How to Scan Black-and-White Film (ft. Silverfast 8.8)

[@markepstein1116]

I've been using Silverfast and an Epson V600 for a couple of years now on my Mamiya 6X7 negatives, getting amazing results and learning as I go, by trial and error, how to use the tools. But there have been big gaps in my understanding of some of them, and you are AMAZING at carefully and systematically defining a crystal clear approach to the process. The pace of your explanations is perfect, even for a 73 year old brain (mine, not yours), for both the color and b&w scanning tutorials. You are a gem. Thanks so much. Silverfast should be including links to your KZbin videos in every program they sell!

[@tj6868]

This was very helpful! Came into this without really any knowledge and tried screwing around on my own at first - after watching the video, my scans are coming out much better!

[@PhotoTrainer]

Alright! VERY Helpful Jonathan! finally found this after years of struggling with the official SF videos. You and Nick Carver! Thanks for doing this 6 years ago for me to find in 2024. It is so clear and systematic that I just wrote down the sequence as a kind of recipe ad I scan only intermittently. Long enough to forget where SF hid all the needed features. QUESTION: use SF for sharpen and grain or Photoshop/Lightroom? The tool get better and better... Where can I see your work? ~Tom Upton

[@VelvetElvis8]

I just downloaded Silverfast 8 and this is going to help me immensely! Thank you so much.

[@rfalasi7767]

Hi Jonathan, just like to thank you for this video, it helped me a lot. really. i was really stressing out. I just scanned my first frame ever with the help of your video!!!! thanks a million

[@irenedp4947]

Your video came like a godsend! I use a Bronica ETRS (so 6x4.5) and I just acquired an Epson V850. Thanks for a very clarifying video.

[@bitcoinman9202]

How do you feel it compares to the v500.

[@JulieHagenbuch]

Thank you SO MUCH for this video. I did a before-your-video & after-your-video scan of a portrait and the two versions are like night and day. Many thanks!

[@yachtbreeze]

Jonathan, the B&W and colour scanning videos were very helpful. Thank you. I have a slightly different need. I have thousands of colour negs which I need to scan. Most will not be of any interest but buried among them there will be some gems. What I need to do is scan them quickly, possibly in lo-res, so that I can see what the shots are and then select those for hi-res scanning. Ideally I want to scan 'contact sheets' - most negs are in clear sleeves and so if I could initially scan without removing them from the sleeve that would be a bonus. I have a Nikon Coolscan 9000 for high res scanning of the 'short list' but would be keen to hear how you might suggested I scan for the initial viewing. I have been considering various options - using a camera shooting the negs on a lightbox - a flatbed scanner - even using an auto-load scanner like PacificImage Powerfilm, although that does not get rave recovers. Any suggestions gratefully received. Many thanks. Trevor.

[@williamrogers9720]

Very good video. Have been using Silverfast for years for negs and slides but in a crude way, using Photoshop to make the end product acceptable (Silverfast instructions are not very good). This has taught me a lot about getting a better starting point in Photoshop.

[@geirhoward]

Splended turorial, really great. Thank you!

[@johntruman6571]

Thanks Jon, you helped me a great deal with this. I've been grappling with Silverfast for some time now. Using it with a Plustek 8100. At last, the scans I've been looking for! Thanks again.

[@laurentstevens3367]

John Truman happy with this scanner? Deciding between the 8100 and Epson V550. Would you recommend it?

[@johntruman6571]

@@laurentstevens3367 Yes, very happy with the 8100. Worth following this KZbin clip to teach yourself Silverfast (the supplied software). Very compact, reliable and produces great scans.

[@laurentstevens3367]

John Truman does it work the same for this scanner?

[@johntruman6571]

@@laurentstevens3367 Yes, absolutely the same.

[@fletchereidum2432]

When choosing a film stock as the jumping-off point, what about if I'm shooting with a yellow filter with HP5+? Does the software override the contrast from the filter? HP5+ is a little flatter than Tri-X, generally, but I like it with a yellow. Great video; very informative. Thank you.

[@hernanzenteno9760]

Hello. I have interest in the negative holder with anti newton rings. Where I can buy some of this? many thanks.

