RE: SilverFast (negafix)

["Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

But my question is this: if they have a full library that describes the
precise relationships between the colors of the negative and the positive
colors that they represent, then what do they need NegaFix for? Their
marketing info suggests that NegaFix isn't this library, but rather is some
sort of automatic process that reads the color of the unexposed orange mask,
and does something useful with that information. But that would seem to
conflict with the concept of having the precise film characteristics
recorded in advance in a library.

But I don't understand why they have to stand on their heads like this. Why
can't they just scan negatives in positive mode, and use a standard ICC
profile to describe the inversion? Positive IT8 targets (like the one that
comes with SilverFast) are made, I assume, by photographing a standard
reflective target under known illumination, so why can't they make negative
IT8 targets in a similar manner? The negative target would be supplied with
a text file containing not colorimeter readings taken from the film itself,
but instead spectro readings taken from the original reflective target. A
profile built from this should automatically do the inversion and the mask
removal, as long as the profile building software isn't programmed to barf
if it sees an inverse relationship.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@ix.netcom.com

> From: Scott Robertson
>
> As I understand the Negafix process, the algorithm does more than just
> orange mask removal and reversal.  A library of characteristic
> curves (which
> describe how the CMY dye layers respond to increasing exposure to
> light) for various film brands and emulsions is supplied.

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