VueScan and Color Spaces

[mikechambers]

I am starting to scan my own negatives, and am working on my first batch (color, cross-processed).

Im using a Epson v500 with VueScan.

Everything is coming out well, but I had a question about color spaces.

For the Color section in VueScan, which Output Color Space, and Monitor Color Space should I select?

Right now, for Output I have ProPhoto RGB, and for Monitor I have sRGB. I have a custom profile for my monitor (created with Spider 3), but Im not sure if I should select it, or even how I can select it.

I scan in VueScan and then make any adjustments in Lightroom 3.

Thanks for any input...

mike

[tokengirl]

I have the same question as you, I sure hope someone comes along and sheds some light on the subject. No matter what combination I try, I am getting some pretty bizarre results when I scan color with Vuescan. B&W negs are coming out fine though.

Until I figure out this software, I am just using the Epson software for color scans and I am getting normal looking results.

[Tim Gray]

As far as I understand it, if you are not doing adjustments in Vuescan, don't worry about the monitor profile. I would think that only affects the image displayed on screen. I would think you could select your calibrated profile without causing problems.

For output I select AdobeRGB. ProPhoto is probably ok, but I've never been convinced of the utility of it over AdobeRGB. Of course, no matter what you select on the output side, you can always change your mind in Photoshop (maybe Lightroom too) by "Assigning" a new profile - NOT converting to a new profile.

As far as bizarre results in Vuescan in color, I've never managed to get super satisfactory color results. I get pretty decent ones with Nikonscan. I get better ones using Vuescan and saving a raw scan, and then opening that up in Photoshop using ColorPerfect. I don't own that (yet), but have another hand written script that does something similar using ImageMagick. But I think if you can get past the bizarre interface of ColorPerfect, it has the best color I've seen from consumer scanners. No idea how it matches up against things like Flextights and drum scanners and their software.

[Tim Gray]

Originally Posted by Double Negative

I think you might have it backwards (or I do) about the profile though; you want to convert - and not assign. That is, once you're done editing in the ProPhoto/Adobe space, *convert* it to sRGB for JPEG output (for example). If you assign instead, the colors might get a little whack.

Yes you are correct for your usage case - convert at the end of post processing for web display or printing. I normally go convert from AdobeRGB to sRGB as the last step before saving for web.

However, I was saying if you mistakenly assign the wrong profile in the scanning stage, in Photoshop, assigning a new profile doesn't change the image data. So if you normally scan in AdobeRGB and have a file tagged with that profile, and for some reason you think it would be better working with the original data in ProPhoto RGB, just assign it ProPhotoRGB. No harm done.