Flexcolor can`t open 3f files

[mark.s]

I got a 3f scan (imacon) done by a local lab today. I now downloaded flexcolor to process it. Problem is that the flexcolor software doesn`t open / recognize the files. Do you have any advice for me? I`m using flexcolor 4.8.13 on a mac.

[Professional]

Can you rename it to say 3FR? Just delete that extension if it is just 3F and rename it to 3FR, or only add the letter R to the end and see if that will work.

[mark.s]

hm, thanks but that doesnt`t work either.

[Professional]

hmmmm, then tell the lab what is the problem, maybe they didn't scan correct or they didn't choose the correct extension format, i can't think of any another reason.

Google about how to open 3F format and see what you can find.

[Kirk Gittings]

3f files are just tiffs-there is absolutely nothing proprietary in there. Change the extension to tiff and you are good to go.

[bob carnie]

plus 1

3f files are just tiffs-there is absolutely nothing proprietary in there. Change the extension to tiff and you are good to go.

[mark.s]

3f files are just tiffs-there is absolutely nothing proprietary in there. Change the extension to tiff and you are good to go.

thanks, but it doesn`t work. Neither .fff, .3f, 3fr, tif, tiff does work.

[Kimberly Anderson]

Time for a re-scan methinks. I've worked on hundreds of .fff files and never had a problem. Weird.

[Alin Dragulin]

Hi did you ever resolve the .fff issue you were having with your scans? I'm scanning with an Imacon scanner and Photoshop CS6 can't open the .fff files in camera raw either

[PhotoToyo]

Keep in mind .fff files aren't RAW files in the same way as files from a DSLR; Camera Raw and Photoshop won't be able to open them directly. There are basically two options when it comes to processing .fff files:

1. FlexColor (available as a free download from Hasselblad). You can use this software to process the .fff files and save them as TIFFs. One thing to know, FlexColor is very particular to say the least. If you go this route, you need to point FlexColor to the folder where your .fff files are located (you can't simply drag and drop your .fff files and expect anything to happen). To do this, launch FlexColor and open the Thumbnails panel from the Window Menu. Navigate to your folder of .fff files via the first drop down menu. Small thumbnails should appear that you can now double-click to open in FlexColor and process as necessary. Also keep in mind, the editing tools in FlexColor aren't anything like Camera Raw (or even photoshop for that matter). Some research online about using FlexColor could go a long way.

2. Photoshop (as .tif files). As previously mentioned in this thread, .fff files aren't actually proprietary and can be easily converted to .tif files by simply renaming them. Replace the .fff part of the filename with .tif instead. Now these files should be able to be opened directly via Photoshop. NOTE: depending on the type of film scanned, this may result in a "negative" (also known as a linear) scan. For example, if color negative film was scanned, the resulting .tif file will now look like a color negative, orange base and all.

Best of luck!