[@petercampbell725]

Thanks for your video. Concise and well explained. However you didn't go through the dust removal tool. What I'm finding with my negs is thin straight line (like a scratch) which doesn't appear on the neg or the scanning frame. I'm stumped as to what this is. The negs are not scratched. Do you have any ideas as to what I am seeing??

[@JonathanNotley]

Hi Peter, can you confirm that you’re using a flatbed scanner? If you’re using a flatbed try cleaning the edges of the scanning area, paying particular attention to the black squares. If you’re using a more advanced scanner then you might be out of luck, if there’s dust on the mirror in something like a plustek often you have to dismantle it to clean it off.

[@JonathanNotley]

Also what colour is the line? Normally dust calibration errors come out a faint magenta or blue

[@petercampbell725]

@@JonathanNotley I'm using a epson V850. The scratch like lines are white. There is definitely no scratches on the negative. It appears to be an artifact of sorts but I have no idea where its coming from. I have to say I do have great trouble cleaning the glass on the neg carrier. As fast as I brush dust off... more appears.

[@JonathanNotley]

Look for a couple of little square plastic things near the hinge-side edge of the scanning tray and clean them with a micro fibre cloth

[@aronbiggs]

Hi how can I batch scan individual images as I do 35 mm can’t seem to find the settings , only setting I can find is the one that you can set the red box over the hole strip of negs , think what I’m looking for is the neg holder setting for 6x6 , cheers for any help

[@johndoddato2662]

Good tutorial, thanks. I have the same exact software you are using in your video. Do you use the multiple exposure setting for your pre scans as well as the final scan? Also in my drop down box for bit depth for color and B&W my software doesn't have the 16 Bit setting. I am not sure what he HDR (i) Raw settings are for. Is it recommended to do all B&W scans with a 16 ~ 8 bit scan for output to make prints? Thanks

[@steveh1273]

I would like to buy Silverfast but I do not know enough about the advanced features of AI Studio over the SE Plus version. I've seen the comparison chart, but that doesn't tell me what I need to know.

[@petersvay5459]

Very useful, thanks. Could you go over the dust and scratch tool in SF8 for bw film please?

[@graemepurdy]

Great video, I'm starting to use S8.8 and can't find the AACO tool, it looks cool, has it gone from their latest version?

[@Tesants]

Very nice, Thanks! Mine SF 8.8 isn't showing AACO / ME.

[@franrosario3468]

Great video especially since I use the same camera and scanner. Quick learning video.

[@hughsydney2620]

Awsome details video again, thank you.

[@oliverecho]

Great video Jonathan! Just what I needed. Very educative :)

[@TengriLethos42]

Great Video. Thanks. One Question: In another Video the guy recommended scanning S/W photos in RGB and make the final Black & and White conversion in Photoshop afterwards because of the little extra of control. What do you think about it?

[@JonathanNotley]

Short answer: No point. Long answer: It doesn’t make a difference. If you’re referring to 48-bit vs 16-bit then remember it’s 16bit per channel and each will be analogous on a monochromatic film. The concept of ‘more control’ is likely borne out of a digital introduction to black and white editing where colour channels can have their luminance adjusted in lieu of colour filters. What video is this? I might go leave a comment

[@TengriLethos42]

Its a german video behind the paywall of fototv.de. So you don't have access to it. Well, you have access, but only to the first three minutes, but in this case it doesn't help very much, because guests cannot leave a comment. www.fototv.de/tutorial/sw-negative-scannen-hinter-schwarz-weiss-negativen-steckt-farbe But thanks for you help. I.e. The additional step to convert the RGB-Scan to Greyscale is not nessecary.

[@jonnyclarke7939]

Be aware that certain softwares (Capture One) will not support 16-bit Greyscale images so if you ever decide to use that as your editing/organizing software you would have to process all those images to RGB. Speaking from experience....

[@Eigil_Skovgaard]

Thank you, but please drop the looping jingle in the background.

[@MB-ml3er]

Great Silverfast 8.8 tutorials - I am using the same scanner and software setup and learned a lot from your videos which wasn't obvious from the manual. One question though: you always put the medium format negative on top of the holder brackets of the film holder - I always move the film underneath them which fixes the film position better. Which is the correct way?

[@JonathanNotley]

Watch very closely at 3:38. The holders were made so that shutting the door ‘pinches’ the film flat. Watch the reflection as it clicks closed. I know what you mean by putting it under the slopes though. Sometimes that happens to me and I leave it, as long as the film lies flat in my plane of focus then I’m happy.

