NEGMASTER User Guide

Manual installation is recommended to prevent confusion because there is more than one profile for most of the scanners.

IT-8 Profile Manual Installation for Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and Lightroom Classic CC

1. Close Lightroom / ACR
2. Unzip the NEGMASTER IT-8 Camera Profiles for Scanners.zip you downloaded from your account
3. In the resulting folder find the camera profiles matching your scanner model
4. Make sure hidden system folders are visible in Explorer (Windows) or Finder (MacOS)
5. Copy the required profiles to the location given below (if the subfolder “imported” doesn’t exist, create it
6. Open Lightroom / ACR
7. In the profiles section, in the subfolder profiles, you should now find the camera profile “INVERTRUE IT-8“
8. In the profiles section, in the subfolder “NEGMASTER – Preparation” , you should now find a profile “INVERTRUE: Negative – Linear IT-8“
9. In your presets section you should now find a folder “Negmaster-Preparation (RAW IT-8)” with presets that choose the previously mentioned profiles

Location

MacOS: /Users/[UserName]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Camera Raw/Camera Profiles/Imported
Windows: C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles\Imported

Installing Optional IT-8 Profiles (Imacon)

Some scanners don’t work with Vuescan or Silverfast, like Imacon scanners for example. The files from Imacons are .fff files, that can be renamed to .tif. After renaming, they can be opened in Photoshop / Negmaster like any other file.
The problem with tif files from Imacons is, that the manufacturer embeds his own profile for brightness, gamma and contrast. That said, a file from an Imacon scanner is “non-linear” and not neutral. I found a way to “override” the embedded profile. For this a special IT-8 profile is made, that you can use in Adobe Camera Raw for preparing your files. If you want me to make such a profile for your scanner please get in contact.

Manual installation is recommended to prevent confusion because there is more than one profile for most of the scanners.

IT-8 Profile Installation for Imacon in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)

1. Open ACR.
2. Head over to “Presets”
3. Click on the three small dots in the upper right corner of the profile dialog
4. Click on Import Profiles and Presets…
5. In the Import dialog box that appears, navigate to the .zip file you downloaded.
6. Click Import
7. Restart ACR
8. You should now see a new preset folder “Negmaster-Preparation (TIF IT-8)” with presets for slides and negatives
9. You should find the profiles in the “Negmaster Preparation” profile folder.

IT-8 Profile Installation for Imacon in Lightroom Classic

1. Open Lightroom Classic.
2. Choose File > Import Develop Profiles and Presets… from the menu bar in the develop module.
3. In the Import dialog box that appears, navigate to the .zip file you downloaded.
4. Click Import
5. Restart Lightroom
6. You should now see a new preset folder “Negmaster-Preparation (TIF IT-8)“
7. You should find the profiles in the “Negmaster Preparation” profile folder.

IT-8 Profile Manual Installation for Imacon

Make sure hidden system folders are visible in Explorer (Windows) or Finder (MacOS)

1. Close Lightroom / ACR
2. Unzip the .zip file you downloaded from your account
3. Copy the required profiles and presets to the location given below
4. Open Lightroom / ACR
5. You should now see a new preset folder “Negmaster-Preparation (TIF IT-8)“
6. You should find the profiles in the “Negmaster Preparation” profile folder.

Location

MacOS: /Users/[UserName]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Camera Raw/ImportedSettings
Windows: C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles\ImportedSettings

Short Instructions

Although the program itself is working quite intuitively and has tooltips for all functions, some preparations should be made for best results:

• Scan your negative as raw 16bit/channel
• Set your source color space in Camera Raw or Lightrom to AdobeRGB
• Set your working color space in Photoshop to AdobeRGB
• The installer installed presets and profiles in ACR / LR for preparation of your files for Negmaster. Please use a preset according to the type of film / file you wnat to convert
• Set white balance on the edge of the film or on an area which you want to appear as neutral.

The actual processing is straight forward:

• Open the image in Photoshop
• Press the “PROCESS” button to reveal two buttons under it.
• Press the right button to process the image or press the left button to load the converter config panel.
• When starting Negmaster for the first time click “Set defaults”
• If you want to invert with film border, remove it first by using the crop tool with “Delete Cropped Pixels” turned off (unchecked). Or use the “Auto Border” slider in converter config. Make sure “Auto Reveal” is checked for revealing the border again after processing
• Hit “Process Image”

If you wish you can edit the image further with the tools NEGMASTER offers and finally export the result with the export presets or just give it back to Lightroom via “ctrl/cmd+s”.

