Anybody have recommendations for a free computer app that can change negatives to actual pictures?

While I borrowed a negative scanner, the ancient negatives I've come across in my family history digitization project are too large to fit.

I have an idea of how to scan with backlight (may or may not work), but then, I no longer have a photography program that instantly flips negatives like I did back in the day.

Looking forward to your recommendations.

@BlueStateBabe I'm sure it can be done with almost any photo editor. I was able to use GIMP to invert a b&w negative, but I haven't tried color negatives yet.

@NoahPaulLeGies

Unfamiliar with GIMP.

I used to have Adobe Photodeluxe like 20+ years ago, but it won't work on Windows 11. In fact, when I tried, it crashed my entire system and I lost so much ๐Ÿ˜ฅ . Now just use the built in photo editor that comes with my laptop, but rotation, color adjustment and resizing are about all it does. No inversion.

@BlueStateBabe @NoahPaulLeGies
GIMP is pretty awesome, worth learning if you do a lot of image editing. It's very robust though, so more than some users want/need. Plus the interface can be a little weird until you get used to it.

You might try Photofiltre 7. It's been around a long time, so it's solid. I don't currently have it installed, but seem to remember it can convert from negative.

photofiltre-studio.com/pf7-en.

@p3R1n01D @NoahPaulLeGies

So far, GIMP seems to be working. Turns out scanning the negs was the challenge. Done with that part now. Hope that the scans worked well enough for all the negs.

@MrGoat @BlueStateBabe @NoahPaulLeGies
Good advice, lots of Gimp tutorials out there. Probably lots of help available right here on CoSo, too.

Best of luck!

@p3R1n01D I generally just think of it as a free twin of Photoshop. A tutorial for doing something in PS can often times be used to do the same thing in GIMP. @MrGoat @BlueStateBabe

@NoahPaulLeGies @MrGoat @BlueStateBabe
Thanks, that's good to know! That might make it more intuitive for PS users, and certainly expands the available tutorials.

@MrGoat @NoahPaulLeGies @BlueStateBabe
I've always wanted to check that out better! I remember looking into it years ago and thought it was cool, guess I didn't have the time.

@MrGoat @p3R1n01D @NoahPaulLeGies @BlueStateBabe

I find Blender painful. Maya is expensive (and messy) but itโ€™s UI beats Blender.

And Mayaโ€™s UI is pretty bad.

Sign in to participate in the conversation

CounterSocial is the first Social Network Platform to take a zero-tolerance stance to hostile nations, bot accounts and trolls who are weaponizing OUR social media platforms and freedoms to engage in influence operations against us. And we're here to counter it.