[@MB-or8js]

Thanks for your reply. That's exactly what I meant - the slopes. I have a hard time keeping the film straight on top of the slopes as in your example since my films are always a bit curved after I developed the film. When closing the lid, the film always moves. I find it easier to move the film borders on top on bottom underneath the slopes - probably both ways work!

[@norbertstepien9185]

Being an traditional film developer I didn't understand you when you said "front" and "back" of the film....it's emulsion and non-emulsion sides. Small point but it's good to use the proper terms.

[@garethcanny5206]

Concise and clear video, thanks so much!

[@HawkTron]

Excellent video! What light box do you use to view your negatives?

[@theDeitz]

Good question, what was his reply ?

[@JonathanNotley]

I just typed light box into Amazon and got the cheapest one with good reviews

[@Watermelon-daddy]

Looking awesome

[@richardmiller3650]

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the tutorial. Regarding Grain and Noise Reduction and Unsharp Mask tools, is it necessary to use these at the scanning level or can the same results be achieved in post processing?

[@rolfmeier8469]

I recommend to apply all these tools in post processing (f.e. Photoshop)

[@JonathanNotley]

Yeah I’d go with photoshop for those if you have it

[@rbrowning8088]

Thanks! That was a great intro for getting me started ... rb

[@redbank542]

Thanks for that. Just got a Plustek 8000 which came wth Silverfast. Have a better idea of how to operate it

[@bartvandersnickt1163]

Hi Jonathan, thx for your tutorial! Do you do any editing in LR or PS after this? Or is this procedure like a scanning and editing, all-in-one? (Apart from cropping and saving as a JPEG)

[@junghoonoh5801]

Thank you so much for your explanation. Very very helpful!

[@MaximusPanin]

Nice Bronica!

[@ViaSuksantinunt]

Hi! Great video! But i have a problem which i cannot find answer on their forum so I think maybe i should ask you. I use a Plustek 8200i Ai with the latest Silverfast 8 and scan mainly Black and White. Now I just notice that the output is not the same as the preview. The output is a lot more soft and smooth whereas the preview is crisp, sharp, with more contrast (which is according to my adjustment) and with visible grain (which i like). Do you have any clue as to why this is happening? One assumption is that maybe it’s because the auto dust & scratch removal because the output doesn’t have any. If so, do you know how i can deactivate it? Thank you!

[@JonathanNotley]

iSRD doesn’t work with black and white. It’s off by default but you can tell if it’s on by looking for a red dot on the logo. Another thing to try is the ‘HQ’ preview option. This gives you an exact preview of your output file, whilst the ‘prescan’ only gives you a low res guesstimation.

[@ViaSuksantinunt]

Jonathan Notley aha! I think previewing in HQ is one of the way to solve it. But as i really like my grain do you know how i can get it back (or what to do to not lose it in the first place)? Maybe if i scan for 7200 dpi but I used to get grain doing 3200 dpi as well. I don’t know what I did then (or didn’t do). Thank you.

[@ATUP86]

Great video!! What a shame that silverfast 8 is so expensive:( I have sf7 and it doesn't work smoothly on Windows 10 for me and sf8 upgrade tool does not recognise my license. Keep it up with the awesome content:)

[@michaelkaufmann7540]

Are you sure you have SilverFast? There never was a version 7; they jumped from v6.6 directly to v8. Anyway, your old license key won't work with the new version. Just send an e-mail to SilverFast with the details of your current license and they will send you a new license key for v8. Be aware, though, your old version will be inactivated = you cannot have both versions up and running. Good luck, Michael

[@JWP452]

Nothing is superior and cheaper than scanning with your DSLR camera. Many KZbin Videos explain how.

[@joeltunnah]

@@JWP452 that’s simply not true. The Nikon 60mm macro alone is $600. That’s $100 more than the most expensive Plustek, the 8200i, which comes with a license for Silverfast ai included. And you will have to manually remove dust spots and scratches from your dslr scans, something which can take hours per roll of film. Silverfast and the Plustek do it quickly and automatically. Then you have to buy a light pad, copy stand, and negative holders... again, all included when you buy a scanner. I’ve done scans with a dslr, a flatbed, and had labs do them for me on a Noritsu. Nothing has beaten the quality I’m getting out of a dedicated scanner at home. Not even close.

