Photo Program Question

[Fantom555]

what program will do the following.

i went to a qvc and had all my negatives that i had from the old days before digital was the norm put on a disk for me the question is that some of the negatives were reversed and i need to turn them around. what program can i use to turn the pictures around. i have iphoto 08 now.

ie: when i look at a picture on from the CD the dates are backwards.

if i have to redo them what kind of scanner would i need to take the pictures from the negatives to the mac.

thank you.

 

[Lovesong]

Outch!
Sounds like the guys at qvc did you quite a disservice. Scanning negatives in reverse means that they ended up scanning on the non-emulsive side of the film, which means that any and all sharpness your pictures might have had is gone, as they basically scanned through a layer of film that they should no have. That, I think is reason enough to take your film back to them and demand that they rescan the thing. Talk to a manager if you have to.

If that doesn't work, then you have 2 choises- either get some software like the GIMP (free as in speech), or Graphic Coverter (free as in beer), or Photoshop (~$600), and take your poorly scanned images and flip them vertically.

Your other option is to rescan them yourself. Pretty much any scanner you get these days will have a transparency option, which means that you'll be able to get some scans from your film. Note that scans from flatbeds are notoriously crappy, lacking dynamic range, having an issue with film grain, and generally lacking ICE (scratch removal from the hardware). You will likely end up with scans that are at best as good as those you got from qvc. If you're looking for quality, you will need a dedicated film scanner, such as the Nikon Coolscan V (~$500).

 

[ChrisA]

what program will do the following.

i went to a qvc and had all my negatives that i had from the old days before digital was the norm put on a disk for me the question is that some of the negatives were reversed and i need to turn them around. what program can i use to turn the pictures around. i have iphoto 08 now.

ie: when i look at a picture on from the CD the dates are backwards.

if i have to redo them what kind of scanner would i need to take the pictures from the negatives to the mac.

thank you.

The the operator put a few of the negative in the scanner backwards. If you paid him to do the scans I'd have then re-done. Not only do you get backwards (actually mirror image) images but they will not be as sharp if they are scanned through the film base.

To flip them in software is easy almost any image editor can do this. Gimp (http://www.gimp.org) is free. Adobe Elements is about $70. Either will work. and bolt
will integrate well with iPhoto. (in Preferences you can select and editor to be used when you double click an image.)

To scan then yourself it is a matter of getting what you pay for. The newer bread of flatbed scanners that have film holders and light sources inside the lib are not bad. Look for one with "digital ICE" feature and it will automaticaly remove most scraches and dust. But true film scanners are best. Prices go from a bit over $200 to "way high".

 

[Fantom555]

Thank you all for this info. i went back they did it wrong again so i want to do it myself. what film scanners do you rec amend.

 

[ChrisA]

Note that scans from flatbeds are notoriously crappy, lacking dynamic range, having an issue with film grain, and generally lacking ICE

Yes, if you spend $70 on a scanner, don't expect good results. But there are flatbed
scanners with good specs.

I've got the "Epson Perfection 4990 PHOTO" and it does pretty good work.
Dmax = 4.0. I used 4800DPI setting and can image grain off all but the
slowest films. ICE works well but is slow. The 4990 costs a bit over $200
Details at http://www.epson.com

The problem with doing this is that it takes a long time and you still need
to hand adjust each scanned frame to get the white balance dead on and
the colors just the way you want.

Take a look at http://www.scancafe.com/ for another option

 

[Lovesong]

Thank you all for this info. i went back they did it wrong again so i want to do it myself. what film scanners do you rec amend.

As ChrisA said, you pay for what you get. A good question to ask yourself is how much are you expecting in terms of quality, and are you going to be scanning only film, or are you planing on using the scanner as a flatbed as well.

For film scanners, there are a number of options. Pacific Image makes quite a few scanners, which can be had for as little as $200. If you're looking for better depth, and cleaner images, then get a Coolscan V. For pro-quality scans, you'll need a Microtek Artixscan, or a Coolscan 5000 (~$1000-$1200).

In the flatbed world, there are also a number of scanners. A decent Epson photo scanner will suffice, but you'll get more out of something like perfection 750-V (~$700).

Like I said, you pay for what you get.