How To Scan Colour Film Negatives

[@pixelonmars]

A no-nonsense tutorial without any needless talk. Great job, thank you!

[@martindammable]

Cmd + Alt + Shift + E merges all layers into a new one. Handy little shortcut in Photoshop. Great video by the way. I have some learning to do when scanning and I have to give this a go.

[@soulstart89]

this is so handy thanks

[@mmatiasautio]

Best scanning tutorial ever. I've always wondered how to get consistent results from color negatives and this method nails it. Great stuff, thanks.

[@mymagicmurals]

Hi Sam, I'm busy scanning B&W film on my Epsom V500 and via a KZbin video, learnt how to retrieve all details to get best results once exported to PS. and happy-ish with the results. Next is colour I want to tackle later today and this morning found your video. Thank you so much Sam, it's a pleasure to watch, easy to follow and later I'll follow as I go along and try this completely different approach So, long story short..... brilliant video.

[@ElmisterJorge]

I never write comments but had to here. This workflow is amazing, I'm shocked at the quality I just got out of my V600 following along to this, thank you so much. You've just made me not regret that purchase. Legend

[@liamdmcinerney]

Dude... Thank you.

[@cdl0]

A useful tip to reduce dust is roll up your sleeves so you have bare arms before you begin, or even remove your shirt. Another tip for film scanning is to carefully rotate, crop, and scale the image after sorting out the exposure, colours, etc. so that the physical dimensions of the camera frame and pixel pitch in both dimensions are consistent. For example, if the scan resolution is 1600 pixels per inch, a 35 mm negative at 24.0 x 36.0 mm should end up as 1512 x 2268 pixels. Then, after this, you can deal with any pincushion or barrel distortion of the lens. Most photo-editing packages have options or functions to do this. Finally, flatten all layers and crop again as required at the end, and save the result!

[@Zetaphotography]

16min is not short, Thank you for the video. Will watch when ready to scan

[@SamJBond]

Hope you find it useful! It took me about 2 years of trial and error to finally figure this workflow out to the point it's at in the video, so 16 minutes is very short compared to that!

[@ZakeHD]

Most helpful video I think I've ever watched on youtube, well done

[@murrayhunt6882]

Sam!! I tried this method today and was able to get better colours and all round better results than I ever have before using my V600. Thanks for taking the time to make the video!

[@martinescorcia3978]

I know you read this before, but I need to say it: Thank you so much. A film scanner is really expensive, but with a cheap flatbed and your technique, I got good results. Should I invest in a dedicated scanner or just a better regular flatbed scanner?

[@SamJBond]

martín escorcia if it’s just for websites it instagram you’re not going to see much difference in sharpness from a dedicated scanner like the Nikon 9000 vs a flatbed like the Epson v700. If you want to print really big then get it drum scanned!

[@martinescorcia3978]

SamJBond thank you very much for the honest answer. This is what I'll do: I'll scan the films with the flatbed and the ones that I would really like to print, I'll have them scanned on a local photo shop. That until I become pro, of course.

[@jsphotopixels]

Thank you very much, I'm finishing 200T kodak vision 3 right now I will try this method on that.

[@AndreyPermitin]

Thanks for sharing! Great tutorial. I'm struggling to get descent results with Epson scan, silverfast and negativelab. This method gives me much better results!

[@Jimrosemberg]

Thank you for the Invert the Levels tip and for sharing your scanning technics, it's priceless !

[@cafeglobulot]

The best tutorial on scanning. I have been battling for a couple of weeks with the stuff (using the complicated Silverfast 8) and returned to digital, waiting for something like this. Thank you Sam J Bound !

[@galactica874]

Thank you! Got great results with my Portra shots using your method. Now I only need to re-scan hundreds of others :)

[@Dreadfultime]

Damn, this is a rather impressive tutorial, short and to the point.

[@Hallsy01]

Great tutorial!! I had a play last night after getting frustrated getting the colours right between Epson Scan & Lightroom - I did find that I got a closer result by adjusting the RGB curves alongside the grey dropper, before going to the color balance layer, but maybe it was down to my particular image. One question I have, at the start of the video you mention the importance of selecting some of the film base, but I didn't see it mentioned again - unless I missed it?

[@CyrilViXP]

It is required for levels to see what is true black (like 0 black) for the film

[@tinghuizeng1644]

Hi, Sam! I found this super helpful. Actually the best film scan tutorial I could find on the KZbin. Thanks a lot!

[@83hjf]

could you do a comparison between this and the output you get from the scanner software processing automatically?

[@fantomlimb5008]

Ya why didnt he just click the "color negative" option from the dropdown?

