Vuescan and color negatives

**Kirk Gittings** · 21-Feb-2012, 15:34

Any tips for scanning 4x5 negatives with VS? I haven't scanned any CNs for awhile and have used Silverfast for years, but I'm too cheap to buy the latest upgrade and SF 6 won't run on W7.

**SW Rick** · 21-Feb-2012, 15:57

Kirk,

I'm with you on the upgrade. Maybe not your cup of tea, but I put OS 6.x on a cheap external hard drive, and run SF 6 from that.

Rick

**Kirk Gittings** · 21-Feb-2012, 17:08

How does that work? I have a good copy of XP that could be used for that.

**Leonard Evens** · 21-Feb-2012, 17:19

I work under Linux so Vuescan is the only thing I can use. I've been using it for years. It works really well. The interface is pretty clear once you explore the options.

I've profiled the scanner for color photographs and also for color negative film. To do the latter, I photographed an IT target and had it developed.

**SW Rick** · 21-Feb-2012, 20:02

My understanding is that SF will allow you to use it with either (or maybe both) Mac OS and Windows. The reason I couldn't run it under XP via Parallels is that the emulator can't handle firewire connections, and my Coolscan 9000 has a firewire (no usb) connection. If your scanner has USB, no problem.

You may not be able to download a Windows version of SF 6 from their website, but I think you could email them (or, perhaps better, call their Florida office and speak with Boris) and they will send you a link to the older version.

With the Mac OS 6.x, I just formatted the small external drive with the 10.6 from the DVD I got with the computer, got the link from Boris and installed it. Then, when you want to switch, attach the external drive, reboot while holding down the option key, you'll get a screen with both external and internal drives, asking which you want to boot from. Select the external, and you're into 10.6 environment. Works fine for me, except PITA to reboot (but compared to spending $400 or so...).

Let me know if not clear or any questions.

Rick

**polyglot** · 22-Feb-2012, 19:31

What problems are you having with VS and C41? I use this combo a lot because I run linux and it works beautifully, though there's a bit of a learning curve. Hardest part is correctly picking the film-base colour, i.e. the black-point.