ColorPerfect's ColorNeg mode and the original ColorNeg plug-in for Adobe Photoshop

ColorNeg is one of three modes of operation in which you can use ColorPerfect our plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and PhotoLine. ColorNeg is still all about negative film. It converts scans of color negatives, scans of black and white negatives and digital repro-photos of black and white negatives into high quality digital positive images. For that ColorPerfect's unique image editing tools are available like in the other two modes. For example to professionally color correct your images ColorPerfect features a comprehensive color balance system using CC filters. This form of color correction is familiar to many photographers with analog darkroom experience.

ColorPerfect's ColorNeg mode has built-in characterization data for hundreds of types of color negative film from Kodak, Fuji, Agfa, AgfaColor, Konica, China Lucky, Rollei and Ferrania. See a listing of all film types included. To learn more about the advantages of inverting your negatives with ColorNeg please also read our article "Why use ColorNeg?".

Beyond the autodidactically intuitive tools ColorPerfect features a powerful system for the specific inversion of color negatives whose advanced features and use gets described in ColorPerfect's built-in help system, various specific articles and tutorial videos on this web site.

Try ColorNeg mode on an example scan and learn how to create suitable scans yourself

Prior to learning how to create linear scans of your negatives and digitizing your own films we'd like to offer you a sample scan as a linear Tiff file to try ColorNeg on. The sample file has the required bit depth of 16 bits per channel and a linear Gamma.

The key to successfully using ColorPerfect's ColorNeg mode are suitable scans of your negatives. The image file resulting from the scan must be in RGB mode and needs a bit depth of 16 bit per channel (48 bit RGB) and a linear Gamma (1.0). Scans of this nature have similar properties as a digital camera's RAW photos. Both are the unaltered capture of light intensities as recorded by a digital imaging sensor. Read more on how to create such linear scans using various scanners and their respective software in our scanning tutorial section.

Supported versions of Adobe Photoshop, PhotoLine and Adobe Photoshop Elements for PC & Mac

On Windows PCs one or both of the 32 and 64 bit plug-in versions of ColorPerfect can be used with Adobe Photoshop 7 through CS6 as well as Adobe Photoshop CC through CC 2022. PhotoLine can also be used as a host. It is fully supported from its release 16 onwards. The third host you may use is Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) in its versions 2 through 15 as well as 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. For installation instructions detailing what to install where please refer to ColorPerfect's PC ReadMe file. Note that 64 bit hosts exclusively work with Colorperfect and not with our legacy plug-ins.

On Intel Macs using Mac OS X one or both of the 32 and 64 bit plug-in versions of ColorPerfect can be used with Adobe Photoshop CS3 through CS6 as well as Adobe Photoshop CC through CC 2022. PhotoLine can also be used as a host. It is fully supported from its release 16 onwards. The third host you may use is Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) in its versions 6 through 15 as well as 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. For installation instructions detailing what to install where please refer to ColorPerfect's Intel Mac ReadMe file. Note that 64 bit hosts exclusively work with Colorperfect and not with our legacy plug-ins.

On actual legacy PowerPC Mac hardware Adobe Photoshop 7, CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4, PhotoLine 15 through 17.10 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 through 6 are supported for both ColorPerfect and our legacy plug-ins. For installation instructions detailing what to install where please refer to ColorPerfect's PPC Mac ReadMe file.

ColorPerfect, ColorNeg, ColorPos and GamSat can all be unlocked with the same license key

Prior to the release of ColorPerfect we provided three separate plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop: ColorNeg, ColorPos and GamSat. These were replaced by ColorPerfect in 2010. We still offer the old plug-ins along with their original PDF manuals for download. The articles we previously published on GamSat were transformed into a subsection of the ColorPos category of this web site.

The same license key can be used to unlock our international English plug-ins ColorPerfect, ColorNeg, ColorPos and GamSat for the chosen operating system. A license costs $67.00. If you are located within the European Union that is a net price and the VAT rate applicable for your purchase will be added to that during checkout. To use the plug-ins both under Windows and under Mac OS X separate licenses are required. The license keys of the German versions are not compatible. The links to the secure shop of our distribution partner can be found below the downloads in the right hand side column of this web site.

Grid in the demo plug-in versions

This web site offers fully functional demo versions of the international English plug-ins. The demo plug-in versions of ColorPerfect, ColorNeg and ColorPos generate a grid in the final image. The grid is subtle enough that the results can be evaluated and will go away once you enter your license key which can be purchased via a secure web page as detailed above.

Old plug-ins, PDF manuals and ColorPerfect's built-in help system

Instead of a printable manual ColorPerfect currently features a built-in help system. Users who are familiar with the original ColorNeg or ColorPos plug-in will quickly get acquainted with ColorPerfect. Mastering ColorPerfect by means of the old manuals will likely be more confusing than helpful, so we ask new users to resort to the plug-in's help system right away. To do so please follow the instructions in ColorPerfect's ReadMe.txt file, load the linear scan of a negative or a Tiff file created by MakeTiff from a digital RAW photo in Photoshop, start the plug-in and immediately click on the Help button. Follow the order suggested to read the help texts where applicable.