P: Ability to invert negative scans to positives (color and black-and-white)

[jeffk5545]

I would dearly like to see the Lightroom 4 Beta team implement an additional feature in the final release. That feature would be the ability to take a camera+macro lens image of a B&W negative -- essentially a camera-based scan of a negative -- and invert the negative image to a positive image at the beginning of the development process in such a way that the resulting sliders in the LR4 Develop Module would not operate in reverse. As I understand it, this capability exists in Photoshop, but I don't own Photoshop. I do own Photoshop Elements 9, but that program only supports an 8-bit workflow, not 16-bits per channel, and round-tripping between LR & PSE9 requires the reimportation of a TIFF file that is more than twice the size of my NEF RAW files. Since this programming wizardry already exists in Photoshop, I would think that it would be a relatively simple matter to transfer and adapt that code for LR4 -- but then, I'm not a programmer, so what do I know...

I've been digitizing 40-year-old Kodachrome slides from my Peace Corps days in Africa, using a 55mm Micro-Nikkor (macro) lens, coupled to a Nikon ES-1 Slide Copy Attachment, and even on a D300s body, I can get truly excellent results. I can't wait to continue that work using the pending 36 megapixel Nikon D800 body with an upgraded f/2.8 macro lens (mine is the old 55mm f/3.5 design). I really, REALLY want to be able to camera-scan my many B&W negatives without having to generate huge intermediate TIFF files.

You can respond to this request by emailing me, Jeff Kennedy Thanks, in advance, for taking the time to review and consider my request. I LOVE Lightroom 3, and from what I've seen, I'm going to love LR4 even more. I REALLY appreciate the effort that Adobe takes to solicit input from the photographic user community.

BTW, if the feature I request *can't* be implemented right away, could the LR support team provide detailed, interim instructions as to how to use the "backwards" sliders, and in what sequence? That would be very much appreciated. I'm sure many older LR users have considerable analog image collections that they would like to digitize, and doing so in-camera is both 1) of surprisingly high quality, 2) MUCH faster than using flatbed scanners and 3) of much higher quality and resolution than flatbed scan and MUCH cheaper than professional drum scans.

[Todd Shaner]

I'm getting very good results with color negative film as far back as the early 1970s Kodacolor X). Here's an article on my workflow using LR for orange mask removal and PS with an action for inversion, toning, and color correction. Here's an article Mark Segal and I wrote on scannerless capture with more details.

https://luminous-landscape.com/scannerless-digital-capture-and-processing-of-negative-film-photograp...

Kodacolor II Color negative from 1979 using the above mentioned processing.

[TheDigitalDog]

Let me just say, a little birdie told me that Adobe is aware of this need and maybe, we'll see something to address it in the future. In the meantime, any other workarounds or recommendations above and beyond "Adobe please do this" would be constructive. 

[Todd Shaner]

Here are Dropbox links to the article and instructional PDF if you can't access them at the LULA.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bd72zya8okdzk5c/ScannerlessDigitalCaptureandProcessingofNegativeFilmPhotog...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6y9q6jw0umx9qr9/ScannerlessDigitalCaptureandProcessingofNegativeFilmPhotog...

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Nope. That does work for monochrome but colors don't "reverse" correctly (color doesn't work that way). Try the Negative Lab Pro Lightroom plugin suggestion I made earlier, $99.

[drtonyb]

@steve_lehman

I have Light Room. I own it. I don't subscribe to it. No need for me.  It came FREE with Elements, an add-on.

Your comment makes it quite clear that you don't have or use Lightroom Classic. You can't even use its correct name.

PSE never ever came with Lightroom as a free add-on. PSE comes with a cut-down version of Camera Raw which enables PSE users to open RAW files.

Light Room only has light's and dark's but no editing.

This statement indicates you have an old version of PSE which came with a very basic version of Camera Raw. It is not Lightroom.

It is now obvious that you know nothing about Lightroom Classic or understand its non-destructive workflow. Your comments are not relevant to this feature request.

I will not participate further, and will not further comment...

Just do it and stop making unhelpful comments in this thread.

[stevel24076854]

It's obvious you haven't been using it as long as I have. And it's obvious you hate me.  Ya know, I don't like you either.   

[Johan22657741dzxr]

Is er in Camera RAW de zelfde mogelijkheid als in Photoshop aanwezig om het beeld negatief te maken (Ctrl+I) dit zou een gewldige oplossing zijn om mijn kleurennegatieven om te zetten naar een positief beeld.

[TheDigitalDog]

Is there the same possibility in Camera RAW as in Photoshop to make the image negative (Ctrl+I) this would be a great solution to convert my color negatives into a positive image.

Yes, you can invert them, no, no provisions for dealing with the orange mask. In LR/ACR Curves, you can produce this same effect as Control I in Photoshop (a simple inversion). Photoshop also has no provisions using this command to deal with the orange mask. Black becomes white. 1 maps to 254, etc. Again, just a simple inverse of the numbers alone. 

[ebimichi]

To the Lightroom product development team. (Because I couldn't find any other place to convey this request.) Do you know "NEGATIVE LAB PRO"? I want you to buy this company and equip it with this function as standard equipment immediately. Please consider it.

[AxelMatt]

Do you have ask Google?

I've found this 

Negative Lab Pro

Negative Lab Pro Review | 5050 Travelog

Negative Lab Pro Tutorial - YouTube

and much more.

What's the reason Adobe should by this firm? I think it's better that such firms stay independent. 

[TheDigitalDog]

Yes, the team knows about this product. And there have been requests here and in the ACR forum for such a feature. As to what Adobe will do (let alone buy), those who know don’t talk. Those who talk don't know.

[MarkGilvey]

Dear Adobe, 

I am processing a lifetime's worth of color and greyscale negatives. Life would be much better if there was another mode in the spirit of Color and Black&White, call it Negative or Negatives. And rename the sliders, so they make sense. I'm using Negative Lab Pro right now, which is a wonderful app for doing this, but it seems that more could be done on your end to accommodate those of us who are digitizing old negatives. Don't you think it's time? It's time. Let's reverse the current status and make it happen!