Negafix profile for the new Kodak Portra 400

[tgphoto]

Hi,

Kodak recently announced they are discontinuing Portra 400NC and Portra 400VC, and introducing a new product called Portra 400.

Details here:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professi ... -path=2987

The new film should be available by October. Wondering how long it will be before a Negafix profile for this new film is available?

Thanks!

Tim

[LSI_Morales]

Hi Tim

Thanks for the link.

If you've carefully check the site under Q&A for the film (in the same link you have sent), Kodak states:

Do I need to do to anything different to scan or print PORTRA 400 Film?

No. The film was designed to be printing and scanning compatible with the existing family of PORTRA and EKTAR Films.

Probably one of the existing profiles will fit this film.

At this point we do not have plans to include more film emulsions into NegaFix.

Cheers

[tgphoto]

Thanks for the quick reply, Alejandro!

Yes, I did read that in the FAQs section of the product website, but wanted to double check with you.

I supposed since this new emulsion is a mix of the best parts of NC and VC, it will scan well, with only minor tweaks to contrast and/or saturation being necessary.

Thanks for your help!

Tim

[LSI_Morales]

Hi Tim,

It was a pleasure.
Again, thanks for your cooperation

Cheers

[normis]

Unfortunately, the new film doesn't scan well on either the VC or NC negafix profiles. VC gives too much red and less contrast, NC is too green. Please make proper new Negafix profile. Kodak has made it clear that it will from now on have only a few color films - Portra and Ektar. It's not like they introduce new film every month, or have tens of them.

[LSI_Morales]

Dear normis

VC gives too much red and less contrast, NC is too green.

Have you tried using the auto tolerance slider? Moving the slider to the right might help. You can also modify existing curves to adapt to your own pictures(this can be done with SilverFast Ai or Ai Studio).

Details on how to modify existing curves can be found on the following pdf document:

http://www.silverfast.com/download/docs/SF-NegaFix-en.pdf

Or this videos:

http://www.silverfast.com/showmovie/en.html?movien=172&mode=inline&hide=desc

http://www.silverfast.com/showmovie/en.html?movien=301&mode=inline&hide=desc

Cheers

[normis]

Unfortunately, I have Silverfast SE version. Making or modifying presets would be nice, but it seems I can't do it with my version. I still ask you to reconsider about the Negafix, it would be great if you supported the films that are currently manufactured. There is not many left anyway

[LSI_Morales]

Dear normis,

have you tried using the tolerance slider as indicated? this option should be available even in SilverFast SE.

As you can deduce from the previous post in this thread, Kodak claims this film can be scanned using the old parameters.

We would like to support all films available out there, unfortunately the special targets used to create NegaFix profiles are not available for all film types and the company creating these targets under controlled conditions does not exist anymore.

For the reasons exposed I can not offer you any option other than those I mentioned until now.

Apologies for any inconveniences and thanks for your understanding.

Cheers

[normis]

I have used the tolerance slider, but what does it actually do? I would like to refrain from any color correction, I would like to stick close to the film properties. If any color adjustment is made, say white balance, all film will essentially look the same (except for grain size, I suppose).

[LSI_Morales]

Dear normis,

I would like to refrain from any color correction, I would like to stick close to the film properties.

If you were to completely refrain from color correction, you'd get also the orange mask of the film with the wrong colors. To perform a proper orange mask detection you need to allow SilverFast to clip into things like spots, scratches or dust particles which are usually represented in the the histogram towards both ends. Using the slider you allow SilverFast to go to a higher or lesser extent into the end affecting the orange mask detection.

Cheers

[normis]

Ah! So basically the negafix profile includes a predefined setting for the tolerance of orange mask detection, and if the profile is not there, I can adjust it by hand. The negafix profile also includes things like contrast and exposure, correct?

[LSI_Morales]

Dear normis,

The negafix profile also includes things like contrast and exposure, correct?

That is correct.

[normis]

What should I set as the starting point for a film without a negafix profile? I notice that there is a big difference if I set "Other" or a certain other film like Kodak Portra VC. Even if I set it to Auto, depending on what the Negafix window has been set to, the prescan brings wildly different results, independent of the Tolerance slider.

How can I know the native color of the film? I want to know the correct workflow in this case.

[LSI_Morales]

Dear Normis,

Your questions require a very extensive answer, you will probably find all information on our user manual. I recommend you download and check out the pdf-manual with detailed explanations on how NegaFix works.

The user manual can be found at: http://www.silverfast.com/download/docu/manual,complete_en_2006-11-27.pdf

Cheers

[normis]

sorry, but your answer doesn't help

I already read it multiple times before asking this question It seems that there is no Negafix selection for "no negafix profile known", so you have to guess the film properties based on published samples and choose an existing profile that matches the published samples as closely as possible.