Development engine

Chroma Engine

Chroma Engine is the film inversion and development engine in the Chromabase module.

35mm colour negative developed with the standard target — a street with a Fujicolor sign The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Noritsu HS-1800 look The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Fujifilm Frontier SP-3000 look The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Pakon F-135 Plus look The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Kodak Professional HR 500 Plus look 35mm colour negative developed with the standard target — a street with a Fujicolor sign The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Noritsu HS-1800 look The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Fujifilm Frontier SP-3000 look The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Pakon F-135 Plus look The same 35mm colour negative frame developed with the Kodak Professional HR 500 Plus look MAIN Auto-corrected

Standard development

FILM BASE Automatic / Manual

The film base is measured automatically with no setup, and the negative is inverted to a positive. For manual control, select an unexposed area with the eyedropper or enter RGB values directly.

Seven Minilab & Development Target Looks

MAINGeneral development
PRINTOutput using a printer ICC profile
HSNoritsu HS-1800
SPFujifilm Frontier SP-3000
F135Pakon F-135 Plus
HRKodak Professional HR 500 Plus
EXPIREDRecovery for old film
PROFILES15 bundled scanner profiles · realOnly

The default is MAIN with manual adjustments. Auto Tone, Auto White Balance, Auto Levels, and Auto Color are applied only when you run them.

Output can use sRGB, Display P3, Adobe RGB, or a custom RGB ICC profile.

HS, SP, F135, and HR target well-known film scanners long used in professional lab workflows.

Model names identify development targets only. They do not imply implementation of a manufacturer’s software or internal algorithms, a compatibility mode, affiliation, or endorsement.

Color Mathematics

32-bit Float Linear Pipeline

Inversion and tone are computed in 32-bit float linear space prior to gamma encoding, minimising clipping and tone degradation.

Dmin Density Inversion

Density D = log₁₀(Dmin/T) is calculated from linear transmittance and unexposed base measurements.

Stretched Exponential Curve

Applies a dedicated print response curve with an exact inverse function derived from four reference points.

Decoupled Processing

Film emulsion properties, scan light source, and scanner target looks are evaluated in separate stages.

Output Color Space Management

Converts to sRGB, Display P3, Adobe RGB, or custom RGB Printer ICC profiles at the final display and export stages.

48-bit RGB (16-bit per Channel) Precision

Supports full 48-bit RGB (16-bit R/G/B, 281 trillion colors) input and output, which keeps posterization and banding down through heavy tonal adjustment.

Lossless Archival Output

Pairs 48-bit I/O with 32-bit float linear processing, leaving headroom for film archiving and large prints.