Using and scanning Kodak Portra 160

[sperera]

shooting/scanning Kodak Portra 160NC + 400NC (Updated)

so im into Kodak Portra at the moment too.....Im also scanning it myself...always a black art as I told my friend PolyPal.....

 

[polypal]

You will get used to it....... eventually.


Paul

 

[sperera]

yeah...its a black art!!!! its clearly meant to be under an enlarger as opposed to stuck on a drum spinning....

actually....I have the Kami fluids etc...does anyone know if colour negative works well with Kami mounting gel?????

 

[wbulte]

yeah...its a black art!!!! its clearly meant to be under an enlarger as opposed to stuck on a drum spinning....

actually....I have the Kami fluids etc...does anyone know if colour negative works well with Kami mounting gel?????

Actually, no, Kodak are claiming Portra is designed to be easy scannable.

Although I never used this wet mounting stuff the whole concept makes me shiver, far too messy for my taste.

 

[sperera]

its is good to scan actually.....but im wondering whether i can improve on what I get cos I get the familiar colour noise you dont get with transparencies

 

[wbulte]

its is good to scan actually.....but im wondering whether i can improve on what I get cos I get the familiar colour noise you dont get with transparencies

Interesting, the only time I saw color noise was with thin (underexposed) negatives.

I find transparancies more difficult to scan (on my Epson 3200, so nothing fancy).

 

[sperera]

i have a ScanMate 5000 drum scanner i bought from a repro house in Madrid back in the 1990s. I run it off a Powerbook G3 (Apple) with Mac OS system 8.1 and ColorQuartet software (superb software).....scanning transparencies is where this scanner performs best I think.....I also scan black n white and that as well is superb.....

 

[cs_foto]

Hi sperera,

I have the oportunity to get a scanview 5000 from a friend (he is missing the software and computer, basically it's been laying in his office for more than a year)

would you mind giving me some advice, what interface do i need? is it dificult to get the software? and what about computer? will it only run on an old mac?

any tips welcome...

cheers

 

[sperera]

The Scanmate 5000 is a great drum scanner...lets start there.....you will be very pleased with its scans.....scans up to 5000dpi hence the name.....

I ran mine off an Apple Mac Powerbook G3 and mac OS System 8.1....its connected via SCSI cable hence why I cant use it with newer Macs and USBs etc

Its got a great software called ColorQuartet...Im running it on version 4.3.1. The bummer is it needs a physical dongle key which I have to have attached.....

BUT there's a way round it as I was told on the APUG sister site hybridphoto.com...something you delete on some invisible file or something.....

You can get versions of ColorQuartet from Purup-eskofoto web site.

I can send you the software once you get up and going with the hardware side of it...then we'll figure out how to bypass the dongle key....

OR try get the dongle key cos it might be sitting in a drawer somewhere....

I bought this scanner for £6,000 back in around 1996 from a repro house in Madrid...everything ive posted on this site has been scanned on it.....as I have also posted Im getting to grips with scanning colour negative as well.....

As for scanning tips I would always scan as a colour or greyscale positive and then invert in Photoshop....I find I have a trememdous amount of latitude in my scans as long as the negative has a lot of information and I can create the type of image I want to....contrast or no contrast etc etc etc

where this scanner LIVES is scanning transparencies....as I said up to 5000 dpi you're getting tremendous depth in your scans.....I remember Provia III was amazing to scan as was Kodak E100G...absolute beauties

As for other scanning tips I always scan at higher res. and quality then needed adn then downsize...you know how it is...it always looks better after you downsize....

 

[cs_foto]

thanks a lot!

in terms of the hardware. what do i need to look for? parts missing etc.

the truth is that the guy i'm taking it from doesn't know anything about it.. so i'm on my own in this one

would be great to find the users manual or something that shows the components etc...

 

[sperera]

give me your email and i send you a product pdf.....

 

[xpannl]

I find that Fuji 400H Pro is much easier to scan!

 

[sperera]

I find that Fuji 400H Pro is much easier to scan!

tell me about your observations....i currently have a roll of Fuji 400H on a A12 magazine....

 

[sperera]

here is some more Portra..oops posted the same image again

 

[sperera]

now this one was with Fuji Reala....dunno the lab scans very high contrast so im gonna be doing them myself from now on cos I need a more linear scan so to speak so i can do whatever i want with the image

 

[cs_foto]

nice stuff stephen! i like the blond model ones!

in the last image the shadows on the face are too messy. don't you think? that's something i myself worry sometimes, and it appears when experimenting with light... but thats the thing, what is good lighting?

I think must studio photographers are too afraid of not producing a technically perfect photograph...

 

[sperera]

yeah I agree the last image is not technically right but its a wrong but right moment.....heh heh heh

nice stuff stephen! i like the blond model ones!

in the last image the shadows on the face are too messy. don't you think? that's something i myself worry sometimes, and it appears when experimenting with light... but thats the thing, what is good lighting?

I think must studio photographers are too afraid of not producing a technically perfect photograph...

 

[xpannl]

tell me about your observations....i currently have a roll of Fuji 400H on a A12 magazine....

Don't know, scanning 400H always seems to be spot on with color, sharpness and contrast. I just can't seem to scan Portra the right way, always weird color, a lot of shadow detail, almost no contrast, etc

 

[sperera]

more of the beautiful toned Portra

 

[HWD]

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