. @seantucker

[@NicoFT]

Hi Roger, did you get around to re-scanning your images of the Fabs? How did it turn out? Super curious to see how that went for you.

[@rogerwyatt3246]

@@NicoFT Hello there. I’ve been a bit of a slug getting to my Fabs negatives. The pandemic here in the US has taken over my attention. However hearing from you is exactly the nudge I need to get out of my funk and focus on something that would be a great project. My negatives are in 126 format Kodak film from 1966. They are in good shape as I’ve stored them well. I’m giving myself a ten day deadline starting today. So watch this space I’ll post here as well as on my Instagram page “Roger way” Thanks for reaching out.

[@NicoFT]

@@rogerwyatt3246 Nice, looking forwards to it!

[@patrickusaf]

Thank you for sharing!

[@mannhans703]

Great video Sean. Very informative. Was looking for a cost effecitive solution to convert load of old 35mm and medium format negs. This is ideal solution

[@acrummey85]

Beautiful portraits of Sarah by the way.

[@Markeymarc321]

Great shots. Model looks very comfortable in front of your camera.

[@martintolley9234]

Thanks. This whole series has been instructive and inspiring. And very clearly presented. I have lots of negatives (just flapping about in boxes) from waaaaaaaaaay back. Where did you get your storage pocket file-system thing? Are those film holders transparent enough to use a flatbed scanner to make contact sheets from those pages?

[@cougmantx]

Thank you for this. I really enjoyed it. I have a bunch of old slides from the 80's I like to do this with. Do you think that will work or should I look to a scanner. I've never been happy with anything scanned. Thanks for any feed back you would give.

[@jakepeters4370]

I love your talk here.

[@dianeschuller]

Brilliant! Thank you

[@stephenroberts7828]

Brilliant thnx Sean I was about to buy a scanner but this method looks the biz

[@ane103]

Magic! 🙏

[@i.c.thru.uphotography5100]

10:52 wow you just blew me away. can't wait untill i get a develop kit!

[@HD_BX1486]

Thank you for this turorial! I have been experimenting since watching it and am having mixed results. A couple questions: 1 Does the lens focal length matter much as long as its a macro? (I've been using a 28mm macro in my trials) 2.What is the biggest difference between using method one with the tone curve and using (purchasing) the negative lab pro plug-in?

[@mohitrahaman]

I own a Huion graphics tablet, I bought that when getting into digital painting. Good so far.

[@mgman6000]

I recently went back to shooting film I am 77 and it takes me back 50 years to when film was all we had and I had a dark room. I enjoy the digital darkroom (Photoshop) it is quicker less messy and cheaper I develope my film and scan it with my digital camera I have been shooting digital for 20 years but going back to film is very rewarding

[@timothy2204]

The comment on slowing down because of film is so true. It's a problem of the photographer, not the medium.

[@trix-4656]

Enjoying your book.

[@ACslife23]

wow this amazing

[@barbsfpv3066]

This was very helpful, thanks. One thing I'll mention about my own experience, is that I get better results when I overexpose by 1 stop, instead of underexposing by 1 stop like you do. I find that I get much better shadow detail this way. The Sony CCDs are extremely sensitive, so the highlight information will still be there, just the blacks won't be as crushed as they are on an underexposure, and your shadows will be less noisy. I've always had better results having to lower the exposure in Lightroom/Photoshop than I have raising it. Otherwise this is a great series. Thanks!

[@brianeliel5756]

Sean, have you considered the opposite process? Taking a digital image and creating a negative with a transparency so it can be printed using traditional B/W methods I.e Silver Gelatin?

[@Grisildor]

The way you can get rid of seeing the pixels is elevating the negative from the tablet. At 1:1 the DoF is so shallow that the pixel array will go out of focus and you'll just have very accurate and very directional (due to the physical construction of pixels) light. Tablets are actually preferred to cheap light tables due to color reproduction. Less of an issue with black and white, but really matters with color film.

[@SamBorgman]

Well you just saved me from buying a cheap light box. Only thing holding me back was the temperature of the light. I can trust my iphone with that anytime.