On February 9 we released FilmLab 3 Beta 5. This updated beta build brings a bunch of improvements and gets us closer to officially releasing FilmLab 3.
Color Improvements and Film Profiles
FilmLab 3 has had a long beta period (months not weeks). Part of the reason for this is that Filmab 3 includes an all new Color Negative Process, and we’re taking the time to get it perfected before we ship. Based on our own testing and feedback from users, we’ve continued to fine-tune our algorithms and produce more accurate colors. Beta 5 takes another big step forward by introducing film profiles.
Why are film profiles necessary? For a long time, we didn’t actually think they were. We reasoned that, when printing in a darkroom, a photographer didn’t need to tell their enlarger or photo paper what film stock they had used in order to get good results.
But it turns out that for the most accurate conversion of digital scans, the math requires knowing the exact spectral characteristics of all the components in the system: the backlight, the camera sensor, AND the dyes used on the film. So we’ve been building a database of film stocks that will be included in FilmLab 3. When converting an image, select the actual film stock it was shot on, and you’ll be able to get a more accurate color conversion.
The new film stock profiles, as well as other improvements to our algorithms, make for very noticable improvements in most images. For example, consider this photo taken at a water park using a Nikonos III camera and Fujifilm Fujicolor 200 film. The first image shows the photo converted with FilmLab 3 beta 2. The second was converted with beta 5, using the Fujicolor 200 film stock profile.
The reds, yellows, and blues are more vibrant, and there’s more overall contrast. The old version feels dull and veiled by comparison. And these colors haven’t been punched up digitally - what you’re seeing is a more accurate presentation of the color detail that was there on the original film.
These color processing improvements make a big difference when doing archival work as well. The following photo is from a family archive project, scanning a 40 year old negative that wasn’t stored well. You’d expect to see some dullness and color casts with an old, faded, dusty negative. But it’s eye-opening to see how much cleaner the result is using beta 5. It feels a lot more like you’re traveling back in time and visiting the original scene.
New Features
FilmLab Beta 4 added new Highlight Density and Shadow Density sliders for controlling highlights and shadows in both Color Negative and Black and White Negative processes. These replaced the Highlight Recovery tool in the earlier beta builds, which only worked in Color Negative mode.
The new Highlight and Shadow tools are really nice to have for black and white photos. Here’s an example showing how its possible to recover highlight detail without losing overall contrast:
We’ve also adjusted the ranges of our sliders. The slider values now more accurately reflect the values photographers are used to, where a change of 1 in either direction results in a doubling or halving of the amount of light (that’s log2 for us math nerds).
Bug Fixes
Beta 4 fixed an issue where the image shown in the editor would have the wrong aspect ratio after resizing the editor window.
Beta 5 fixes an issue where exported images would come out black on some computers. It also fixes a related issue where FilmLab sometimes became unstable after exporting.
Beta 5 fixes several other potential crashing issues.
Getting and Installing FilmLab 3 Beta 5
The latest FilmLab 3 beta can be downloaded here. Or, if you’re already running FilmLab, you can check to make sure you have the latest beta by going to Help > About FilmLab (Windows) or FilmLab > About FilmLab (Mac). From there, make sure you have Update Channel set to “Beta”, and click “Check for Update”.
Note for Windows Users: FilmLab 3 Beta versions 1-3 had a bug where a FilmLab process would remain running in the background after app exit. This would make the installer fail when trying to upgrade. If you run into this issue, use Windows Task Manager to quit any running FilmLab processes, or restart your computer.
Linux Update
We were really hoping to have a Linux version of FilmLab ready to go before now. Unfortunately, we’ve run into some obstacles that have held up the Linux release, and we need to prioritize shipping the Mac and Windows versions before can turn our attention back to Linux. Stay tuned for more news on this in a future post.
What’s Next, and How You Can Help
In the coming weeks, we’ll be wrapping up the remaining work on FilmLab 3 Desktop. There are a few more missing/broken features, including Falloff Correction, that we need to get working. We’ll also continue to listen to your feedback as you test the beta builds. So please let us know what you think of Beta 5, especially the new film profiles and improved colors!
We know some of you have been waiting to purchase FilmLab until FilmLab 3 is ready to go. If that’s you, we highly encourage you to try the new beta build and see if it meets your needs. Although it has’t been released yet, it’s already a huge leap forward from FilmLab 2.5. As a thank you for your support, you can save 20% on any FilmLab purchase for the remainder of the FilmLab 3 beta period by using the coupon code BETA24 at checkout.