Standalone software
No Lightroom, no plugins, no host app. One program you own.
Now in open beta
Film scanning,
start to finish.
toneScan Studio turns your camera into a dedicated film scanner. Process whole rolls at the speed of a lab, with trichromatic scanning, accurate inversions and instant, full-resolution previews of every edit.
Available for Mac and Windows
Negatives in, photographs out.
toneScan applies automatic, uniform conversions across your whole roll. You only step in for the shots that need it.
All photos converted with toneScan Studio, using automatic settings with minor exposure and white balance tweaks.
Scanned with Fujifilm and Canon cameras.
One application for your complete workflow.
toneScan Studio is standalone software that brings lab-grade speed and accuracy to camera scanning.
The conversion works from how film and paper actually behave rather than a look someone drew by eye, so the colour is right before you touch a single slider.
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All of it in one app
Catalogue, convert, correct, calibrate and export your scans. toneScan Studio is the new home for your whole film photography workflow.
See what it does -
Trichromatic scanning
Get the colour lab scanners are known for: cleaner from the start, less to fix afterwards, and shadows that hold together.
How RGB works -
Fast, and stays out of the way
Quick imports, a GPU viewport, and an interface that answers instantly. Keyboard shortcuts let you fly through a roll like a lab tech.
See it in use
Everything a film scan needs
Capture, calibration, conversion, culling and export, in one program built for film photographers.
Seamless RGB scanning
Trichromatic capture from any camera, mono sensors included. Triplets merged for you.
Flat-field correction
Automatically corrects unevenness in your light source.
See every edit instantly
Adjustments show on the full-resolution image the moment you make them.
Rich inversion engine
Rendering modelled on real film physics and the way darkroom paper responds to light. The starting point already looks like a print, so you adjust to taste.
See samplesBatch editing
Get one frame right and the whole roll follows, matched from first frame to last.
Smart auto-crop
Frame edges found and squared up for you, on every shot.
Properly fast
Smooth, instant previews of every edit, and a keyboard shortcut for everything so you can fly through a roll. Whole rolls convert and export in the background while you carry on working.
Hardware control
Drives your light source and advances the film carrier as you shoot.
The full feature list
Everything toneScan Studio does, grouped by where it fits in the work.
- Hardware controlControls your light source and motorised film carrier for automatic scanning.
- Trichromatic scanningPhotograph each frame under red, green and blue light, the way lab scanners read colour. toneScan Studio finds the three and merges them.
- White-light scanningOne shot per frame works too, with any ordinary light source.
- Works with your existing camera scanning rig
- Automatic exposure tuningTunes your light settings to use the full range of your sensor.
- Flat-field correctionAutomatically corrects unevenness in your light source.
- Crosstalk correction
- Simulated paper responseThe rendering engine models how photographic paper responds to light.
- Three process modesColour negative, B&W negative and slide.
- White balanceAutomatic, or pick your own neutral.
- Automatic brightness and contrast
- Intuitive exposure and tone controlsContrast, density, highlight rolloff and shadow lift.
- Sharpening and noise reduction
- Per-channel inspectionView R, G or B on its own.
- Instant previewsSee your edits straight away, at full resolution.
- Keyboard shortcutsWork through a roll without reaching for the mouse.
- Background processingWhole rolls convert and export while you carry on working.
- Live RGB histogram
- Pixel loupe
- Smart auto-cropNever crop out the film border by hand again.
- Crop, rotate and flip
- Batch editingCopy and paste edits across as many frames as you like.
- Undo, redo and edit history
- Roll-based libraryOrganised by roll, the way you shoot.
- Hot folder supportPoint it at a folder and new scans are picked up as they land.
- Rich metadataRecord the camera, lens and film stock against a roll, and find them again by any of it.
- Colour-managed viewport and exportsRGB, Adobe RGB or Display-P3, with the matching ICC profile embedded.
- TIFF, JPG or DNGSet the quality and the long edge.
- Linear raw exportUnrendered scans in DNG or TIFF, to archive or take elsewhere.
- EXIF written on the way outExports carry the film camera, lens and stock you shot on.
- Filename patternsBuilt from name, date, project or sequence.
- Batch exportExport a selection or the whole roll.
- macOS and WindowsNative builds for both.
- Fully standaloneNo host app and no plugin bridge.
- Flexible licensingOwn it outright, or subscribe.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free right now?
Yes. toneScan Studio is in open beta, and every feature is unlocked while it lasts. Licences go on sale at launch.
What happens to my beta licence when you launch?
It carries on. Buying converts the licence you already have rather than issuing a new one, so the key on your machine keeps working and there is nothing to paste in. Testers also get a discount on whichever licence they pick.
How do I join the beta?
Sign up further down this page and we will send you a key.
Is there a free trial?
There will be at launch: fourteen days with every feature unlocked, no account and no card, started from inside the app. During the beta you do not need it, since the beta itself is free.
What happens when the trial runs out?
The app keeps working in demo mode, which is free forever. Exports are watermarked and capped in size, and any library you built stays open and readable.
Do I need special hardware?
No. toneScan Studio works with raw scans from any digital camera and whatever light you already have. It can also drive our own toneLight and toneCarrier, and selected third-party lights, directly from the app, but nothing depends on that.
Do I have to shoot RGB?
No. Single-shot scanning under white light works the whole way through the app. Trichromatic scanning is there when you want the cleanest colour separation, and it is a choice rather than a requirement.
Can I use it on scans I have already shot?
Yes. Point it at a folder of raw captures and it brings them in, groups them into rolls, and combines the red, green and blue frames if you shot that way. Nothing needs re-scanning.
What film can I convert?
Colour negative, black and white negative, and slide film, across the common formats.
What do I get at the end?
TIFF, JPG or DNG at the size and quality you choose, named with a pattern you control. Exports carry the film camera, lens and stock you shot on. You can also write unrendered linear raw files to archive or take elsewhere.
Which computers does it run on?
Native builds for macOS and Windows. One licence covers two machines.
How will it be licensed?
Buy it once or subscribe. Buying outright is yours to keep, with free updates within a major version. A subscription suits a single project or a longer look than the trial gives, and you can cancel whenever you like. Either way one licence covers two machines.
Is this a Lightroom plugin?
No, it is a complete application. Cataloguing, conversion, colour, calibration and export all happen in one place, so there is no host application to keep a licence for and no round trip between programs to finish a roll.
Join the toneScan Studio open beta.
Free while in beta. Enter your email and we'll send a confirmation link, then your licence key and download.
toneScan Studio is an early beta, expect the occasional rough edge and bug. Native on macOS (Apple Silicon) and Windows. No spam; your email is only used for your beta key.