The Main Interface

The main interface provides quick access to the most commonly needed functions for converting and retouching analog photographs.
The idea is that you first configure and save the conversion to your taste in the converter config panel , and from then on you can convert consistently from the main interface using this configuration.
Hover your mouse over the icons to see a description of the functions.

The Converter Config Panel

The Converter Config Panel is the interface between the user and the algorithm Negmaster uses to convert your images. It consists of range sliders, checkboxes and buttons.

Checkboxes have a gray font and light up yellow when activated by clicking on them. The functions behind checkboxes and are processed after the conversion has been started.
Range sliders have a control range between 0-200 percent in 1 percent steps. The control range is set by dragging one of the round yellow dots with the mouse. The functions behind range sliders are processed after the conversion has been started. An exception is the Auto Border slider, which has a preview function to show the area to be cropped.
The functions behind buttons are triggered immediately.

Point with the mouse on one of the points in the image below to see a description of the functions.

Batch Processing

Batch processing in Negmaster is pretty straight forward. Negmaster will use the conversion settings from the converter config panel for batch conversion.

Pease prepare the images in LR or ACR as described in chapter workflow. This means that the white balance and the assignment of the correct camera profile should already be done.
After clicking on one of the batch options in the converter config panel, Negmaster will ask you if you have already cropped the images and if you prefer a conversion with film border. If you click on “Yes” Negmaster will display a cropping frame for each image during conversion. Make sure that the entire film border is removed when cropping. Pay special attention to the sprocket holdes or other residues of the light source. If there is any of this left, Negmaster will include it in the calculation, which will inevitably lead to strong color casts or a wrong black or white point. Cropping can also be done with the Auto Border option in the conversion config panel, but cropping manually can be more accurate.
Then a file input dialog will open. Select either multipe images while pressing ctrl/cmd and clicking on them or select all images in the folder by pressing ctrl/cmd+A. Then click on “open” and batch conversion will begin.
After the batch processing is finished a confirmation window will open. This will show the file path to the results, which is always located in the source folder of the files, where a subfolder will be created. This folder can then easily be imported to Lightroom.

For the Jpg option the quality is 12/12 and the color space is sRGB 8bit. Tiff is uncompressed 16bit without layers in color space AdobeRGB.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Using shortcut keys in Negmaster can be a time saver.
Once you have internalized the buttons, you can not only convert images quickly, but also correct colors intuitively.
The key assignment is compatible with the inexpensive Contour multimedia controllers, which can be programmed accordingly.
Negmaster works like any other window in Photoshop. For shortcuts to work, Negmaster must be “in focus”. This means that as soon as you click on an item outside of Negmaster, it is no longer in focus and the shortcut keys perform the functions of the other window.
However, once Negmaster is in focus you can use the shortcut keys as you please. For example, you don’t have to open colorcom first to use the color correction keys.

File Export

NEGMASTER offers its own functions for exporting the finished files. The functions bypass the dialogs in Photoshop and enable quick saving in common formats. If a file already exists, a duplicate will be created and the current time will be appended to the file name. This is not the case for batch processing, where existing files will be overwritten. The table below shows what the functions do.

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File Formats

NEGMASTER can process any type of file that Photoshop can open. There is no 512 megabyte limit like in Lightroom.
I recommend processing RAW files. Tiff files are not RAW files, but they can produce just as good results as RAW files if white balance was performed correctly while scanning.
JPG Files can also be processed if white balance is correct out of the box, but they lack the dynamic reserves of Tiff or RAW Files.

RAW files are not image but data files. Roughly speaking, these files contain the number of photons per color channel the image sensor has recorded. They have no color space other than the device color space of the camera. For these reasons, you can change the white balance in a relatively huge range without creating a color cast. This is not the case with all other file formats. If you change the white balance there you create a color cast. In RAW files you create a color shift up to a certain limit. Above this limit, parts of the pixels become supersaturated whereas others will begin to produce noise. This is the reason why you should scan with a light source that neutralizes the orange mask of the negative before scanning.

