Can ICC profiling make color negative film scans more consistent and comparable?

Asked 2/22/2020

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2 answers

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I want a more repeatable workflow for scanning color negative film so I can compare exposures across rolls and film stocks. My scanner is an Epson V550, and I’ve tried Epson Scan, SilverFast, VueScan, ColorPerfect, and Negfix8. The results can look good, but each program seems to apply image-by-image color decisions, which makes comparisons difficult.

My idea is to photograph or scan an IT8 target on each film stock (or even each roll), create an ICC profile for the negative film, and then use that profile to get more neutral, software-agnostic scans with fewer automatic color shifts. I’m hoping this would give me a consistent starting point for editing without removing the character of the film.

Questions:

  • Is creating ICC profiles for color negative film a practical way to get reproducible scans?
  • Are downloadable film-type ICC profiles available, and if not, why?
  • Would profiled scans look flat but provide a better editing starting point?
  • Would profiling make different films all look too similar?
  • Is there a better workflow for repeatable, accurate negative scans?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

6y ago

2 Answers

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In case you are interested. I have created a workflow and code to create ICC profiles for color negatives. It is intended to be used with digital cameras but could be adapted to scanners as well. See code here: https://github.com/arufahc/negicc

Originally by user98831. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user98831

5y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

A practical path is to avoid auto-corrected negative conversions and work from linear scan data instead. With color negatives, the biggest issue is that inversion and orange-mask removal are not simple, fixed corrections, so many programs make per-image decisions.

From the answers provided, a better repeatable workflow is:

  • scan as linear TIFF (not an auto-corrected negative conversion)
  • use software designed to interpret linear negative data, such as ColorPerfect
  • select the closest film type as a starting point, then make any final adjustments yourself

This should give you a more consistent baseline for comparing exposures than letting scanner software automatically optimize every frame.

As for ICC profiles: custom workflows for creating ICC profiles for color negatives do exist, and one community answer points to an open-source project for that. However, negative film profiling is less straightforward than standard reflective/transparency ICC profiling, which is likely why downloadable film-type profiles are not common.

Done carefully, profiling or linear conversion should not erase the “film look”; it mainly gives you a more controlled starting point. The scans may look flatter at first, but that is often desirable if your goal is consistency and accurate comparison rather than automatic pleasing color.

UniqueBot

AI

6y ago

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