[@jay12345ist]

Easily the best (most consistent) method . I have a question what if there is no grey in your photo?

[@ondox]

I was just going to ask this question

[@SamJBond]

Jaylen Tutt I would do the adjustments on a photo with something grey, then just drag the adjustment layers over! If that absolutely not an option then I would colour balance by eye and manually set the values in the white balance layer

[@tiffinytiffable]

This was extremely informative. What are the advantages of the v600 vs v700? Thank you for the information

[@SamJBond]

tiffinytiffable possibly a bit sharper? I’m not really sure as I only have the v700

[@lucasdump]

You made my life better

[@rockychen9203]

Great turorial! May i ask that why u dont use the negative film type to scan the negative film?

[@SamJBond]

Rocky Chen you get all the information when scanning it as a positive, with no adjustments!

[@hgwellsmin]

This is the best! It helped me a lot. Thanks!

[@vincenzodilorenzo6304]

best workflow! thank you for sharing! About the color balance, can't you just black balance on a neutral side of the film?

[@SamJBond]

You can but it will give you a blue cast! Also depending on how you expose the negative, it can shift the colours so I always found the most accurate way was to find something near grey in the frame and go from there.

[@tonimikel123]

Thanks I love that tutorial. I've tried in so many ways and i love this one. Thanks.

[@rashbalash]

Hey! Great video man. I was wondering where I could find a similar tray, on which you put your film on, to buy for an affordable price?

[@SamJBond]

Rashad Balashov thanks! I just used the tray that came with the v700

[@rashbalash]

SamJBond thank you!

[@eliezerlogronio]

This video is so helpful bro ;) I'm gonna try this at home.

[@soypunk666]

This helped me a lot, right to the point and very well explained... greetings from México!

[@frederikklarname149]

This is a great tutorial, thank you so much! You convinced me to get a scanner so soon I'll start scanning my last year of learning to shoot film :)

[@thegreatvanziniphotos5976]

Good for net use? Do you think you could go at least 8x10?

[@vanessabayer11]

Im planning on scanning my own film so I'm so glad i came across your video

[@truebadur171]

Thank you! This tutorial helped me a lot! Actually I'm really on a budget and I scan my film with my digital camera and then I invert them in GIMP, but gladly I am able to recreate what you're doing here in photoshop and the results are still pretty good! :)

[@jasono9358]

Thanks, getting decent colour from my dslr scans has been the trickiest part for me, also I'm only using ps elements 14 so am finding slight differences there too.

[@tsmith4148]

The only part that lost me was selecting everything and using copy merged. What exactly did you select. Other than that I’m getting great colors with your method so thank you!

[@ousmand742]

such an interesting balancing technique.. Im a fashion photographer and ive been looking for a way to balance negatives and this by far is the most accurate and true to color. My only problem with the method is how tedious it is.. For a selection of 10-12 negatives great.. but if youre working on balancing 100+ images it almost impossible.. Is there anyway to some how use a image processor like RAW, Lightoom or capture One to go about balancing quicker.. Given the method I highly doubt it.. but thought i would ask! thanks again man!!

[@user-ts9iv5jx6k]

Thanks a lot for this. Way better than the results I get from the software, the scanner comes with. However, I have trouble getting consistency in my photos. For example, I would have two portraits from different angles, and it will often result in having two photo's with different exposures, contrast and tones, eventhough I use similar layers. Could you advise me on this?

[@emilyfinley3971]

The most helpfull video ive seen ive been trying to scan for weeks! even my Gcse photo teacher couldent help cant thank you enough!

[@ste76539]

Great tutorial, thanks. Just a small tip though - CMD + Option + Shift + E (Control + Alt + Shift + E on Windows) would be a lot quicker method to create your top merged layer rather than doing all that copying and menu faffing.

[@francho2516]

Excellent tutorial, thanks!. It works very good at pushing & pulling all those colors right. I imagine with a few variations it can work for black and white negs as well?

[@SamJBond]

Absolutely!

[@16Ravers]

Thanks for the video! Very helpful. I just got back a roll of color negatives and the shop i got from also did scans but they are jpeg and I was thinking of rescanning them myself.

[@SamJBond]

Thank you! When you start scanning your own film you realise how good film actually is!

[@sebastiengerber146]

Thanks man, great advices. I'm always struggling with my color negs.

