---
title: "Negative Lab Pro alternatives: eight tools compared"
description: "Negative Lab Pro alternatives compared: NegPy, Grain2Pixel, darktable negadoctor, Capture One, SmartConvert, FilmLab and a free standalone app: cost, host, platform."
url: "https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative"
date: "2026-11-03"
---

Compare

# Negative Lab Pro alternatives

**Eight ways to convert your negatives.** Compared on cost, on what each needs underneath it and on platform. Open Negative Initiative, free and open source, measures your whole roll before you edit a frame.

![A red flare burning on an arched footbridge over a canal at night, a crowd along both banks and the light spilling onto the water.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/media/carousel/canal-bridge-flare-1400.webp)

![The raw scan of the canal: the flare reads as a pale blue-green burst and the bridge as thin orange lines, under the orange base.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/media/carousel/canal-bridge-flare-raw-1400.webp)

**Canal bridge flare, Kodak Gold, converted in Open Negative Initiative.**

## Seven alternatives, compared.

**Read what each one needs before what it costs.** Two of the free tools live inside an application you pay for: count the whole workflow.

[Each alternative, in detail](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative#each-alternative)

| Criterion | Open Negative Initiative | Negative Lab Pro | Grain2Pixel | darktable (negadoctor) | NegPy | Capture One | SmartConvert | FilmLab |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cost | Free, GPL-3.0 | $99 once, plus Adobe | Free | Free, GPL | Free, GPL-3.0 | Subscription or perpetual | Paid, perpetual | $7.99 a month, $59.99 a year or $199.99 once |
| Needs | Itself, standalone | Lightroom Classic | Photoshop | Nothing | Nothing | Nothing | Nothing | Nothing |
| Platform | macOS 13+, Windows 10+ | macOS, Windows | macOS, Windows | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows | macOS, Windows | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android |
| Try before | Free outright | 24 conversions, no watermark | Free outright | Free outright | Free outright | ? | Demo, watermarked | 14 days |
| Source | Ships with each version | Closed | ? | Public repository, public history | Public repository, public history | Closed | Closed | Closed |

By [Rémi Courtillon](https://open-negative-initiative.com/about), who writes Open Negative Initiative. A question mark marks a cell this page has yet to verify. Negative Lab Pro price, trial limit and Lightroom requirement from [negativelabpro.com/pricing](https://www.negativelabpro.com/pricing/), consulted 1 November 2026. NegPy licence and platforms from its README on [github.com/marcinz606/NegPy](https://github.com/marcinz606/NegPy), consulted 1 November 2026. FilmLab prices, platforms and trial from [filmlabapp.com/pricing](https://www.filmlabapp.com/pricing), consulted 1 November 2026. SmartConvert platform, formats, licensing model and demo from [filmomat.eu/smartconvert](https://www.filmomat.eu/smartconvert), consulted 15 August 2026. Capture One negative conversion shipped in 16.7.4, March 2026, from its release notes, consulted 15 August 2026.

## Which one is right for you.

**Start from what you already have.** The application you already pay for usually decides, and each row points to the tool made for it.

| You already have | Look at | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lightroom Classic | Negative Lab Pro | A plugin made for it. $99 once, plus Adobe. |
| Photoshop | [Grain2Pixel](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative#grain2pixel) | Free, and it lives where you already work. |
| Capture One | [Its own Convert Negative](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative#capture-one) | Built in since 16.7.4, March 2026. |
| Linux | [darktable's negadoctor](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative#darktable-negadoctor) or [NegPy](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative#negpy) | Both free and GPL. negadoctor lives inside a full raw editor; NegPy is made for film alone. |
| A phone or a tablet | FilmLab | Standalone and paid, and the only one here on iOS and Android. |
| A Mac or a PC, and a fresh start | Open Negative Initiative | Free, and complete on its own. [SmartConvert](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative#smartconvert) if you would rather buy a finished product outright. |