[@ceritat625]

Very good video on SF! I use SF but for linear scans, and I use a film scanner, not a flatbed. BTW, I love scanning film, I must be the odd person out :).

[@franrosario3468]

Hi Jonathon: How did you get the Format show pixels rather than custom?

[@marcofragomeni9914]

i was checking the same. I came to conclusion it is a feature of AI version. I am using the SE 8 that came with v800 and no matter what i click, i cant see it

[@silaszindel8113]

super nice, thanks for sharing!

[@haimtoeg]

Thank you, it’s a very useful tutorial.

[@danielb.7165]

What Epson model are you using?

[@JonathanNotley]

It’s a V850

[@_andrewimmer]

nice guide, thanks for that.

[@soulstart89]

Hey, I have a v700 and sliverfast 8.8 se plus. Every time I scan a frame to make adjustments the highlights are always clipped. I recently shot some hp5 in 120. In Epson scan nothing is clipped it’s fine as I used a light meter but in silverfast every picture is hugging the right of the histogram and it not possible to get back my lost info. I have gone on the silverfast forum but no help. I don’t have multi exposure on or any other setting active.

[@JonathanNotley]

Do you have auto-contrast enabled in the settings?

[@JonathanNotley]

Make sure iSRD is off. That won’t work on black and white. Then check the following: Auto-Contrast, Histogram, Picture settings, Curves and Negafix. All the tools that adjust exposure can be found there.

[@soulstart89]

@@JonathanNotley thanks for replying. i am not sure where auto-contrast is. are you talking about auto ccr which is in the negafix section? ive checked all you listed areas you suggested in other message and all are at zero. isrd i dont use.

[@JonathanNotley]

soulstart89 it’s in the preferences - if all are at zero you might have a dodgy negative

[@ivettefashe7731]

thanks for sharing your experiences. Can you tell me how to use iSrd when you scan b/w film, please?

[@TheBarkingLot4]

Ivette Fashe I’ve had issues with that too. SilverFast says it can’t work because of the density of B&W film negatives and the amount of silver halides. I hope that he can answer this.

[@tatortotty]

Everything I've read says it only works on color

[@Eclectachrome]

really helpful thanks!

[@talleyrand9442]

Which do you get better 35mm scans out of, the 850 or the Plustek 8200? Thanks

[@JonathanNotley]

Plustek 8200i wins easily, but takes ages and can’t do batches

[@talleyrand9442]

Jonathan Notley Cool! Thanks for that. That's what I thought. Although I've read that the Plustek might emphasize the grain a little too much. But it's the one I'll probably go with. I wish Kodak might come out with a real dedicated 35mm scanner. This is the weak link in my film process right now. Makes me think about just going back to digital. Don't want to spend thousands for a scanner that might not even be supported anymore 🙁. BTW, great series of videos. Thanks

[@JonathanNotley]

Can’t say too much but there will be new scanners hitting the market in 2019

[@talleyrand9442]

Jonathan Notley Okay. Well. I certainly hope so. Something consumer grade priced or even prosumer priced but Nikon or noritsu or pakon level output, at least. Or priced even a little more if quality is truly there. I can't wait to see what's what. Having to search around on eBay for an after market product that may or may not need parts that may or may not be available in order to get a really good scan makes shooting 35mm not so interesting anymore. Hope for the best.

[@givemebighugsplz]

thanks for the tut mate! Really appreciate your work. Greetings from Oregon

[@Bassrush1]

Hi, Do you use Srdx to remove the dust/scratches? I am trying to use this option on my SilverFast 8.8, however, doesn’t seem to detect anything.. Have you had similar issues? Thanks

[@stephan.scharf]

Why do you convert 16 to 8 bit? You loose 65,280 steps of shades. I'm wrong?

[@JonathanNotley]

I didn’t have to but I used 16-8 because it’s the best option most versions of the software have and most printers/screens won’t notice a difference.

[@stephan.scharf]

Ok!

[@jbizet01]

very usefull thank you

[@richhaytonNZ]

Excellent thank you 🙏 📷👍

[@rafael55]

Some of my b&w film scans end up distorted just after the USM function. Why could this be?