[@Adriana.Gabriela]

Wow. Thank you 😍 I'm trying this when I develop my film 😊 Btw, it looks great even before the color balance. Looks like an old film type color

[@anthehermans]

Hi Sam, like everyone below already mentioned, great informative tutorial! But I have an other question relatable to the scanning of a colour negative. I don't have a negative scanner, but I tried it the DIY way: I scanned the negative with a regular scanner and put my smartphone with a bright light and some tracing paper on top of it. The scanned negative was of 'good' quality, but if I reversed it to a positive in Photoshop, I ended up with a black and white positive instead of a coloured one. Do you maybe know what the reason behind this is? You worked with professional material, but you seem like someone with a good knowledge of analog photography and scanning. I hope you can help me! With kind regards, A.

[@Shayde268]

Snap. I tried a straight scan and got what looked like colour but details missing. Then I tried backlighting it and got much better quality but no colour! Did you ever find a way to do it?

[@leniehulse1621]

Great video!! I have been trying to do this with a scanner and with a mirrorless camera but when I go to edit it either in LR or PS the whites are yellow and there is also a lot of blue. So I’ve tried to get those colours out but with the yellow and blue being opposites in the rgb, it is so frustrating. You fix one colour and then enhance the other!y. Also if I convert in PS going to the curve adj. and click on negative it makes the photo so dark!

[@ckelin13]

Thanks Sam, this video was so helpful to me.

[@luukdeweert4462]

Thank you!!! very good tutorial!

[@neglectfvlvideos7348]

First of all thank you for the great tutorial, but when I try this technique myself the photos tend to get highly oversaturated...do you have any solution for this problem?

[@acidsnow5915]

great video about scanning! always nice to see how others do it

[@CornishMotorcycleDiaries]

Method seems good, not tried it yet. Not sure if these were the best images to demo with as both had blown out high lights.

[@genevievebristol5567]

This just blew my mind! Thank you.

[@carmelofarini]

Great video, thank you so much! What about color profile?

[@azzalos]

I love it. One question though: how come you aren't doing it in Lightroom? Would the results be different? Are there any features that don't exist in Lightroom?

[@SamJBond]

From what i remember, you have to invert it with the levels and that means you're working with all the adjustment controls inverted. If you really wanted to work in lightroom, make an action of the process up to 7.57 and apply it to the tiffs, then continue in lightroom!

[@Vardagsvegan1]

A tip for making this easier is to make an action of the steps you always do!

[@SamJBond]

Absolutely! This is also great if you've got lots of scans from the same roll. You can just copy/paste!

[@mickyjhall]

That looks pretty good to me!!

[@arabie2006]

Thanks for this video. A question on the inverting part: any reason why adding a levels layer and swapping the pointers instead of just ...invert it immediately?

[@SamJBond]

arabie2006 I read somewhere that it was better to do it like that, so have continued that way since!

[@arabie2006]

SamJBond thank you for the quick reply. I’ll try it your way and get back to you!

[@Prdips]

Amazing Video - best one I’ve found so far on scanning! Could you explain why you scan it as a positive? Did you already compare the scan quality with a dedicated film scanner ?

[@SamJBond]

I scan it as a positive to ensure I get all the highlight/shadow/colour information from the negative without the scanning software clipping it and losing data. This ensures I have the most flexibility in Photoshop when it comes to colour balancing!

[@Prdips]

SamJBond Okay thank you for the response and explanation! Did you already compare the scanner though?

[@SamJBond]

prdips the best thing about this method is that you can use it with dedicated film scanners. I've scanned with the Hasselblad X5 and Kodak Pakon, which are both much sharper than the v700, but if I really tried I could get Fuji frontier colours out of the Epson!

[@mikabuinguyen405]

Thank you Sam! I’m so happy i found this tutorial. Is it possible for me to download this video?

[@martinescorcia3978]

Ha My Bui Nguyen you can try jdownloader or savefrom.net with the permission of the uploader, of course.

[@FLawLesSTaStE]

Do I need to develop the film rolls first with chemicals then scan them or you can scan direct after taking photos? :)

[@SamJBond]

FLawLesS TaStE you always need to develop film first

[@FLawLesSTaStE]

SamJBond what is the avrage cost for each roll to get developed?

[@SamJBond]

FLawLesS TaStE you would need to check your nearest lab

[@zulupistola]

Thank you for this great tutorial , i get too much posterize especially on the sky after all , even if i copy merged and paste ..... why is this happening ??

[@SamJBond]

Art N' Well video photography the only thing I can think of is to check your scanning settings and make sure they are all correct, especially the file output settings

[@rjcardoso]

Hi Sam! don't you assign a color profile when saving/exporting? that will take some impact after all the editing. if you don't, same photo will may vary more than usual from screen to screen I believe. thanks for great video and clarification!