## Where this one is different.

**Your roll measured, your negative converted in density, your folders kept.** Each has a page of its own.

[Read the research](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-alternative#why-a-plain-inversion-turns-your-scan-cyan)

- **Your roll, measured once.** Prepare the Roll reads every frame through one measuring frame, and each opens on the roll's window. [One measurement per roll](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/roll-measurement).
- **Your negative, converted in density.** Every stop of your scene keeps the same room, and Exposure reads in EV. [Density inversion](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/density-inversion).
- **Everything in one app.** Your folders are the catalogue, sorted into rolls and projects; your originals stay as they are. [Archive and Projects](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/archive-and-projects).

- Auto White Balance runs when you press it, reading the light by Shades of Gray, a sixth-power mean. [Colour management](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/colour-management).
- Chroma denoise smooths colour noise and keeps the brightness of each pixel as it is, so the film grain stays. [Chroma denoise](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/chroma-denoise).
- Dust and scratches clear under a brush that copies a patch from your own frame, found by a classical search of the photo. [Dust and scratches](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/dust-and-scratches).
- Every setting lives in a small JSON file beside its scan, so the work travels with the folder and the originals stay as they are. [Archive and Projects](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/archive-and-projects).
- Exports are 16-bit TIFF or JPEG, with an optional HDR gain map that keeps every pixel of the JPEG as it is. [Export and EXIF](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/export-and-exif).
- Seven EXIF fields (camera, lens, film, ISO, date, artist and copyright) are written per photo, opened on the scan's own. [Export and EXIF](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/export-and-exif).
- A Scanner face offers the look of Fujifilm's Frontier lab scanner, with a keypad of D, C, M, Y and TEMP, as a second edit you switch to yourself. [The Scanner face](https://open-negative-initiative.com/manual/scanner).
- A frame shot three times under red, green and blue light is read as one negative. [The guide](https://open-negative-initiative.com/guide).

![A photograph of model gliders inverted in Photoshop: a cyan cast over the grass and the glider, under a dark teal sky.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/_astro/p1072541-1-minus-x.DaEzF6wF_1ooHcp.webp)

***Inverted in Photoshop.** Your scan, subtracted from one: a cyan cast over everything, and a sky darker than the ground.*

![The same photograph converted in Open Negative Initiative: a blue sky over golden grass and an orange glider.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/_astro/p1072541-oni.CT5qwKPR_ZPYOPW.webp)

***Converted in Open Negative Initiative.** The same scan, inverted in density: the sky back above the ground.*

## What to know before you switch.

**Where it runs, who writes it, where your edits start.** Check these before you move a roll over.

- **On your Mac or your PC.** macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon or Intel, and Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit).
- **Written by one person.** Rémi Courtillon writes it, and [the full source of every version](https://open-negative-initiative.com/open) is published with it.
- **Each frame starts fresh from your scan.** Open Negative Initiative converts from the scan itself, and keeps your edit in a small file beside it; the scan stays as it is.

### Where do adjustments apply?

Every control acts on the whole frame, and the dust brush works where you paint.

### What metadata does it write?

Seven EXIF fields, typed photo by photo on the export screen: camera, lens, film, ISO, date, artist and copyright. [Export and EXIF](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/export-and-exif).

### Where does its behaviour come from?

From the physics of C-41, which is public: Open Negative Initiative is its own code, written from that physics.

## Negative Lab Pro alternatives: questions

**What photographers ask before converting.** The short answers first, then the detail.

### What is the best free alternative to Negative Lab Pro?

It depends on what you already own. With Photoshop, Grain2Pixel is free and lives there. As standalone apps, two free, GPL apps are made for film alone: Open Negative Initiative, for macOS and Windows, and NegPy, also on Linux. darktable's negadoctor is the free option inside a full raw editor.

### Is there an open source alternative to Negative Lab Pro?

Yes, three. Open Negative Initiative runs on macOS and Windows; NegPy and darktable's negadoctor also run on Linux. All three are free and GPL, and each runs on its own.

