When posting about Image Conversion Issues, please include the following information:
Which version of Negative Lab Pro are you using?
V3.02
If using DSLR scanning, please include: 1) camera make/model, 2) lens make/model, 3) light source make/model
Sony A7RIV, Olympus Zuiko 50mm F3.5 Macro, CS-LITE Camera Scanning Light Source
Please add the conversion you are having difficulty with, along with a short description of what you are seeing wrong with it.
NLP has been having this issue where I get crazy color casts in my images. Sometimes, I have to reduce the black point to -20 to make the image look less crunchy. Sometimes, this fixes my problem, but other times, I can’t seem to salvage the picture. I have tried including the film border and using roll analysis; neither seems to help.
It’s not required, but it’s very helpful if you can provide a link to the original RAW or TIFF negative before conversion. If you don’t want to share this file publicly, you can also email it to me at nate@natephotographic.com
Tested your images with the following settings:
Noritsu, Pre-Saturation set to 1, margin =25%
From top:
Originals,
Converted No WB, no crop, Roll Analysis
Converted No WB, slot crop, Roll Analysis
Converted Daylight WB, slot crop, no Roll Analysis
Depending on these basic settings, conversion results can be quite different. Sometimes, Roll Analysis can work wonders, but it can err too. Same for WB, and cropping the brightest parts off changes results too.
My lessons learned are that NLP works most reliably with fairly multicoloured images and that it needs special attention with images with low content of either R, G or B. Most things that are close to burnt need to be cropped away before converting. In cases that don’t provide the results I want or want to use as starting points, I test systematically - if the images seem to be worth it.
I have a series of thin negatives that I scanned with UniWB settings and I get the easiest to work with results without WB. Converting photos from the same roll with Roll Analysis improves some images, others get off track.
Summary: Test, learn - and be prepared for the occasional surprise.
Digitizer,
Thank you so much for responding and giving me new insights on how this program works. I have been working with film for a few years now but I am still a bit of a newbie when it comes to getting professional results from DIY scanning. Its crazy how different your scans are by tweaking a few small settings. You said you had some thin negatives you scanned with “UniWB settings.” Do you mean scanning all the negatives with the same white balance instead of leaving them unaltered? Thanks for the compliment about my pictures by the way, I am really trying to up my game with my film landscape work and I am hoping these pics from Great Smokey Mountain NP might make some nice prints
When I took the pictures of the negatives, I set the camera to UniWB, and you can read about UniWB in all the articles published out there, e.g. here.
Normally, we set WB from the film rebate before converting. I found that thin (underexposed) negatives cause NLP to produce positives that are easier to adjust…when I don’t change WB and start conversions with the hulkish green looking images that UniWB creates.
Anyways, the most important things to remember with NLP are that it
produces a starting point - don’t expect a perfect conversion of anything you throw in
can deliver easier to work with positives if we deviate from the recommendations of the guide
can take a few trials and iterations to get a positive that is easy to adjust.