[@SamJBond]

Ricardo Cardoso I would usually convert it to a colour profile after, but maybe should update the video!

[@blinkchyld]

Love this video. I wonder, could you do this on Capture One too?

[@SamJBond]

Capture one can definately do it, but because you have to invert it using the levels, all the controls are inverted so it takes a bit of getting used to. An easy way to work in capture one is to make an action of the process up until 7.57 and process the tiffs with that, and continue to edit in capture one!

[@edmund1245]

Why not use actions in photoshop once you have your look dialed in ?

[@SamJBond]

Eddie Hawe you can definitely do that. This is just the first step to explain how to scan, invert then colour balance!

[@radutufescu3546]

Sam, you said in the beginning that cropping the frame wider when scanning will be helpful later. However, I couldn't find the explanation....

[@nichlazy1]

My guess: that would be a white balance reference in case there no white or grey item in the photo.

[@stillben]

what was the importance of scanning the unexposed emulsion at the edge? i think you said it would become clear later in the video but don't think it was covered. thanks for the vid btw

[@SamJBond]

Your right... it was so you could see the lowest shadow level when adjusting the levels at 12.57 so you can see the darkest part of the photo

[@jameslane3846]

This looks amazing! I was wondering what is the advantage of using levels to invert over simply using Photoshop's dedicated invert function? Also does this method apply to other colour negatives like Ektar?

[@SamJBond]

I remember reading somewhere that for some reason it was better to invert with levels, rather than the invert function. I couldn’t tell you where I read that as it was so long ago but it stuck and I’ve always inverted levels since. Ektar is a tough film to scan, but this method should work out fine with it as it’s not film specific!

[@LaurinKeul]

This is good, unless there is no real grey point in your picture. For example if the light in you picture has a certain tint to it. Then this method will not really work well and you have to do a lot processing afterwards. I would say, go with Software like SilverFast, Negative Lab Pro or Negmaster. Works faster most of the time and is not dependent on having to find neutral grey.

[@SamJBond]

There are so many ways to scan film! Negative lab pro is great, and I wish it was around when I started learning how to scan film. Would have saved a lot of time, but then again I wouldn’t have learned the colour theory. If there isn’t anything near a grey, then I would just use a grey card

[@SamuelHilaire]

fantastic tutorial, thanks for uploading this!

[@forsephora44]

Great video. Thank you so much!

[@soulstart89]

great video!! my only question is on a scene where you have no reference to middle like a night shoot what do you advise?

[@SamJBond]

soulstart89 ive never shot something like that, but I’d start with another negative of the same film stock with a grey point, get the grey point and drag it to the negative you are talking about!

[@soulstart89]

hey sam. i found a video on finding middle grey in a picture:kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKLOoWx_r9iFb9U i cant thank you enough. i can now finally edit colour negs consistently. one thing i find a bit weird is once i have merged all the layers to colour correct once i go to dodge and burn the circle which shows how big the brush is doesnt get bigger or smaller. tried everything but no luck.

[@richardstollar4291]

I tried NegativeLabPro but found that this made all the Lightroom slider work in reverse - what's the end result here if I go back to lightroom to make more adjustments?

[@jiro4559]

You're magician, dude

[@azzalos]

Is it not possible to get the white balance by taking a bit of white from outside the film? P.S. Thanks for this. I love the video. Very pro. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[@SamJBond]

I wish it was this simple! The white balance changes depending on the light and even how the film is exposed, meaning that the same photo with the same light shot 2 stops apart would have a different white balance because of the nature of the film. That's why for every exposure you have to set it manually. If you had the same light and exposure for the whole role of film then you would only have to do it once, and just copy the adjustment layer over to the other scans!

[@Prorsum2013]

Amazing Video man. Thanks.

[@onzkicg]

Great, but will it work in regular scanner? You’re using an Epson film scanner, am I right?

[@SamJBond]

onzkicg it needs to be a dedicated scanner that you can scan negatives with. This should also work with the Epson v500/v550/v750/v850

[@loriana9340]

This was awesome! Thank you.

[@richarddown3594]

Thanks for this interesting technique Sam. I'm intend to try it with Affinity Photo as I don't use Photoshop. I'll let you know how I get on. Is there anybody out there who has adapted this technique for Affinity Photo?

[@SamJBond]

I've never used affinity photo, but if you have the abilities to invert and colour balance , so long as the file has been scanned with as much information as possible then can't see why it wouldn't work!

[@TheDisruptiveYouTuber]

Awesome tutorial

[@furonwarrior]

How long does it take to color balance a 36 roll of film? I imagine the time it would take, I would rather have the Lab do it because I don’t have the attention span to color edit every photo individually.