### Do I need Lightroom to convert film negatives?

Lightroom is required by Negative Lab Pro specifically, because it is a Lightroom plugin. Standalone converters and darktable convert your negatives on their own.

### Is Open Negative Initiative a Negative Lab Pro clone?

Open Negative Initiative is its own application, written from the public physics of colour film. It converts your negative in density, measures each roll whole, once, before a frame is edited, and places each channel's black and white on a density scale.

### Does Capture One replace Negative Lab Pro?

For its own users, largely. Capture One added negative conversion in 16.7.4, March 2026, and Negative Lab Pro has never been available for it. It serves those who already pay for Capture One.

### What do converted frames look like?

[See all sixteen conversions](https://open-negative-initiative.com/gallery), real photographs converted in Open Negative Initiative, each with its raw scan.

## What it does with your negative.

**From your scan to your export.** One page per feature.

- [One measurement per roll Measured from all its frames.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/roll-measurement)
- [Colour management What you edit is what you export.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/colour-management)
- [Density inversion Every stop gets the same room.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/density-inversion)
- [Chroma denoise Colour noise goes, grain stays.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/chroma-denoise)
- [Contact sheets Your roll on one sheet.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/contact-sheet)
- [Archive and Projects Your folders are the catalogue.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/archive-and-projects)
- [Dust and scratches You paint, your photo patches.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/dust-and-scratches)
- [Export and EXIF Your camera, lens and film.](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/export-and-exif)

## 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.*

## The research.

**What each does differently, and who should stay with it.** Each alternative in detail, side by side with this one; then what converting film asks of you, from the cyan cast to the dust.

|  | Open Negative Initiative | Capture One |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scope | Film conversion and organisation | Full raw editor and catalogue |
| Automatic conversion | One measurement per roll, then Auto White Balance on a click | Convert Negative |
| Scans | Read from your folders | Imported, or shot tethered |
| Catalogue | Your folders, as rolls and projects, for film | Catalogue or sessions, any photo |
| Local adjustments | Every control on the whole frame, the dust brush where you paint | Layers and masks |
| Metadata written on export | Seven EXIF fields, typed per frame | IPTC and copyright fields |

***Capture One and Open Negative Initiative, side by side.** What each is made for. Capture One's negative conversion shipped in 16.7.4, March 2026, from its release notes, consulted 15 August 2026.*

### Capture One: stay if you already pay for it

[Capture One](https://www.captureone.com) shipped negative conversion in **version 16.7.4, March 2026**: a Convert Negative button, a dedicated Film Negative workspace, and tethered scanning. Negative Lab Pro has never existed for it.

**If you already pay for it, stay.** You keep a mature raw editor, tethering, layers, and a catalogue that holds every photo you shoot, film and digital. Open Negative Initiative is made for film alone, the one stage Capture One already covers.

Three reasons to convert outside it. **The subscription is why you are reading this**, and Open Negative Initiative is free, [every feature included](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features). **You want the negative's own controls**: [levels on a density scale](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/density-inversion), a density ceiling, a Source Balance per channel of ±3 stops. **Your colour drifts from frame to frame**: here the whole roll is measured once and every frame opens on its window, so a thin negative and a flat scene stay apart.

|  | Open Negative Initiative | darktable negadoctor |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Approach | One measurement of each roll | A model of the printing process |
| Scope | Film conversion and organisation | Full raw editor |
| Maturity | 1.x, one person | Mature, large project |
| Development | Public repository, public history, a complete source archive per version | Public repository, public history, public review, pull requests |
| If its authors stop | Fork the repository or the last archive under the same licence | A project with governance carries on |

***darktable negadoctor and Open Negative Initiative, side by side.** Two GPL projects: one models the print, the other measures your roll.*

### darktable negadoctor: free, inside a full raw editor

[darktable](https://www.darktable.org)'s **negadoctor** is the serious free option for inverting colour negatives. It runs on Linux, Windows and macOS, and it is the best public reference on the physics of C-41 inversion; Open Negative Initiative's own notes say so. Open Negative Initiative's code is its own: the physics is public, and that module was read as a reference.

**negadoctor asks you to describe the film:** the density of the film base, a paper black, a paper grey, a paper exposure. They are what an enlarger does, and when you know your film they get you there quickly. A partly clipped channel or a scanner TIFF with a curve already baked in leaves you adjusting the description instead of the picture.

**Open Negative Initiative asks you to measure the roll.** The inversion is [a conversion to density](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/density-inversion), and everything after it starts from [one measurement of the whole roll](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/roll-measurement); the film base, if you want it as the black, is the patch you pick under a loupe. Every value comes from your roll and your hand.

The structural difference between these two GPL projects is how they are built: darktable has a decade of public history and a large project behind it, Open Negative Initiative one person's public repository and [a source archive attached to each release](https://open-negative-initiative.com/open). Both are free, so the test that decides is the roll that has been giving you trouble, converted in each.

|  | Open Negative Initiative | Grain2Pixel |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Whole roll at once | Prepare the Roll measures it once, and PASTE TO ROLL lays one look on every frame | Batch scripts |
| Non-destructive | Sidecars beside the originals | Photoshop layers and documents |
| Export | 16-bit TIFF or JPEG, in sRGB, Display P3, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto or a paper's ICC profile, your photo edited in that space | Whatever Photoshop exports |

***Grain2Pixel and Open Negative Initiative, side by side.** A plugin that lives in Photoshop, and an application that stands on its own.*

### Grain2Pixel: free, if you have Photoshop

[**Grain2Pixel**](https://www.grain2pixel.com) is a free film negative converter that runs as a Photoshop plugin. For anyone who already works in Photoshop it is the obvious first thing to try.

The whole comparison is one question. **You already pay for Photoshop**: use Grain2Pixel. **Otherwise**: the plugin is free and the application it needs is paid, the same arithmetic as [what a Negative Lab Pro crack actually saves you](https://open-negative-initiative.com/negative-lab-pro-crack).

This compares how each works, and leaves the verdict on Grain2Pixel's colour to your own rolls. What differs is **where the colour comes from**: in Open Negative Initiative, each roll is measured whole before a frame is edited, and your photo is edited in the space it is exported in.

|  | Open Negative Initiative | SmartConvert |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Platform | macOS 13+, Windows 10+ | macOS 11+, Windows 8+ |
| Reads | Camera RAW, DNG, TIFF, JPEG, PNG | Common RAW types and TIFF; not JPEG |
| Maturity | 1.x, one person | Established product |
| Development | Public repository, public history, a complete source archive per version | Closed, commercial |

***SmartConvert and Open Negative Initiative, side by side.** SmartConvert platform and formats from filmomat.eu/smartconvert, consulted 15 August 2026.*

### SmartConvert: standalone, and sold outright

[**SmartConvert**](https://www.filmomat.eu/smartconvert), by Filmomat, is a standalone film negative converter. It reads common RAW types and TIFF, in colour and monochrome, and it is sold outright, as a one-time purchase. A watermarked demo is available for both platforms.

**Where they agree.** SmartConvert states that its algorithm avoids artificially altering the image: no LUTs, no effects, no attempt to emulate a look. Close to Open Negative Initiative, which opens each frame on its roll's measurement and leaves every look to your hand. What Open Negative Initiative does ship is a Scanner face, with two machines, ONI and Frontier, that you switch to yourself.

