Have any of you tried using Filmomat negative conversion software? It appears to have been around for a while, but I just came across it scrolling around in Instagram. It looks to be rather simplified, so I’m wondering how it compares with NLP and whether it’s worth putting time into playing with it.
I have been running the demo across various film stocks and the results have mostly been good. The auto crop does not always work well, which is a shame. I like that it has a very simple and intuitive interface, but the price is a little crazy given how basic it is.
On a well-exposed camera scan of Kodak film using an RGB light, I get a better initial conversion than I do with most other software, including NLP. It has a harder time with Fujicolor 100, for some reason, but I can tweak it into something good.
I find that NegPy is the same or better on most rolls, but the interface takes some getting used to.
Thanks for the feedback.
Could you please clarify what is "NegPy?
NegPy is newer open source program that is very capable, but a bit complicated.
Thanks - I opened the user manual. It does indeed look quite capable and quite fulsome for open-source software, but the User Manual is kind of rough-reading. Interesting that one doesn’t hear too much about it. That said, perhaps I should give it a run out of curiosity.
finding out is best done first handed…
So I tried the standalone version with a series of negatives that usually convert to very easy to start from conversions and a series that is tough on every converter I tried.
Only slightly edited (Contrast, Density, Saturation)
More tweaks to lighten the image and reduce casts.
Both series were converted 6 images at one time, Conversion took a few seconds only and carry a watermark of the unpaid for trial. I had not expected the speed and quality of the standalone app and auto-crop did a good job here, although it cut off more than necessary. The screens were taken from the app. I did NOT export or save results.
Imo, this app is worth to be played with.
Addendum: the first series’ sky usually needs to be cropped off for NLP to prevent casts. Filmomat converted, in my short test, the images without pre-tweaking.
Thanks for that Digitizer.
I strongly recommend trying it, since it is free. I don’t think Filmomat is a good deal at its current price, given that the new standalone NLP should be just around the corner.
Thanks Koenji, but I have two qualms about it: (1) security: it doesn’t have a certificate, and (2) the instruction set, whether on video or in writing is hard to deal with. There is only so much risk and so much time…I’ll look into it further and may be motivated to try it. We’ll see.
SmartConvert (standalone) demo is a very basic app indeed, and over time, Filmomat will probably have to sign the package in order to comply with macOS guidelines.
As of now, the package for Mac contains the app, period. No scripts, no comment by “Suspicious Package” that I use to look into the installers. SusPack ALWAYS notes that DxO installers run scripts before authenticating, a risk that SusPack does not see here.
When SmartConvert has run, there are the usual preferences files and an Application Support folder plus a few log entries and macOS internals that all apps have.
The app is lightning fast when converting and a tad slower on export. It’s simple to use and provides starting points (like NLP) that can be modded to taste.
Pricing: SC standalone is more expensive than the NLP plugin, even is you do not count the number of options to change before you get the conversion and afterwards. SC plugin is 99.-, just like NLP.
All things considered: This new kid has potential and Nate might not be too happy about it. Again: If you’re after buttons and sliders, NLP wins.
Thanks Digitizer. Firstly, I’m not worried about Nate; he really knows what he’s doing and competition is everywhere in almost everything. All good.
I think this discussion raises some fundamentals we need to keep in mind about selecting what software to work with. It is simply this: "What do we want out of this software? And, “where is the comparative advantage”? A second-rank consideration is about expectations out of the box: are we expecting a near-perfect conversion on the push of a button, or are we expecting that every frame may well need some tweaking simply because of the technological mismatches between negative film and digital processes? A third-rank consideration is whether one wants the final positive product to remain in raw format, or rather a rendered format such as TIFF, PSD, etc.
When it comes to editing images, the comparative advantage is with Lightroom and Photoshop, whether working in raw or rendered. When it comes to converting negatives, the comparative advantage is with the conversion software. When it comes to final format, much depends on whether or not the editing scope conversion software offers on raw files is sufficient.
That’s the evaluation framework I would work with in comparing these products, and shall be doing when I get to trying one or more of the products mentioned in this thread.
This is an important point. Filmomat is a once-and-done conversion software. It does not store non-destructive edits. NegPy remembers edits in a db file, so you can reload a file or folder and pick up where you left off, but there is no built-in browser (so far). Nate has stated in the other thread that the new NLP will hold a catalog of non-destructive edits, so that is a big plus, in my opinion.
I’ve been testing this one as well Mark: https://emberfilm.app/
Has a very intersting dust removal tool for 35mm and 120.
This is one of those companies that makes you sign up with a payment method just to try the software. Hard pass.
Well for £7 I thought I’d try it for a month at least. So far very happy with it.
The young developer lad has answered any questions I have via Instagram very promptly
Heard about it via Camera Clara here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVmxxmLjmpc
Yeah, just seems like a normal free trial would be a smarter move to help get the word out. Pet peeve of mine.
Have you compared it to Filmomat and NegPy, and what kind of light source did you use?
Thanks Graffig. Looks interesting, but they’re making a big mistake requiring Tahoe. Many people including myself upgrade MacOS conservatively because of how MacOS updates break existing workflows in various unexpected ways, so this one will wait till I graduate to Tahoe, which will be quite some time from now.
No problem at all Mark
I dabbled with those briefly, however, I’ve settled on the aforementioned software and FilmLab.
All used with the Cinestill CS-Lite+Spectracolor.
That said, I’ve just ordered the 35mm and 120 carriers from this team: https://lento.fun/
It’s due to arrive at the end of September, beginning of October. It comes with its own proprietary software, ‘Dock Connect’.
Interesting - I had a look at their website. By the time you buy their 35mm and 120 size kits, you’re into over $3000. Kinda steep, but maybe for automated workflows it could pay some folks to go that route.
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