Just a side remark: The topic is terra incognita for me, but it’s nice to get a feeling of something new. It also “explained” why ‘Flip’ was available in FilmPack only, something I was curious about.
Orientation is written in two places. Try them both.
George
I also use VueScan, (and Lightroom) but there are a couple of long-running threads that PL does not properly support DNG. It does not support DMG from VueScan, The problem being a lot of museums, galleries, archives globally have standardized on DNG etc have scanned billions of old images to DNG. A DNG that almost everyone except PL supports 
Thankfully there are no lack of alternatives for all those archivists.
Yes, one is for the camera orientation and one is for the orientation of the image (RAW and/or built-in JPEG. On Canon cameras, te orientation can be set to adapt, be it on the camera’s or the computer’s screen. How these settings are reflected in metadata, I cannot say because i’ve not specifically tested tor these cases.
I am on holidays in Sevilla now. But when i remember one is in the exif and one in the makernotes. They both just tell the reading program what sequence to use reading the file. I think though not sure that PL is using the makernotes. Or the other way around.
George
I feed my raw files from a reprophoto of a negative - color or b&w - into Darktable’s Negadoctor tool which swaps the negative to a positive while taking care of color un-balance from the filmbase, among others. Negadoctor can be moved to an early point in the processing pipe line so the later introduced tools - initially Exposure - works directly as opposed to having its effect inverted. Over all, Darktable is a brilliant - free - raw manager with an advanced non-AI masking system. This is my choice as a disappointed PhotoLab7 owner, who has worked with all the leading brands of raw editors on the market.
If I have a pixel-based problem, e.g. a missing corner, or a half person, I use the very good and cheap Affinity Photo 2 for replacements.
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Hi,
I am fond of digitalizing old and very old photographs, negatives and slides (including plates from the 19th century).
I use VueScan for an Epson (for wide negatives and plates) and a Reflecta 10 M for 24x36 and export in tiff. VueScan is great at inverting and restoring faded colours. DPL is efficient on these tiff files. I can even correct (if not too far from what I wish) white balance on old slides and colour negatives.
I often correct vigneting, which is common in old lenses, and it works well.
And with the distorsion tool I can improve some wide angle photos (such as the 24 mm side of a Canon 24-85).
Maybe I have been so used to working on older documents that I don’t see DPL’s limitations?
Hello, I have just tried the “Film Scan Optimizer Palette” in the FilmPack 8 Version. This is what I needed. Thanks a lot for considering and implementing. I guess it only works if you use the FilmPack as a stand alone tool. Anyway, great. Thank you!!!
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Damn it. I’ve not used FP for a long time, since I got myself an actual film camera. Now I’m genuinely considering upgrading to FP8, just for that Scan Optimizer!
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I can’t say I found it to be a great advance when I tried it out. The tool causes your raw capture to be treated as a tiff or other raster file for one: Lens Sharpness Optimization is disabled, “Auto with DxO Module” becomes unavailable in the Distortion tool, and RAW White Balance is replaced with RGB White Balance.
Why it’s not treated like any other raw file is a mystery to me. Maybe it’s a consequence of the extra set of curves, but since it’s already possible to export an intermediate file with a negative curve to get sliders into the usual orientation, I don’t see it as a win, just a trade-off. I’d have thought differently if it was more helpful in in correcting colour, but a selection of numbered presets isn’t really that.
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Maybe there is a misunderstanding.
Most people photograph the negative with a lens that has a rather flat field of view (Macro) and a digital camera.
But the original analog negative was taken on analog film with an analog camera and another lens that doesn’t communicate any information to the camera.
So while the PL could work (lens profile, noise reduction, WB, …) on the digital copy, it could not do anything on the analog origin. And on the digital copy this isn’t needed.
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Of course, distortion correction is of the lens the film was imaged with, and likely not much of an issue with the lenses used to digitize film, but Lens Sharpness Optimization is relevant regardless of the subject. Why the white balance tool should be the RGB version is also odd, but no show-stopper.
I just saw very little advantage to Film Scan Optimizer. Except for being able to reverse sliders without needing an intermediate file, it does nothing that can’t already be done, and you lose Lens Sharpness Optimization.
Darktable is fast, powerful, free, and has a negative inversion module called Negadoctor. Save as whatever file type you like and complete in another app.
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My first step is to apply a preset consisting of inversion and general settings. The most important action before fine-tuning the color parameters is to find a suitable gray area in the photo for white balance. Then the rest of the work is a breeze. If such a point cannot be found, it usually becomes very tedious.
You also lose the ability to use the Legacy colour space: Film Scan Optimizer locks it to Wide Gamut. I’ve found it easier to get natural colours with Legacy, although I still use Legacy for regular images so that’s surely just practice.
I never started with Wide Gamut since it doesn’t solve a problem I know I have, and since DxO didn’t bother to provide renderings equivalent to the Legacy ones I’ve used as a starting point since PL1.
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Negative conversion has been covered in a few posts already. They all deal with how to do it with PhotoLab. Staying in PL gets you all of its features and does so without intermediate copies - if you can handle sliders that work in reverse and/or quite differently.
My take on FilmPack’s approach is, that it’s there as a first step towards an automated procedure that improves the results right from the beginning. Looking back on how DxO introduced more complex features in the past, this feature will take a few years to complete.
Meanwhile, the author of Negative Lab Pro is preparing a standalone converter that is due to be available in 2026.
Those interested in camera scanning are advised to have a look into Negative Lab Pro’s forum and guide.
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I don’t know what file you’re talking of but White Balance is done on the RAW material. So only available with a raw file during the demosaicing proces. Otherwise it will be what you call the RGB version.
George
Sure, and the image taken of a piece of film is a raw file. Before Film Scan Optimizer is enabled it’s the RAW White Balance tool. After it’s enabled it’s the RGB White Balance tool. I don’t know why that would be on the same raw file.
Only if you use a digital camera. But this utility is for RGB files from scanners.