Hi, I’m using a mirrorless to scan my negatives, and I’ve been setting the white balance in LR with the eyedropper tool on the unexposed border of the image. Tonight I experimented with leaving the WB as ‘as shot,’ and letting NLP set the white balance during the conversion process. I seem to get better results with the second option, but am I missing something? Or maybe either method is valid? thanks.
Welcome to the forum, @Danonano
As you’ve found out, NLP is fairly tolerant towards what you throw at it.
In general, it’s a good idea to start with the procedures proposed by the guide, but you’re free to experiment with other procedures and settings and see what those alternative “recipes” cook for dinner.
Imo, whatever you do that produces the results you like is valid. Right and wrong are to be discussed by philosophers and lawyers rather than in creative arts…
I also stumbled across the fact that setting the white balance first in LR before opening NLP appears to be a waste of time. Who came up with the idea we should do that? It appears to be a myth. Also, I discovered that NLP adds a destructive element to the process. You cannot get back to the original negative scan after you have used NLP. And sometimes it creates something strange that can only be remedied by re-scanning (something that may not always be possible). Why can’t NLP be completely non-destructive?
Have you tried the protocol? Select the step before you applied NLP and you should be back to “normal”.
Thank you for your suggestion. It was something I should have tried, but forgot about the history section. I have now done it, and I find that after you got back to the first step of “tethered capture” and then open NLP, it makes no difference. For example, you cannot “convert negative” from, say, Noritsu this time rather than Frontier. NLP does not treat the image as a new one. You are not allowed to start over. To do that, you have to scan the negative again. But perhaps there is a workaround, such as changing the name of the image. By the way, is this what you meant by the protocol (I am unfamiliar with that expression in this context).
Yes, that’s the localised expression for history, I suppose.
Have you tried “un-convert” on NLP’s first tab?
In order to completely wipe any settings, try the following
- Backtrack history or reset all settings or delete the images from Lightroom
- Select a different folder and “optimise” the database, wait until Lr has restarted
- Open the original folder in Finder (Explorer) and delete all xmp sidecar files
- Select the original folder in Lightroom, it should be empty
- Sync the original folder
Note that Lightroom stores edits in its catalog as well as the xmp sidecar files.
The steps above should make sure that all settings are deleted. Depending on file format, you need to use one of the options mentioned in step 1.
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I think you have solved my problem. But when I get home I will go through everything you said carefully, and follow up. Of course, I very much appreciate your taking the time. I will be interested to find out whether all of this was in equivalent of the manual. When we used to get printed manuals, I would read them, underline them, and refer back to them. I will follow up.
Looking at the other tabs and seeing (and using) the unconvert option on the first (at your suggestion) seems to solve my problem. Should I need a more radical solution I will follow your other steps, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sidecar file. Where can I find them? They are not next to the main image file (as far as I can see).
Lightroom is set to NOT automatically store .xmp sidecar files. This improves performance, specially if images are kept on spinning platter drives (harddisks). Sidecars can be stored manually (command-s or ctrl-s) or automatically, if activated in Lightroom’s catalog settings.
OK. Thank you. And thank you generally for all your help.
Yep, this is the way. For anyone else looking to undo your conversion, here’s a screenshot:
And from the official guide:
Sometimes you may want to un-convert multiple images back into a negative (either to make adjustments, or try out different settings). You will need to do this un-conversion inside of Negative Lab Pro (hitting the “unconvert” link below the “Convert” button.)
Just as you can batch convert negatives, you can also batch un-convert them, which is also useful in some situations.
You may find out of habit that you simply “reset” an image using Lightroom’s regular controls. If you do this, you’ll find that when you re-open Negative Lab Pro on the image, it will still think that the image should be converted, but it will look off because the underylying settings in LR have changed. In this case, you’ll need to properly unconvert it inside Negative Lab Pro, and then reconvert it.
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