Purple border to film scans

[yimmi]

As the title states, I’m experiencing a consistent issue with my film scans where the image appears to have a purple border evenly around the whole frame.

Setup: Fujifilm X-E3, Urth M39 to X-Mount adapter, M42 to M39 Helicoid adapter, Schneider Componon-S 50mm f/2.8 Lens, Valoi 360 Enthusiast Scanning Lighting Kit & Essential Copy Stand v2.

I scan in the dark and try to block out any light spilling out of the sides of the negative and light holder, leaving only the light from the aperture in the negative holder, which is slightly wider than a 35mm frame.

Please find an example image attached along with a crop of the top right corner that shows the issue more clearly.

I would be happy to provide the RAF file if anyone wants a copy to examine more closely.

Any help and suggestions welcome

[Digitizer]

@yimmi

appears to have a purple border evenly around the whole frame

hmm, can’t see it in the screens you posted. Maybe we can see it in an untouched scan.

Do you also get the purple border in exported files?

[yimmi]

hmm, can’t see it in the screens you posted

It’s super subtle for sure, but it’s there, I promise. I might up the contrast to try and show it better when I’m back at my laptop.

Do you also get the purple border in exported files?

This particular example is actually an export from a manual conversion using the Alex Burke method in Photoshop. I have also tried NLP to see if it was software-related, but it appears in all of the files.

Link to the original .RAF file.

[Digitizer]

Had a quick look at the image and found that the unconverted image has that border at left, right, top, but not the bottom edge of the capture. the border does not look like the result of some light reflecting off the edge of a negative holder and I’m tempted to say that the border is on the negative already.

The fine line does not bother me at all and if it did, I’d simply crop it off.

If you want to show the full, un-cropped image, the border is simply a witness of whatever caused it to appear. If you want to explore these edges further, I propose you take a scan with the image’s edge in the center of the scan. If the line sticks, it’s probably fact, if it goes away, it might be caued by something in your rig. Also, take a scan without any holder and set focus on that rh edge of the (flipped) image.

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Converted the image manually and found the negative/scan really easy to work with:

[yimmi]

Wow, thanks for the deep dive. You may have actually just found an “issue” I can’t even see. I think it’s also cropped out of my original image? One more thing to have nightmares about I guess haha

What I was trying to show was a much thicker border, which I have really made stand out in the images below. I’ve fully cranked the contrast and saturation in these examples, which now brought to light that it’s not only a border around the edge, but my scans are effectively a Mondrian painting!

[Digitizer]

One: Crop off the things that are outside of what you consider the image.

Two: That last screen shows something that looks like a reflection.

• Check the negative with a loupe, don’t scan!
  → find out whether that stuff is in the original already.
• Scan again: Hold the negative against a lit white paper (far away) and use a different lens. You’ll get a smaller image. Check it for the things you don’t want
  → if it’s still there, it must be in the negative
  → if it’s gone, change your rig, it might cause some internal reflection

Three: Heavy handed changes are good to show issues. Tread lightly instead!

• Increasing saturation can shift colours, specially with tone curves like the ones made by NLP. If you want to change saturation, do it to a positive copy.

Four: Please post an image of your setup. Post it here:

Let's see your DSLR film scanning setup!

Ok, let’s see it! Pictures and/or descriptions of your current DSLR Scanning setup. Just reply to share it! (Bonus points for sharing a few conversions using your setup!)

Five: Think of NLP as of BEST EFFORT. Scanning gear, lighting etc. are completely out of NLPs control. Nevertheless, NLP handles most things we throw at it quite decently, but occasionally, it doesn’t. C’est la vie - and an invitation to explore.

[yimmi]

Thanks again for taking another look. I really appreciate the time.

Crop off the things that are outside of what you consider the image

Everything I wanted cropped out has been in my original image. This was the intended final image composition.

That last screen shows something that looks like a reflection

All four crops in my previous post illustrate different versions of the same issue, which is also evident in the full-size image.

Check the negative with a loupe, don’t scan!

I can confirm these issues are not visible on the negative through a loop. This is also not the only negative I’ve scanned with my setup that shows similar issues.

I also own a Plustek Opticfilm 7500i. I have scanned the same negative, and the issue does not appear in it either. Hense this is likely either my setup or post-processing of my RAW files.

Scan again: Hold the negative against a lit white paper (far away) and use a different lens

I do have a 7artisans macro and will give this a go when I get a chance.

Heavy handed changes are good to show issues. Tread lightly instead!

Oh, for sure, this was only for illustrative purposes.

Please post an image of your setup.

Done

Scanning gear, lighting etc. are completely out of NLPs control

The issue is not exclusive to NLP. As previously stated, it appears in my Lightroom / NLP process and using Camera RAW / Photoshop.

Thanks again for taking a look. Really appreciate all feedback.

[VladS]

I think @Digitizer provided spectacular troubleshooting session, bravo!. Let me suggest other venue you may carefully check. I mean the lens and the adapters . There is a chance that some surface inside your adapter makes subtle reflection and it’s actually that light causes magenta band. Another even simpler explanation may be slight light fall off due to lens - it may not necessarily be visible as slightly brighter edges, but can cause color shift. That’s my 2cents.

[Digitizer]

@yimmi

Done

Thanks for that.

I see that the opening for the negative is offset from the middle of the backlight…and would want to try a scan with the negative (no holder, please) right in the middle of the backlit area. No need to tape off light spills, it’s just to see if the (relatively wide) border shows under these conditions.