[@loganguerry]

Make sure you aren't using iSRD to remove dust. Silver emulsion films do not play well with the infrared wavelength used by iSRD to identify dust/imperfections. If you have to use a dust removal tool when scanning black and white film, use SRDx. It doesn't do as good of a job, but it doesn't use the infrared head.

[@rafael55]

@@loganguerry Thanks, I will try that.

[@andrewglover9874]

PLEEEAAASSEEEEEEEEE make a video on using the dust and scratch removal filter! Its the ONLY thing I need from this software and its actually making me think of switching to digital!!! I Can't Take It!!!! There is next to zero help from the Company......

[@kallebal]

Be aware the dust and scratch removal filter only works on color film. B&W film has some kind of layer on it that hinders the IR to work properly. *Edit This applies using a Plustek scanner.

[@decoff]

you didnt cover focus

Their UI looks like 1995

[@JonathanNotley]

Have you tried Vuescan? :^)

[@tomaszkulik7434]

Dobry film ale bym ... dał jeszcze bardziej widoczny kursor myszki ... szukałem ja się porusza po ekranie ...

[@bertthebird6175]

I am wondering how your room REALLY looks like ... LOL

[@inshadowz]

“Film Scene Investigation”? “Crime Film Investigaton”? “Crime Scene Filming”? Anyway, gloves!

[@szadow_]

In my opinion you didn't get all the info from the negative. By looking at the histogram, we cen see that there is a lot of clipping in the higlights. I bet that there is a lot more information in that negative that could be recovered. I prefer to use Vuescan as it gives more manual control and You could easily recover those highlights details.

[@JonathanNotley]

Hi Maciej, I’m actually have my white point set at 255 for this image (9:14). The truth is large areas of this image are pure white fog! Software doesn’t affect the scan nearly as much as the film/scan hardware does.

[@szadow_]

Unfortunatelly Silverfast doesn't allow to set manual exposure like Vuescan does and I am pretty sure there is more information in those highlights.

[@JonathanNotley]

You can see the exposure tool at 6:38. If you’re getting good results in Vuescan go for it but I’m replying in case people reading this get confused

[@szadow_]

Yes I know the exposure tool in Silverfast, but it as I said before it dosen't give you the amount control as the one in vuescan does. You could try to scan the same frame with Silverfast but choose HDR Raw output and if you then open it in photoshop you could see that there is more information in that negative. Give it a try ;)

[@michaelkaufmann7540]

@@szadow_ It is a very bad idea to open SilverFast RAW files in Photoshop--they are the raw output of the scanner and need processing (using SilverFast HDR Studio software), just like raw files from digital cameras need processing through a raw converter before you can edit them in LR or PS. The only confusing thing is that SF RAW files are saved as .TIFF files, which gives the illusion of being able to open them in PS. But they contain a lot more information PS cannot handle, including an infrared channel for scratch and dust removal (for B&W, though, you should not use hardware based SRD, as Jonathan pointed out). @ Jonathan: Thanks a lot for your detailed tutorial--whish I had had this 12 years ago when I started dealing with scanning film. Glad to have found a channel that deals with analog photography and everything associated with it at such a high level.

[@karolbaginskicom]

8 bit grayscale??? Really?

[@JonathanNotley]

Silverfast SE plus (the one most people have) scans at 16 bit but outputs at 8 bit. Ai studio can output at 16 bit if you want to do a lot of post. Another work around is scanning 48-24bit colour and then converting to 16-bit greyscale in PS. How good is your printer?

[@karolbaginskicom]

Hello Jonathan! There's nothing to do with my printer, if I scan black and white as a 1-channel and 8 bit depth. You cannot edit them properly after this way of scanning. And You do not tell viewers, that's so much quality-losing way. My printer is just fine :) 11 colours - 3 blacks.

[@JonathanNotley]

I was just pointing out that’s it’s easy to push bottlenecks forwards in the scanning process. If people are scanning 16-8 bit with properly adjusted levels/curves then most of the post work would be things like dust cloning and sharpening which don’t really get impacted. If people intend to do their scanning in photoshop then they could just choose 48 bit HDRI RAW I guess

[@karolbaginskicom]

Sharpening during scanning is not good way too. If You want to just change size of Your file, the look will be impacted by this. Sorry for spoiling, good luck for Your channel! Inspiring for me :)

[@nazukeoya]

Those dirty gloves though...