The next evolution in film conversion is here. Building on everything we’ve learned from years of developing tools for the modern analog photographer, CineStill is proud to introduce the CS-LITE+ — the first light source designed with our new SpectraCOLOR™ technology at its core. This is more than just an upgraded version of the original CS-LITE — this is a new class of scanning light, engineered from the ground up to maximize the color potential of your negatives.

For our first release of the summer — yes we still have two more “+” announcements coming (no slide film, sorry) — we are excited to share these new color negative conversion tools and the philosophy and science behind SpectraCOLOR™ with our film community! Our goal with the CS Negative+ Convert Tools was to keep it simple and FREE while maximizing compatibility, consistency, and fidelity. And we’ve already made some major updates based on valuable user feedback (get the latest version 1.2 now), including new Color Models and Tools optimized for basic white light sources like video lights and light boxes/panels.

Developed by CineStill over the past 3 years, SpectraCOLOR™ is the next big step in closing the gap between analog beauty and digital precision. Giving you not just a “close-enough” reinterpretation, but the most accurate representation of your film to work with. Using SpectraCOLOR™-enhanced film conversion tools will ensure that you get what your film was designed for, and enjoy a simpler conversion experience. 

The real secret to a workable camera scan is getting a good initial capture in camera so that you don’t have to push or stretch the file more than it's bit depth or the software can handle. This means getting an appropriate exposure and color balance at the moment of capture. 

With the new CS-LITE, there are 3 color modes built in: Warm for slides, White for black and white film, and Cool mode for color negatives. So for this post, we’re putting all 3 color modes to the test to show you the difference. 

Raw CaptureCool | White | Warm

Due to the orange mask which is present when scanning color negatives, using any other scanning light source (or our CS-LITE set to the White light mode), you will need to do more than just invert the negative with added contrast and adjust color temperature further for good color, resulting in the need to use the fringes of what the sensors is capable of recording, similar to underexposing or blowing your highlights by overexposing your capture, but only in one or two color channels. RAW files are fantastic if you miss exposure a little bit, but there are limits. For example, you don’t want to underexpose your capture too much or you will see a lot of noise and contrast and color will be hard to control.

Inverted with LR CurvesCool | White | Warm

It needed hardly any RGB midpoint correction to adjust for the Cool setting and likely only because this was 800T in open shade, otherwise I would have been able to correct color using only white balance if it were shot on 400D or with an 85 warming filter on the lens. It is very apparent that the White and Warm light modes require quite a bit more adjustment, even when adjusting the RGB midpoints in tone curves...

CineStill is excited to announce our first product dedicated to digital camera scanning: the CS-LITE Camera Scanning Light Source. The CS-LITE is a compact camera scanning light source, created to provide film photographers with better color accuracy and sharper images when it comes to scanning their favorite film with a digital camera.