These file extensions indicate that your file is a raw file. Whether you can open the files depends on how current your version of Adobe Camera Raw is:

• Adobe Inc. Digital Negative: .dng
• Canon: .tif, .crw, .cr2, .cr3[4]
• Contax: .raw
• Epson: .erf
• Fujifilm: .raf
• Hasselblad: .3fr, .fff
• Kodak: .dcr, .dcs, .kdc, .raw
• Leica Camera: .raw, .dng, .rwl
• Mamiya: .mef, .mfw, .iiq
• Minolta Raw: .mrw, .mdc
• Nikon: .nef, .nrw
• Olympus: .orf, .ori
• Pakon: .raw
• Panasonic: .raw, .rw2
• Pentax: .pef, .dng
• Phase One: .iiq
• Ricoh: .dng
• Samsung: .srw, .dng
• Sigma: .x3f, dng
• Sinar CaptureShop forMacintosh: .cs1, .cs4, .cs16
• Sony: .arw

Recommendations for Scanning

NEGMASTER wants to bring the colors of film stock onto your screens as they were meant to be. It can save negatives that have been developed incorrectly, but it will also show you whether you have errors in your digital workflow. This will lead to better results in the long run.

Prior conversion NEGMASTER makes use of it’s own camera profiles for raw files. These serve to compensate for contrast generated by Adobe’s standard profiles, which are of no use for us. You can decide for yourself which profiles you like more, but the “invertrue” camera profiles are recommended. During conversion NEGMASTER converts the image into it’s own color working space with a gamma angle, white point and color gamut that is corresponding well to film. These infrastructure was made to have a uniform starting point for all use cases.

These introductory words ask us how you can prepare your negatives to get the best results. As with your work as a photographer, light quality is of paramount importance. Not every light source is suitable for digitizing negatives. The following criteria are important for DSLR-scanning as well as for film scanners:

Scanning with DSLR:

An extensive guide to correctly exposing film with a DSLR can be found in the NEGMASTER Blog.

• Use even Backlights. Evenness is key for finding correct tonality in your negatives.
• Avoid stray light. Use a lens hood and mask out the area around your negs.
• Use “hot light”. It provides full CRI* and GAI* what will lead to correct saturation and tone value distribution.
• Try to compensate the orange mask with your light source as it was done in enlargers.
• If you can’t compensate it with you light source consider using filters in front of your lens. Like an 80a for example.
• When DSLR Scanning, set white balance in Camera on the film border thus it will alter histogram and therefore exposure.
• The more you compensate the orange mask with white balance, the more noise you will get in the blue and green channel (cyan cast).
• Use bright backlights. The brighter, the shorter the shutter times, the better the sharpness.
• Shoot in AV mode without film rebate and sprocket holes to achieve proper exposure for the different densities of every frame.
• Stop your lens down to at least f8 for good corner sharpness.
• Avoid dust. Although NEGMASTER is very tolerant, too much dust can mess up tonal values during conversion. Rough dust and scratches can be removed in Camera Raw Converter or Lightroom prior to conversion.

Important note about white balance with dslr scanning: Try to compensate for the orange mask with your backlight as much as you can. Changing white balance in the raw converter or in camera will result in loss of dynamic range! Camera sensors are working best at around 5000K.

Scanning with a scanner:

Please understand that i can not give support for third party scanning software. But i can give you some global information for best results. You’ll find the correct settings for Vuescan and Silverfast in the below screenshots

• Scan as Raw DNG. Do not scan as TIF. TIF is rendered RAW data and therefore a bitmap image. A raw file is a pure light data file and it is not an image. There is no “Raw Tif” even when Vuescan says so. We need DNG RAW data. DNG is not always Raw. DNG is a container for different bitmap file formats. Make sure you are scanning as pure RAW DNG as can be seen on screenshots below.
• Input of your scan should be 48bit if your scanner is capable of scanning 16bit per channel, otherwise please choose a value that is closer to the capabilities of your scanner.
• Output of your scan should be 48bit (16bit per channel). Vuescan can bake in the infrared dust removal channel in DNG RAW files. Silverfast can not.
• NEGMASTER provides camera profiles for both, Silverfast and Vuescan*. Until now both programs give very good results when converting with NEGMASTER. In general Vuescan is on the bolder side, whereas Silverfast seems to be more accurate but more flat in color rendition.

*NOTE EPSON V800 SERIES: Vuescan does not work well with these scanners out of the box. Consider profiling the scanner with an IT-8 target or use Silverfast.

Settings for Vuescan and Silverfast