Herschel from SquarePegPinhole has been kind enough to share his post on scanning Xpro films different ways, here’s his expert tips:
Scanning Xpro Film Two Different Ways For Two Different Looks
These are straight scans of the same image using my Epson Perfection V500. The one on the left was scanned as a negative and auto inverted by the Epson software. The one on the right was scanned as a positive and inverted using Photoshop.
The point…two very different looks from the same negative.
I don’t process my own color film. I used to rely on the company developing the film to do my scans as well. The scans typically had a red or orange cast, like the one on the left. Being new to cross processing I assumed it was just a natural result of using C-41 chemicals on E-6 film. It was only when I got my scanner that I realized.
So, was the photo lab being absent-minded or should cross processed film be scanned as negative?
Obviously, which version is better is subjective, so if you have your own scanner, you may want to scan both ways and see which you prefer (or I’m sure there’s some magic PhotoShop trick that will do the job for you).
