SmartConvert – Inverting negatives smartly

There are many methods to scan and convert film negatives into positives. One common method is to scan into a raw file with a scanner or, more commonly, a digital camera. The process inverts the negative while mitigating the affect of the film base,

But first how we got here to this post.

The journey

Several months ago wrote a post on programs that converted negatives into positives. Each program had different options and approaches to do a valid comparison.

And then there was the pesky matter of not including scans with digital cameras. At the beginning of the scanning journey, standalone scanners were de rigeur. But now digital cameras are the go-to, at a significant cost in time and money.

Scanning and converting was an iterative process, the result of being dissatisfied with the results.  Since the scanner came with bundled software, I started using that until it was obviously inadequate, the colours were not as expected, the dynamic range not as great. You know the drill.

I bought Silverfast software for scanning. Initially pleased with straight scans, I eventually became disenchanted. Switched to scanning to tiff as positives while manually inverting, in Gimp. When Silverfast introduced scanning to dng. I decided to take the plunge even though it meant converting to tiff. I briefly considered freeware DarkTable. But just didn’t bond.  RawTherapee, could do just that and it was free. Problem solved.

Even using dngs was too complicated. Although recently Gimp supports DarkTable, it does not work well for me. Even RawTherapee has become problematic. You guessed it. I had to embark on a quest for a standalone program to invert dng scans directly and then let Gimp tweak the result (curves, colour temperature) This resulted in even more research and testing.

SmartConvert

So here is the lowdown on SmartConvert from Flmomat. It’s not free but, as you will see, it is simple to use and effective and the best, for me, of three standalone programs I tested.

Disclaimer: Filmomat provided the software at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review here. The software is available for a 14 day free trial and with a monthly, yearly or lifetime subscription.

I will include some manual conversions to demonstrate how SmartConvert fares in comparison to manual inversion.

To process a negative, just drop file into the pane with the Smart Convert logo or click Add Images button (top right) to add image or all images in a folder.

SmartConvert automagically inverts and fixes colour negatives, adding the ‘Edit Crop’ button beneath change the aspect ratio via a pulldown on the left with ‘Free’ being the first option and ‘Apply’ applying the crop and rotations.

SmartConvert produces a result that is very similar to manual inversion, while removing the bluish colour temperature cast.

Converting Camera scans

Fortunately, I found some raw scans shot with digital cameras. To say that the digital camera scanning procedure is complex is an understatement – in my opinion, at least. The source for these was a Raw Fuji scan.

Let’s just not manually convert any more negs scanned with a digital camera…

Two monochrome negatives

A Nikon file. Cropping allows you to specify the boundaries of the negative and to adjust for skew by entering the rotation in hundredths of a degree. Invert to crop more easily and then uninvert.

And this one is a scan of another b/w negative, this time in Fuji RAF format.

Converting images from a scanner

Here are three colour images

And two monochrome images

Controls

Basic controls for transforming an image. I will cover them briefly; starting at the top.

‘Add Images’ – click to add a file or a folder of images
‘Clear Images‘, ‘Skip image’ – basically do not process
‘Reset Settings’ – Obvious
‘Mirror, L & R’ – rotate 90 degrees or Mirror

Manipulate Contrast, Density or Saturation.

Manipulate colour balance in CMY or RGB space, Auto White Balance, Recalc or Reset White Balance. I usually just do either Recalc or Auto White balance.

Auto Crop, Invert, Show Thumbnails (takes up too much real estate), Grayscale

Previous Image, Next Image, Export Current Image, Process All (converts and exports all).

SmartConvert exports jpg and tiff into separate folders within the specified folder and overwrites any file with the same name.

Menu Options

To be honest, I have not used any of these. Some of the menu options:

Conclusion

SmartConvert more than adequately converts scans from flatbed scanners and from digital cameras. Where I find manual inversion of digital camera scans to be problematic.

Preferring to use film in a camera, I’ll pass on digital cameras with their planned obsolescence, high cost and, frankly, ugly (utilitarian) look/feel. Yes there are some beautifully designed digital cameras (pricey) but I’ve had enough with screens and pixel peeping,  preferring the leisurely pace of film photography. And yes, I make digital images with an iPhone. Sure, it’s clumsy to use but it does the job and it’s thre whenever I go out IRL It’s well worth the tradeoffs.

SmartConvert is elegantly designed and simple. It is better in my experience than the commercial competitors I have tried (Filmlab and ChemVert). Although most of my work is monochrome, I still use SmartConvert, since it is simpler and has a better workflow than manual conversion.

Having purchasing colour chemistry, plan to do more colour work once I select a sous-vide heater. I am well aware that the shelf life of colour chemistry is considerably shorter than b/w, particularly Rodinal, which seems to keep forever. And yes, colour film is more expensive to purchase and process.

Bottom line: converting with SmartConvert is certainly faster than manual inversion, requires less effort than manual conversion with results that are either comparable to manual inversion or even better. I’m not going back.

At the time of publication, SmartConvert is now on version 3.10,

Share this post: