Film Profiling with IT8 Targets

Film profiling is the process of determining the precise color characteristics of color negative film. To do this, you need to take a picture of an IT8 target and scan this frame of film. Make sure the picture is rectangular on the film.

You can obtain an A4-sized camera target from:

  Wolf Faust:  http://www.targets.coloraid.de/

To profile your film with an IT8 target:

 1) Profile your scanner (see above)
 2) Set "Input|Scan task" to "Profile film"
 3) Rename IT8 description file "film.it8"
 4) Press "Preview" button
 5) Rotate image to upright position
 6) Adjust cropping until IT8 outline matches (not all boxes outlined)
 7) Choose "Profile|Profile film" from the drop-down menu
 8) The ICC profile will be written to "film.icc"

If you've previously made an ICC profile for a roll of film, you only need to do the following:

 1) Set "Color|Film color space" to "ICC profile"
 2) Set "Color|Film ICC profile" to file name of ICC file

VueScan normally reads and writes the ICC profile for film using the file "film.icc". Alternatively, you can put the file name of the ICC profile into "Color|Film ICC profile".

Every IT8 target has an associated data file that describes the exact color of each square in the target. You should either rename this file "film.it8" or put the file name into "Color|Film IT8 data". If you don't have a data file for your target, use "film.it8" if it's a film target or "paper.it8" if it's a paper target.