Why Not DSLR Scan?

Thanks to the collapse of film photography as a mass-market phenomenon, development of new film scanner technology has essentially ceased (outside of the motion picture industry where development continues but the products are professional tools priced like cars and houses). Since many photographers own capable DSLRs with modern sensors it has become popular to use one’s existing digital camera in preference to a dedicated film scanner. Whilst this sounds sensible results are often disheartentingly disappointing. Why should this be and what can be done?

The Science and Pseudoscience of ICC Profiles and Scanning Colour Negative Film

Take 2 On Disentangling Colour Negative Film and ICC Profiles

Or, the longest titled blog post I have yet made.

In my previous post Scanning Colour Negative Film Using ICC Profiles I discussed my experiences in using ICC profiles in conjunction with negative film scanning. This lead to a lot of questions and much more research.

In this episode we will embark on a journey into the depths of colour management and go where no colour negative film-shooting photographer has gone before. Well, I bet they have but I can’t find anything else like it on the internet…

 

Scanning Colour Negative Film 103

Advanced Negative Film Inversion

So you want a little more control? So you have been through Scanning Colour Negative Film 101 and Scanning Colour Negative Film 102? Read on.

Rose Garden Rose I

As a photographer I find that I respond strongly to colour. Recently, however, I had a shoot where I had great difficulty achieving the coluor I had in mind. This seeming setback, as so often happens, was really an opportunity in disguise.

Colour profiles are not something I had really been paying attention to. Apart from ensuring that my monitor is calibrated I mainly have been happy just to move around controls until I like what I see. However, the brick wall I hit on this last shoot sent my flying down the rabbit hole of ICC. It just doesn’t seem like it should be all that complicated but the world of colour, like all of God’s creation, is as wide and as deep as you care to explore.

Along the way I came across the work of a great photographer named Joseph Holmes. His gallery is here:

http://www.josephholmes.com/gallery01.html

What this guy has to say about colour I want to know. Recommended reading!