Film Scanning with the Imacon
The Imacon scanner is for film only. If you are scanning other media use the Epson flatbed scanners. Negative holders are available at the Checkout Window.
- Open the FlexColor software (in the Applications folder).
- Place the negative emulsion (the matte side) side down in the negative holder. It is helpful to clean the negative with canned air after it’s been placed in the holder to minimize dust.
- Place the film holder with middle notch facing up on the loading platform so that it is between the two metal guides on each side. The metal notch should fit snugly into the black magnetic holder.
- Select your film type in Setup (B&W negative standard for B&W film, RGB negative standard for color film).
- Make sure the A next to the Frame dropdown is grayed out. This will automatically detect the negative frame size.
- Under Mode select RGB for color negatives and Grayscale for B&W negatives.
- Click Preview for a quick view of the negatives.
- Select your resolution size (PPI). The highest resolution for 35mm is 6300, 6×6, 6×7 and 6×9 is 3200, 4×5 is 2040. Choosing the highest resolution possible will give you a large file that’s resolution can be reduced to increase the size of the image.
- Once the preview has opened, drag the marquee to the edges of your image.
- Under Corrections there are several icons that will allow you to make color and density corrections.
- The A will make general auto corrections based on the area in the bounding box.
- The red graph icon to the far left is the Histogram. Clicking that button will show a graph of the tonal range of the image in the bounding box. The sliders underneath the graph show the output level from where the scan will begin collecting data. To get the most information possible in the highlight and shadow areas pull the sliders on the far left and right to edges of the data in the graph. The middle slider can be moved back and forth to increase or decrease exposure of the middle tones.
- Within the Histogram dialogue a simple way to adjust the color balance is to use the gray pipette to select an area of the image you feel is close to neutral gray. Click the pipette on that area and the software will adjust the color balance of the image according to the neutral gray you selected. You can try various areas in the image to determine the color balance you want.
- Once you have the exposure and color balance you want, click Scan. A dialogue box will appear asking for a file name and location.