Does a flatbed scanner make the negative come out in positive? This works for slides, but they are a positive to begin with.
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Does a flatbed scanner make the negative come out in positive? This works for slides, but they are a positive to begin with.
Scanners and their software can do whatever you like. You can scan a negative and keep it that way, or reverse the values. Once scanned into digital format, there is no limit to the number of adjustments and corrections that can be applied.
Ken said it all. With some scanner/software combinations, B&W negs come out better if scanned as positives (so, they stay as a negative image), and are then "inverted" to a real positive within the image editor.
When you use the scanning software, if you specify that the film is color negative, the software will invert the colors, replacing cyan with red, yellow with blue, and magenta with green. In addition, the software will compensate for the orange mask that is added to color negative film. This can be done generically for any color film, but it is better if it is adjusted specially for the specific type of film. Scanning software such as Vuescan or Silverfast allow you to specify the type.
Even with transparencies, the scan may have a color cast, and you can correct for it either in the scanning software or in a photoeditor afterwards. If you use transparency film, you can compare the scan directly to the slide. With color negative film, you have to use other methods, but with some experience you learn how to do a pretty reasonable job.