[@SamJBond]

Depends on what you shoot! If you shot all 36 with the same camera settings and lighting, you would only have to colour balance once and copy the adjustment layers to the other shots. If every frame is different then it would take a bit longer!

[@markfisher299]

And that looks good to me lol. Great vid thanks

[@SzymonWarunek]

what negative scanner do you use,i am asking,because i have bought Smena Symbol - Russian old vintage camera and i have to use a proper high quality scanner

[@SamJBond]

Epson v700

[@SzymonWarunek]

@@SamJBond is it very good for scanning negative film?

[@SamJBond]

@@SzymonWarunek very good

[@joeyslats31]

I can I know what I scan will look like what I would get as an analogue print? Is there a general color correction for each type of film?

[@SamJBond]

Joe Slater it’s a completely different process to an anolgue print. If you wanted the closest then I suggest you make a print and scan it in!

[@yannickmuller2707]

I really enjoyed the video! But is it possible to standardize the process in photoshop? It´s actually a bit inconvenient to process all scans from your photoshoot in ps, because I often just shoot in a studio. Also, photoshop won´t allow me to change levels, when trying to invert the image (first step). What can I do?

[@SamJBond]

I would just drag the adjustment layers from file to another. If you're using the same lighting/exposure it shouldn't be a problem. Not sure why photoshop won't let you change levels. Instead try adding an invert adjustment layer, followed by a levels layer to do the adjustment layer

[@anndecristofaro3180]

Thank you so much!!!

[@TheWatdachtjedan]

Looks pretty good to me

[@michellecordova4387]

Hi! I am a little bit confused, is this scanner special for film? Or i can do it in any scanner?

[@SamJBond]

Michelle Córdova its a dedicated film scanner. You can also use Epson v500/v600/v800!

[@gwenfire57]

This is great thank you

[@rgdd.3866]

thank you so much for this tutorial

[@jessicahall3717]

Do you use film straight out the camera or does it have to be developed first?

[@MizM3LANi3]

jessica hall it would have to be developed first.

[@TheLMMish]

I'm sorry, does the epson soft not have the possibility to invert directly? Do I have to go through this for each and every slide?!

[@SamJBond]

it does, but the colours are never as good!

[@TheLMMish]

SamJBond thanks :)

[@SamJBond]

Also, another thing you can do is to drag the adjustment layers onto different scans, and you will have the same look! Obviously if you are shooting in lots of different lighting conditions and exposures it will be different, but if you shoot 10 photos in the same scene/lighting/exposure it will work for all of them!

[@indieinkie4031]

Do I HAVE to have a negative holder? Can I just lay the negative on the scanner?

[@SamJBond]

You can! but may not be as sharp as the focus plane of the scanner is at the height the holder holds the film a above the glass!

[@Ruylopez778]

If you lay a shiny surface directly on the scanner glass you might get newton's rings. www.photo.net/discuss/threads/newton-rings-on-image-scans.146798/ You could also try scanning emulsion side (the duller rougher side) down, so that the surface isn't shiner, but probably end up with a less detailed scan. You could probably find a neg holder on ebay or whatever, or do "wet scans" (although that is more hassle)

[@SexyMustacheUnicorn]

do you save your final images as tiffs or Jpegs?

[@SamJBond]

Nick Macedo depends what it’s going to be used for. If it’s for web then I’ll save it as JPG, of it’s for print then TIFF

[@andytheghosthunter]

Excellent!

[@klofisch]

thanks for this :)

[@michaelhuff7072]

Brilliant Sam. Great share. Cheers!

[@johnhan9171]

Thanks man, sent you a beer

[@SamJBond]

Thanks!

[@skylinegtr2789]

If my photo has a terrible yellow tint from regularly scanning it as a color negative .. will this method solve it where I’ll get accurate colors as I shot it ?

[@SamJBond]

It all depends on the type of film and lighting you shot it with!

[@clinealle]

AMAZING. EASY. SIMPLE. Instant Sub

[@xesse1]

The thing I don’t understand about using photoshop to this extent and editing the colour of the image so much, is what’s the point of shooting a specific film? Like surely the reason for shooting film (and if you’re going to exclusively shoot one film) is because you are happy with the results of that said film. Surely you can shoot any old roll and just edit the colours and everything else to your liking?

[@SamJBond]

xesse1 if you shoot negative film then a process to turn the inverted orange mask into a viewable image has to happen, be it on an Epson, noritsu, frontier or other mini lab scanner. Different films have different characteristics, and scanning Ektar for example would be a different process to this