My goal: get the most neutral unedited RAW file possible from Vuescan.
Question 1: To achieve that, what settings should I use in Color? Does it actually affect my file considering it’s a RAW file? Or does it not make a difference in the end result no matter what I pick?
Question 2: My next insecurity occurs in LR: Does it make a big difference whether I choose the color pipette or the Auto White Balance? Which one has proven to be more accurate?
Question 3: Does the conversion into Tiff and the fact that I edit the TIFF file instead of the DNG file mean that there will be quality loss (theoretically or practically)? I like to open my tiff into Photoshop and edit it from there.
Question: 4: In VueScan, do you guys leave the Dust filter on or off? Does the Infrared filter affect the sharpness/quality of the image in the slightest?
Question 5: So I saw some Youtubers convert as a Color Negative and some others convert as Image (in the Input settings). Here it is suggested to use Image and that’s what I do now…but what exactly is the difference and why does VueScan offer both options when both come out as Negatives after export? Why are there these color differences?
Hope you guys can help me out and speak from your experience.
Have you uncovered any info on your question 3?
I have only just started scanning to DNG for editing in NLP and Lightroom Classic and would be interesting to hear what other users experiences.
Did you ever manage to resolve your questions? I have been getting back into using NLP after a bit of a break and I am having some issues of my own. In doing some research, I think I have some answers to your questions!
If you’re creating a RAW file, the ‘Colour’ tab shouldn’t have an impact
I personally have had better results with just using the auto wb feature after I have cropped out the frame lines
If I have understood correctly, it’s mainly a matter of workflow. If you mess something up once you have converted to a TIF you’re locked in from that point. I try and get a nice flat positive conversion to work with, then create a TIF copy which I perform my final adjustments on. You’ll always get more flexibility with a DNG file but I get it 80% there and finish of with the TIFF.
Good question, it shouldn’t do. I’m going to run a test today to figure this one out as I think that it could be making my most recent images noisy. However, it could be because I last edited using NLP 2.1 and this is in 2.3. On Nate’s instructions he does mention turning it on if your scanner supports it. If you’re negatives are in good condition and you’re working in PS anyway, may be worth retouching in there.
I personally have found that I have better results with using the Colour Negative setting although it makes my negative scans appear blue! When I started using this setting in NLP 2.1, I found that I experienced less strange colour shifts.
I hope that helps to some degree. Currently I’m trying to work out why my images using my Epson V800 are so noisy after conversion.