[DamienL]

Hi there!
I'm new to the scanning-with-your-camera thing, having worked on it over the last week. I've gotten a lot better since my first few attempts, but I routinely have some issues with contrast and levels.

I have contrast issues (either low or way to strong and nothing in between), or exposure issues (under, over, nothing in between), or I have to choose: Highlights or shadows.

I'm using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 with a macro lens, and currently a homemade light box with a homemade negative holder and mask to only let light through in the area the negative sits.

If anyone has some advice I'd appreciate it! But what I'm really hoping is that someone might be kind enough to post the unadulterated original straight-from-the-camera image of their negative, next to the final adjusted image, so that I can see what a well imaged negative should look like if you're to get good results out of it.

I'm basically stabbing in the dark with lots of trial and error (I even tried taking +1 ev, 0 ev, -1 ev images and masking out the highlights and shadows!), so knowing what a good negative image looks like would let me aim for something.

[wombat2go]

Hi Damien,
These are some of the workflow here for C41 35mm negatives

I used an olympus M4/3 with a Rodenstock Rogonar-S 1;2.8 50mm at f/8
A motorized microfocusser made 6 raw images, 3 on each side of the focus
The 12 bit raws were converted to 16 bit tif images and processed on linux by a bash script.

Here is the resultant aligned and contrast stacked tiff:
( these are 100mB tiffs so I disabled downloads)
https://app.box.com/s/kzkubmu0yfl5txil51kl41nmv2bicawr

Then inverse gamma corrections for RGB channels were applied to the negative before inversion, and it was then inverted:
https://app.box.com/s/3ac47xkdo4z25l1bh0rcg1is1nnho8e2

Then the image was color balanced by cinepaint, a 16 bit GUI post processor:
https://app.box.com/s/n5vk2re1xqt4bnjka4ni16mcmysc2oby

I see that others are getting good results with a much less elaborate workflow than mine, however my workflow is automated up to the cinepaint step.

[frogoutofwater]

For those who live near New York City, or who are interested in coming here for a weekend workshop, one of my teachers at the International Center of Photography teaches an excellent weekend workshop called "The Perfect Scan". I haven't taken the course myself, but I know other people who have taken it who highly recommend it:
https://registration.icp.edu/wconnect/ace/CourseStatus.awp?&course=15MCEDT101

It usually runs once a term (Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer).

[DamienL]

Thank you very much for the replies!

DCShooter, I never thought to check that thread for unprocessed negatives. It's fantastic, very helpful!

Wombat2go, that is an impressive control of your workflow. Thank you for taking the time to share the pictures mid-process.