Scanning Holga Images

This morning I’m scanning some 6x6 Holga images from my first test roll. I’m quite impressed with the results. Sharp in the center, nice vignetting, nice grain, nice softness and chromatic aberration around the borders. The film stock was expired Kodak VPS 160.

I’m scanning them in as 48-bit TIFF images, then opening them in Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw. The dynamic range of film is definitely greater than 24-bit, so I can use the additional tonal information to adjust the exposure while having a minimal effect on noise. Theoretically at least.

I first use Epson’s auto exposure to get me in the ballpark. In Camera Raw, I turn on the clipping overlay and set the White Balance, Exposure, Recovery, Fill Light and Black Level and click “Done”. I can then reopen the image in Camera Raw at any time and adjust the color balance, saturation, and contrast without permanently affecting the image.

The white balance is tricky though. Some would say that the color should be left alone. The beauty of Camera Raw is that adjustments are stored as metadata, so they can be changed anytime without affecting the original file. In this way, the images can be archived as a 48-bit TIFF images and adjusted any way as desired with the highest quality.