Import TIFF scans, and pick a negative and a paper
This release is about film, from both ends. Lab scans now come in as TIFF, and the film simulation opens up into the two choices a real print has: which negative, and which paper.
TIFF scans import like any JPEG#
Drop lab scans into a project the same way you drop JPEGs. Abney reads TIFF at 8 and 16 bit, with LZW, Deflate, and PackBits compression. Chrome cannot decode TIFF on its own, so Abney ships its own decoder and runs it off the main thread, where the browser allows.
A 16 bit scan keeps its full depth on the way in. A JPEG that someone renamed to .tif is recognised and imported as the JPEG it is.
One limit for now: a scan has to arrive as a positive. Inverting a raw negative scan is not in yet.
A negative and a paper, picked apart#
The film card used to offer one combined look. It now holds two pickers. Negative is the film stock the image is exposed on, and it sets the base character. Paper is what the print lands on, and it owns contrast and colour. Once a paper is chosen, the print controls appear under it: print exposure and a yellow and magenta filter pack, the way an enlarger meters a print.
Hover or arrow through either list and the choice previews live on the selected photo before you commit.
Why two pickers? Because the halves belong to different photos. A digital frame wants both: a negative for film character, a paper to print it on. A scan of real film already carries its negative inside the image, so it usually wants a paper alone.
Five negatives and four papers ship today, and print exposure and the yellow and magenta filters work whichever you pick.
Also in this release#
- If a project's folder was moved or renamed on disk, Abney offers to point the project at the new location instead of opening onto nothing.
- Signed out, the sign-in prompt now waits as a small card in the bottom corner until you want it, instead of standing in front of the work.