Chris Tisinger
35 Years of Analog Photography
35 Years of Analog Photography
Film Photography Film Scanning Techniques Portfolio Projects EDU
A collection of images captured exclusively with 35mm film through several Alaska trips
2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2023
Examples of color negative film stocks of the 1990's and early 2000's. Each one had a different asthetic, color palette, saturation and contrast. I tried to shoot as many different emusions as I could find.
photographs and chemical formulas used to create black and white slides and transparencies
I have at least a 1000+ color and B+W film negatives, both 120 and 35mm, from my personal archive. I've been shooting film for over 30 years and have amassed a rather large collection of personal work. In addition, I've become the proprietory and family historian/archivist for my entire family's collection of analog images. This includes both parents and grandparents which adds another 1000 or so images. This doesn't include of the printed photos. I am focusing on just the film images at this time as I have most of the negatives to the corresponding prints. Those prints were made many years ago on old analog equipement. While some are quite beautiful others have faded into oblivion with color casts. I have 110, 126, 127 and a variety of medium format negatives and transparencies and of course 35mm.
Take a look into the photographic past and see a variety of Legacy photo lab order bags and envelopes used by drug stores, big box labs, and local camera stores that have housed our memories for generations.
A Kodacolor-X or Ektacolor Film Standard Negative used for color balancing. This paritcular negative isn't specified on the edge as there is no additional markings outside the sprockets. According to the Kodak Color Data guide that contained this negative and accompanying color printing instructions, this is a Process C-22 negative. This is the process used for color negative processing in 1963 before C-41 became the standard. This negative was scanned on an Epson V850 using Silverfast Ai Studio 9. I used the Negafix module for conversion, finding the Kodak VR 100 film "term" had the most "balanced" color in the patches and skin tone. Kodak VR 100 was the film stock closest to Ektacolor in time of manufacturing compared to the other choice of stocks. I further refined the balance using the Pipette with neutral eyedropper on the grey patch in the center. Digital Ice/iSRD was applied to remove dust and scratches.
1963 Kodak Shirley Card - Color Negative C-22
Love it or hate it - it was one of Kodak's film icons of the 20th century. Created for soft neutral and accurate skin tones and wedding dress colors, it was a notoriously difficult film to print for minilabs and the stalwart standard for professional color labs. VPS was phased out in the late 1990's and replaced by the original Portra series 160NC + 160VC around 2000. The "S" in VPS indicated "short' for exposures of 1/10 to 1/10,00 of second and was daylight balanced at 5500K. Kodak offered an alternative "L" film stock aptly named Vericolor VPL which was designed for "long" exposes, those greater than 1 second. VPL was balanced for tungsten light around 3400K.
The Why : High CRI and/or 5500K light doesn't account for color negative dye "crosstalk".
The Solution: To create a more accurate light source to use with DSLR film scanning using LED lights tuned to a narrower bandwidth that a CCD/CMOS 'Bayered' sensor can't "see"
The Camera - Copystand - Bellows - Enlarger Lens
I modified a dental x-ray lightbox to scan with electronic flash - and it works! well....about 80% of the time getting accurate color capturing color negative film.
I use DSLR negative capture and tradional film scanning equipment. Both have their strengths with the "resolution" as the greatest with DSLR. My digital camera scanning system is rather unconventional. I built my own copy stand and repurposed a Nikon Bellows PB-4 macro unit and modified it to fit a Schneider Kreuznach Companon-S 70mm enlarger lens. I use a Canon 430EX II speedlight as the light source.
Contrary to popular belief it is possible to achieve phenomenal film scans using a flatbed scanner. This applies to the Epson V850 AND Epson V600! I can teach you how to get sharp, beautiful scans from 35mm + 120 color negatives
Simple techniques to scan full frame 35mm with sprokets and 120 borders. I use both fluid mount or TruView museum glass to eliminate Newton Rings
A look back at the genesis of 35mm roll film transmission scans for the consumer market. Kodak collaborated with PictureVision Inc. in 1999 to provide small labs the opportunity to offer film scanning with 35mm developing and printing. Scans were offered on 3½ floppy disk, Picture CD or PictureNet.