Is DSRL Scanning Film the Future?
When I started my film journey I started off with color film and quickly fell in love however as the journey progressed to a year I started to quickly hate my colorwork. When I say hate I mean I really could not look at my work without thinking “wow, this image is shit”. I quickly started to think why has this happened? I asked myself maybe I am not developing the negatives correctly? I quickly started observing the way was I was processing my film checking the temperature of the chemicals and going as far as tossing the chemicals after about 10 uses. I loved the composition of the images but I hated the way the colors would turn out I went as far as shooting with higher-end films like Portra 400 and even Portra 800 but still the colors were never how I wanted them.
After a few hours of troubleshooting and online research, I found out the cause of my horrible color issue. It was all due to my Epson scanner. The one piece of equipment I put all my trust into when it came to getting a “useable image from my negatives. When I first started film I would send all my negatives to a professional lab to get processed and scanned. The lab scans are always clean and the colors are always so nice. The average professional lab uses high-end scanners like the frontier scanner or Noritsu which are thousands of dollars. I was using an Epson V550 I managed to get refurbished for around 150 dollars.
The biggest flaw with these flatbed scanners is fact that these are not dedicated negative scanners. These are glorified paper scanners with the feature to scan negatives. I think the biggest shock for me was the fact that the software in the Epson scanners hasn’t been updated dated in decades. The most recent update was about a year ago only made things worse since it did not work well with most computers. This has made the scanning capabilities drop since some of the features no longer work things like the ICE feature which would help with scratches and dust on the film. The storyline was playing like a book in my head I am not a horrible photographer my scanning equipment was outdated and not converting colors correctly.
The Epson V550 is a great starter scanner but trust me it will not hold up the professional standard that most photographers look for in images. The biggest issue is the color correction software the image above was scanned using different methods. The first was scanned using the Epson V550 and converted using the outdated Epson Software. The issues are clearly visible there is a massive color shift appearing in the sky and on other areas on the images. The scan also appears soft and lacks that sharpness and clarity most would like out of a 35mm scan. The second scan was scanned using a method that I should have started using years ago which is DSLR scanning. This image was captured using a Canon 6D Mark II (full-frame) and a 100mm macro lens which has a 1:1 ratio perfect for scanning 35mm negatives. I also upgraded my software to Negative Lab Pro which is designed for DSRL negative scanning. The results are incredible it’s not perfect but it’s a better start than the Epson scan. The colors are more lifelike especially in the sky and in the dirt, the image is crisp and sharp which is quite frankly impressive.
DSLR scanning is quite impressive with black and white negatives I was blown away by the comparison. The first black and white image was scanned using the Epson V550 and the internal software. I noticed immediately how soft the image appeared and how it appeared to be either out of focus or blurred. I double-checked and triple scanned the image to make sure the results were accurate. The Epson scan seems to lose a lot of small details, especially on the floor and things in the foreground. The second image was scanned using the DSRL method, there is a massive difference compared to the Epson scan. The best way to describe the difference is like putting on reading glasses. There is so much detail preserved in the DSRL scan and it’s incredibly crisp sharp. The one thing I love is how I can see the grain and how the foreground is clear. There is a lot of graffiti on the column that comes to light that is essentially missed on the Epson V550. Also, the DSLR scan was shot on a Canon 6D which has 26.2MP meaning I can easily print this at 24x36 with no lost details that is impressive!