Anyone Using ColorPerfect For Their Black And White Scans

[IanBarber]

Is anyone using the ColorPerfect Plugin for the Black and White scans http://www.colorperfect.com/black-and-white-negatives/digitize/

I am curious to know if there is significant difference between using their plugin rather than Photoshop Inversion

[Meekyman]

Ian,

I use it and am happy with it. I did try inversion myself but probably do not have the skills to do it well and so can not compare. I must admit I love colorperfect for colour negative inversions.....really tried hard to do those myself and drove me mad.

Good luck in getting a more detailed reply.

Graham

[Alan9940]

I've used the ColorPerfect plug-in for all my B&W scans for about 3 years now. I suppose if one had sufficient skill with PS you could possibly do as well with manual conversion, but a simple invert with gamma adjustment of the raw scan data won't give you what ColorPerfect can provide and takes a lot longer; IMO, anyway.

[Sandro]

On ColorPerfect website you'll find a detialed explanation on the difference between CP and Photoshop inversion. They claim Ps inversion uses a wrong math ( wrong for photography, not for graphic design).

I'm very happy of how the whole linear RAW file conversion with CP delivers the perfect equivalent of the film, without any contrast, curve or level adjustments. You get whath you shoot on film.
Mind, I shoot b&w.

[IanBarber]

On ColorPerfect website you'll find a detialed explanation on the difference between CP and Photoshop inversion. They claim Ps inversion uses a wrong math ( wrong for photography, not for graphic design).

I'm very happy of how the whole linear RAW file conversion with CP delivers the perfect equivalent of the film, without any contrast, curve or level adjustments. You get whath you shoot on film.
Mind, I shoot b&w.

I have read all the blurb n their website which appears to be impressive. It's difficult to judge the image in Demo mode because of the heavy watermarking they do. I am also wondering how their conversion compares to letting the software in the scanner do the inversion

[Alan9940]

I am also wondering how their conversion compares to letting the software in the scanner do the inversion

I've used Silverfast Ai since 2000, along with Vuescan for nearly that long and, for me, the ColorPerfect plug-in performs a superior conversion every time. I always got to much contrast and blown high values with Silverfast, regardless of profile (or, no profile) used. The plug-in provides a near film-like conversion.

[Pali K]

I use it for both color and b&w scans and haven't found anything else that works as well as ColorPerfect. There is a Zone adjustment setting for B&W mode that I haven't seen in any other scanning software and I do believe that doing it manually would not be as easy as the plugin.

I can't recommend the plugin highly enough even though the interface is horrendous and takes a little while to get used to.

Pali

[jim10219]

I gave up on it. I can do a better job using the curves tool in PS, and usually in less time (color too). I understand why people like it, because color can be hard. But I think it's better, and cheaper in the long run to learn the curves tool.

Part of the problem is, each film, scanner, process is different. So their presets aren't all that great and won't save you much time. And once you get used to using the curves tool, you can make your own presets based on your own workflow, which will work much better for you. Then, when something changes (like a slightly underexposed shot creating a slight color cast) and you need to correct it, you'll have a good idea of how the curves tool works, and it won't take you but a second or two to fix it.

The curves tool is one of the more complex and difficult tools to use in Photoshop. But once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature. It's much like learning to play a musical instrument. At first, it's daunting and frustrating. But after you get a feel for it and begin to understand it, it becomes as easy to use as a fork or spoon. You don't even think about it, you just think and it happens. And once you master a tool like that, you'll have all kinds of madness and precision at your disposal!

[IanBarber]

I have just about exhausted all their documentation on the plugin now. Having read the technical document on what they say are the flaws in the way Photoshop inverts from negative to positive there may be some truth in this.

The whole concept of the plugin for black and white seems to hinge around scanning the original negative as a Linear file and then using the plugin to invert it through their corrected algorithm.

The crossroads which I am currently at is whether scanning as a Linear file (not gamma corrected) as they suggest does in fact extract more information from the negative than the conventional way.

[EH21]

I do use it, particularly when I'm scanning by digital camera capture. I like the results - its pretty nice!