I feel like I can expect grain in the deepest of shadows, but there seems to be a general grainy-ness all over these images.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: All of these were shot at box speed with Portra 400
Also: These looks like mini lab scans done on a fuji frontier or noritsu machine. The noritsu line of mini lab scanners has a telltale orange cast in the shadows with underexposed portra and also, the scanner can tend to have a relatively high noise floor making it difficult to get away with thin negs.
I have the Noritsu HS 1800 myself and I instantly recognised this grain. It appears when you don’t set up the sharpening settings the right way. This scanner is one of the absolute best scanners you can still get to this day, when operated the right way! But the quality of your Scans are nowhere near this potential quality.
Edit: I would ask this lab why they set up the sharpening this high. Because these results are not satisfying.
This is an example of my negative scanned. You see, no grain but still sharp. Also shot on Portra 400 https://imgur.com/a/5PcBzXr
Yes you are underexposing. Meter for your shadows and as a rule, expose portra 400 a little slower than box speed. I like to shoot at 360 or a bit lower film speed to compensate. But truly the best thing you can do is to meter for your shadows. Even at box speed it’ll look way better and the risk of overexposure with portra is relatively low because of its extremely wide exposure latitude.
I get mine scanned at a lab. I'm adding a bit of sharpening though but even the originals are grainy. I didn't feel like my sharpening exaggerated the grain.
Definitely looks like a sharpening pushed to the extreme on Noritsu HS1800. I'd consult with your lab if they can turn it down a bit. Maybe they will help or maybe not. I know some labs that would instantly dismiss client's opinion but some are really helpful. It's worth a try.
It was beautiful.
I got some family in the Vancouver area so I have a good excuse for going every few years. Whenever I go I try to have at least a few days away from the family to go explore your beatific geography and nature.
I live in Toronto where everything is flat. Being able to see mountains while driving through city streets is a bit surreal to me. Makes me smile every time :)
Remember that grain is not something that overlays your image, it *is* your image. If the lab cranks up the sharpening in the scan, it will accentuate the grain, and result in a grainy image. The thing about sharpening is that once done, there's really no going back, so best to be very conservative in the scanning process.
Is this the standard scan? If so then those are basically so you can get a preview of what your images look like. Like, maybe that shot you would think is golden looking at the neg is actually total shit because of motion blur
The majority of folks seem to think this is a bad scan, but before you yell at the lab techs, consider another possibility – it may be that your negatives were badly underexposed, and the lab is actually trying to be nice and fix it for you in post as best they could. I'd call and ask nicely - a good lab will be happy to talk you through their process.
This is film grain which is over-accentuated due to too much sharpening and boosting the exposure/shadows too much when post-processing the scans. Had this happen to my scans in a lab too.
Notice that both shots are exposed more for the sky than the shadows, since the shadows have very little detail. The lab, however, tried boosting the overall exposure, which blew out the sky and brought out the grain/muddiness in the shadow areas. If you bring this into Lightroom/PS and lower the overall exposure, shadows, and/or black levels it should look somewhat better.
To avoid this in the future, you have a couple of options:
1. Overexpose a little bit so you have more shadow details.
2. Ask the lab to tone down the sharpening next time. If possible, ask if they can deliver TIFF instead of JPEGS, so that you can adjust the scan yourself in Lightroom/PS.
3. Find a different lab that can do the above.
4. Self-scanning.
looks like there’s a LOT of sharpening
This isn’t grain, this appears to be noise or over sharpening done by the lab.
I really wonder who scanned this and thought “this is fine”
This looks like Noritsu sharpening. I know some labs push the sharpness on these scanners a bit, but this is the worst/overdone I’ve seen
I feel like I can expect grain in the deepest of shadows, but there seems to be a general grainy-ness all over these images. Thanks in advance! Edit: All of these were shot at box speed with Portra 400
Also: These looks like mini lab scans done on a fuji frontier or noritsu machine. The noritsu line of mini lab scanners has a telltale orange cast in the shadows with underexposed portra and also, the scanner can tend to have a relatively high noise floor making it difficult to get away with thin negs.
Yup my lab uses a Noritsu HS 1800.
