List of Programs for converting Color Negatives

This is the English translation of the original German article.

Here is a list of programs that can be used to convert digitized negatives into positives. These programs are specifically designed to process digitized color negatives and render images with natural colors and tones—whether they were scanned or created using ‘camera scanning’.

Screenshot of a file manager showing negative image files

digitized colour negatives as raw files in the file manager

The conversion of color negatives in particular rarely succeeds with the “board tools” of common image editing programs. This is due in particular to the orange masking of color negatives. However, if you only digitize black and white negatives or slides, you can get by with “regular” software.

Screenshot of the SmartConvert program (converting a scanned color negative as a slide)

A previously digitized colour negative is loaded into such a converter and this “conjures up” an attractive positive from it.

This is where various programs step into the breach, which can be fed with the “raw files” after digitization. This is particularly useful if you have used a digital camera instead of a film scanner (or its software) for digitizing. But some of these products could also produce better results as a replacement for conventional scanning software:

SmartConvert
stand-alone, small program
FilmLab
independent, small program
Negmaster
Plugin for Adobe Photoshop
ColorPerfect
Plugin for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, PhotoLine
Grain2Pixel
Plugin for Adobe Photoshop (free of charge)
VueScan
… is actually a scanning program. However, it can also scan or convert existing (RAW) files.
Darktable (→ Negadoctor module)
stand-alone image processing with already integrated module for negatives (free of charge); see note below
Negative Lab Pro
Plugin for Adobe Lightroom

Unfortunately, there are only three stand-alone programs in this list so far, which were only designed for converting (color) negatives (and VueScan). All the others are plug-ins for relatively opulent image processing programs. Most of them cost money. At least one – “Darktable” – is free.

So if you want to work with freeware, you can first try ‘Darktable’ or the integrated module “Negadoctor”. I tried this program and did not achieve satisfactory results. A program like “SmartConvert” is much easier to use and, in my opinion, spontaneously more “accurate” as far as harmonious color filtering is concerned.

I had tried several attempts with the free “Darktable” or with the integrated module Negadoctor: This program has an insane amount of configuration options or switches and I just can’t find the way to a satisfying workflow here – although proper filtering seems to be possible in principle.

However, if you want to convert digitized b/w negatives, you don’t need any special software for this. Converting grayscale image files is possible with any simple image editor: you simply have to “invert” the open photo and then – as usual – adjust the brightness and contrast.

This is relatively easy even with the free image viewer IrfanView, for example – even in ‘batch mode’ (converting several files in one go). Unfortunately, this does not work so easily with color negatives.

Some of the programs included in the list are also available for Linux as an alternative to Windows and macOS and as an “app” for Android or iOS.