---
title: "Manual"
description: "The user manual of Open Negative Initiative: the archive, Prepare the Roll, the Roll, Crop, Color and Details tabs, the presets, the export and every menu."
url: "https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual"
date: "2026-11-03"
---

[Home](https://open-negative-initiative.com/)

# The manual

**The manual of Open Negative Initiative, surface by surface.** One page per part of the app, one row per control: what it does to your photo, its numbers, and what travels with it.

![A garden in black and white: palms, an inflatable hot tub and a chimney stove, two horses in the fenced paddock behind.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/media/carousel/garden-paddock-1400.webp)

![The raw scan of the garden: tones reversed, the foliage white against a black sky, on the clear base of a black and white film, sprocket holes along both edges.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/media/carousel/garden-paddock-raw-1400.webp)

**Garden paddock, Ilford HP5, converted in Open Negative Initiative.**

## Every surface, in the order of your work.

**Eleven pages.** From the folder of scans to the exported file.

- [Archive Open the folder of your film scans, make each film a roll, gather frames into projects, and restore a deleted photo from the ONI Trash. Nothing is copied. 19 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/archive)
- [Prepare the Roll Five steps before your roll is edited: film type, flat-field, film base, flagged frames and the measuring frame. Then Measure converts every frame. 12 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/prepare-the-roll)
- [Roll Film type, flat-field, levels and Balance Strength: what one roll of film shares, and how each control changes every frame of it. 15 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/roll)
- [Crop Crop your film scans to a ratio, straighten them, turn and mirror them, and set the measuring window. The framing has its own Copy and Paste. 6 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/crop)
- [Color White balance, exposure, contrast and curves for your converted film scans: every control of the Color tab, and what it does to your photo. 14 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/color)
- [Details Sharpening, chroma denoise and texture for your film scans: the stages that act on the grain, judged in the loupe at full resolution. 3 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/details)
- [De-dust Paint over the dust and scratches of your film scans with a brush, set its size, and read every correction painted on the photo in one list. 2 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/de-dust)
- [Scanner Edit a film scan like a lab scanner: the ONI or Frontier render, a keypad of D, C, M, Y and TEMP, and the finish laid after its render. 7 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/scanner)
- [Presets Save a look as a preset, choose what it carries with its eighteen switches, apply it from the deck or the Settings menu, and copy and paste settings. 6 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/presets)
- [Export Export your converted film scans: three presets, TIFF or JPEG, colour space and paper profile, size, the HDR hack, and each photo's EXIF line. 12 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/export)
- [Toolbar and menus Every key of the bar and of the canvas margin around your photo, and every menu item of the app with its keyboard shortcut. 8 entries](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/toolbar)

## Convert your first roll tonight.

**Add your folder, prepare the roll once, export.** Free, and nothing else to install.

[Download for Mac](https://github.com/5e1y/open-negative-initiative-releases/releases/latest/download/OpenNegative.dmg) · [Download for Windows](https://github.com/5e1y/open-negative-initiative-releases/releases/latest/download/ONI-windows.zip)

[How to convert a film negative, step by step](https://open-negative-initiative.com/guide)

- **Mac**: macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon or Intel
- **Windows**: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)

[Blocked at first launch?](https://open-negative-initiative.com/download#verify)

![A snowy Paris street at night, a lit cafe under arcades, tyre tracks in the snow.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/media/carousel/snow-night-1400.webp)

***Snow night.** Kodak Gold, converted in Open Negative Initiative.*