professional film scanning for photographers on the imacon 949 virtual drum scanner

LANDGUARD MANOR LANDGUARD ROAD SHANKLIN ISLE OF WIGHT PO37 7JB 01983 864195

The Imacon 949 scanner is a 'virtual drum' scanner with a Kodak CCD (KLI 8023 as found in Better Light Scanning Backs) and a Rodenstock lens. Rather like a darkroom enlarger in reverse, the transparency flexes in a magnetic holder, providing tension across the film, resulting in sharper scans. The Imacon 949 (also known as the Hasselblad X5) is both faster and carries a light diffuser delivering higher reproductions with far less optical flare than any of the other models in the range.

Many, many articles have been written about these scanners (including this & this). I take great solace in knowing that the late Bruce Fraser (one of the masters of colour management) operated one of these machines, calibrated as I do with a Hutchcolor target. Taking things a step further than Bruce, instead of increasing the scanner's gamma in software, I've used the adaptive light function to increase both tonal response and shadow separation. The transparency now spends longer in the scanner delivering greater detail in dense areas. Coupled with an extended range icc profile my Imacon 949 now delivers results far superior to a standard machine.

Ian Scovell Photographic scans have been recognised as some of the finest film to digital reproductions in the industry, as such scans have been produced for clients worldwide, including: Australia, Singapore, America and Europe. Closer to home, since 2008, Ian has been working with Landscape Photographer Colin Prior digitising his film archive and providing colour management services for the 2010 publication 'High Light' available from Constable Robinson

DIY SCAN

If you already have a copy of flexcolor or, you've downloaded a copy from the Hassleblad website (just register making up any serial number). Files can be scanned as raw 3f's allowing you to process yourself using the Flexcolor software.

CLEAN IT YOURSELF SCAN

Images are scanned as 16bit tiffs at maximum resolution (between 2040 & 8000dpi depending upon the film format). They then have my custom colour profile assigned in Photoshop (to correct the colour), and are converted to either Joseph Holmes 'Chromespace' or the colourspace of your choosing (Prophoto, Adobe RGB etc), before having highlight and shadow set to ensure no colour information is lost. The final colour correction and image cleaning is down to you.

EXHIBITION QUALITY SCAN

Images begin life as a raw 3f scan (with multiple exposure scans if/when required). These are then saved from Flexcolour as 16bit tiff's before being assigned/converted in Photoshop. After setting highlight and shadow (without clipping vital colour information), the images are deep cleaned to remove dirt/scratches etc. Finally the images are proofed to you as high-res jpegs to ensure you're happy before they are sent out. The Exhibition Scan service is really a collaborative process. I want you to get the best from your images, and if you need advice on profiling your monitor or printer, soft proofing, or need custom sharpening actions, don't hesitate to get in touch.