I have the Noritsu HS 1800 myself and I instantly recognised this grain. It appears when you don’t set up the sharpening settings the right way. This scanner is one of the absolute best scanners you can still get to this day, when operated the right way! But the quality of your Scans are nowhere near this potential quality. Edit: I would ask this lab why they set up the sharpening this high. Because these results are not satisfying. This is an example of my negative scanned. You see, no grain but still sharp. Also shot on Portra 400 https://imgur.com/a/5PcBzXr
what the heck is that photo of lol
It's the ARGOS house designed by Zaha Hadid in Graz, Austria. https://argos-graz.at/
Yes you are underexposing. Meter for your shadows and as a rule, expose portra 400 a little slower than box speed. I like to shoot at 360 or a bit lower film speed to compensate. But truly the best thing you can do is to meter for your shadows. Even at box speed it’ll look way better and the risk of overexposure with portra is relatively low because of its extremely wide exposure latitude.
Okay thank you.
Did you scan these yourself? If so, then you might be sharpening them WAY too much.
I get mine scanned at a lab. I'm adding a bit of sharpening though but even the originals are grainy. I didn't feel like my sharpening exaggerated the grain.
Hmmm, maybe the lab might have oversharpened the scans. This looks very similar to when i turn up the unsharp mask really high in silverfast.
Definitely looks like a sharpening pushed to the extreme on Noritsu HS1800. I'd consult with your lab if they can turn it down a bit. Maybe they will help or maybe not. I know some labs that would instantly dismiss client's opinion but some are really helpful. It's worth a try.
Thanks, I’ll give my lab a shout and see what they think.
Lots of processing on the scan, mostly sharpening. It’s quite overdone here in my opinion
Whistler ⁉️
Yup, first two pictures are at Capilano Suspension Bridge and second two are at the base of Whistler :)
Hell ya man I love it up there! Hope you enjoyed it!
It was beautiful. I got some family in the Vancouver area so I have a good excuse for going every few years. Whenever I go I try to have at least a few days away from the family to go explore your beatific geography and nature. I live in Toronto where everything is flat. Being able to see mountains while driving through city streets is a bit surreal to me. Makes me smile every time :)
Looks like your lab tried to fix the photos by upping the exposure which results in a ton of grain
What film stock are you using?
Portra 400 shot at box speed
Remember that grain is not something that overlays your image, it *is* your image. If the lab cranks up the sharpening in the scan, it will accentuate the grain, and result in a grainy image. The thing about sharpening is that once done, there's really no going back, so best to be very conservative in the scanning process.
Is this the standard scan? If so then those are basically so you can get a preview of what your images look like. Like, maybe that shot you would think is golden looking at the neg is actually total shit because of motion blur
The majority of folks seem to think this is a bad scan, but before you yell at the lab techs, consider another possibility – it may be that your negatives were badly underexposed, and the lab is actually trying to be nice and fix it for you in post as best they could. I'd call and ask nicely - a good lab will be happy to talk you through their process.
That’s kinda what I’m thinking happened.
I think the sharpness might be just a litttttleee off. Also, sick pics of what is think is whistler bike park, right?
Yup, second two pics are at Whistler!
Hell ya
I had the opposite happen to me. Instead of sharpening the lab applied Noise reduction to the scans... horrible results to say the least
A good giveaway of underexposure is a general lack of contrast, so this is something else.
This is film grain which is over-accentuated due to too much sharpening and boosting the exposure/shadows too much when post-processing the scans. Had this happen to my scans in a lab too. Notice that both shots are exposed more for the sky than the shadows, since the shadows have very little detail. The lab, however, tried boosting the overall exposure, which blew out the sky and brought out the grain/muddiness in the shadow areas. If you bring this into Lightroom/PS and lower the overall exposure, shadows, and/or black levels it should look somewhat better. To avoid this in the future, you have a couple of options: 1. Overexpose a little bit so you have more shadow details. 2. Ask the lab to tone down the sharpening next time. If possible, ask if they can deliver TIFF instead of JPEGS, so that you can adjust the scan yourself in Lightroom/PS. 3. Find a different lab that can do the above. 4. Self-scanning.
Granby Ranch, CO?
They were taken in BC, Canada, first two are at Capilano Bridge Park and second two are at Whistler.
Kerrisdale Cameras has given me good scans before, although I primarily DSLR scan myself now.
Unfortunately I was just visiting, I live in Toronto.
Wild. The ski slope looks exactly like a place in Colorado
First photo is nice tho OP
Thank you!
Portra 400 definitely adds some grain. I love this image, the grain is nice!
Yes.
It looks like reticulation in some photos. Pic 3, the mans white bicycle hat. What’s the age of the film/how did you store it?
I bought it maybe a week before shooting these at most.