For an established, supported product, SmartConvert. Open Negative Initiative is built by one person, who publishes [the source of each version](https://open-negative-initiative.com/open) with it, and it is free to try beside the demo.

|  | Open Negative Initiative | NegPy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price and licence | Free, GPL-3.0 | Free, GPL-3.0 |
| Platform | macOS 13+, Windows 10+ | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Approach | Your negative converted in density, one measurement per roll | Builds the print in density on an H&D curve, graded in paper grades |
| Where your edits live | A JSON sidecar beside each scan | Edits in a local SQLite database, optional .negpy sidecars |
| Development | Public repository, public history, a complete source archive per version | Public repository, public history |

***NegPy and Open Negative Initiative, side by side.** Two free converters made for film. NegPy's side from its README, consulted 1 November 2026.*

### NegPy: a free converter made for film

[**NegPy**](https://github.com/marcinz606/NegPy) is a free film negative converter under GPL-3.0, with a public repository on GitHub. It runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, standalone, and is made for film scans alone: a library of rolls, a roll-wide analysis, ICC soft proofing, contact sheets.

The two differ in where your work lives: NegPy keeps your edits in a local database, with sidecars as an option; Open Negative Initiative writes every setting to a small JSON file beside its scan.

***One grey, two inversions.** The value each channel ends with, for one grey of your scene under an illustrative orange mask. Subtracted from one, as an Invert command does, red falls behind green and blue, and the grey turns cyan. Inverted in density, the three channels read alike.*

### Why a plain inversion turns your scan cyan

A colour negative carries an orange mask, built into its base to correct its dyes, and every frame sits on it. Subtract the scan from one, as an Invert command does, and that orange becomes a cyan cast over the whole photograph. The tones suffer too: a scan records light linearly, so a linear inversion gives each stop of your scene a different width, tiny at one end of the range and huge at the other.

Film itself answers in density, the logarithm of the light it blocks, and on a density axis a stop is always the same distance, about 0.3, wherever it falls. Open Negative Initiative converts your negative in density, so every stop keeps the same room. The film base you click in Prepare the Roll becomes every channel's black, and the orange goes with it. [How density inversion works](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/density-inversion).

| Your file | What it holds | Where the conversion starts |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Camera RAW | The light that reached the sensor, with no curve applied | From the light itself, with the most room |
| A finished scanner TIFF | The scanner's curve, already applied | From that curve |
| JPEG | A curve, in 8 bits per channel | From that curve, with the least room |
| A photo of the empty panel | Your lens falloff and the unevenness of your light | It is the flat-field, applied before everything else |

***Where your conversion starts.** Open Negative Initiative opens camera RAW, DNG included, TIFF, JPEG and PNG; a RAW gives every new roll the most room.*

### Scan in RAW, on even light

A camera RAW holds numbers proportional to the light that reached the sensor, with no curve applied: the most room a conversion can have. A JPEG or a finished scanner TIFF already carries a curve, and the conversion starts from it. Open Negative Initiative reads camera RAW, DNG included, as well as TIFF, JPEG and PNG, so the scans you already have open as they are, and RAW serves every new roll best.

Photographing your film with a camera over a light panel? Prepare the Roll calls it DSLR Scan. A photograph of the empty panel, shot on the same rig, is the flat-field: it evens out the falloff of your lens and the unevenness of your light, and it runs before everything else.

***Twelve frames, one window.** Each bar is one frame's own black and white. Your roll's window is read across all of them, near the ends, a step inside the most extreme frame, so it follows the typical frames and the light leak of frame 7 sits above it. A diagram on illustrative values; the rule is the app's.*

### Why the roll is measured before the frame

Every frame of a roll shares the same film, the same development and usually the same scanning light, and those set its colour shift, the same on the first frame as on the last. A frame balanced on its own follows its scene instead, and a sunset gets pulled toward grey.

Open Negative Initiative measures the roll whole, once, and opens every frame on that window, so the frames of one roll match. Auto White Balance then gives a frame its own colour when you press it, and lays only part of its correction, so a warm scene keeps some of its warmth. [One measurement per roll](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/roll-measurement).

| Film Type | What you scanned | Inverted |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Negative | A colour negative, orange mask and all | Yes, in density |
| Positive | A slide, already a positive | No: its blacks and whites stay as you shot them |
| B&W | A black-and-white negative | Yes, in density |

***Film Type, the first step of Prepare the Roll.** The wrong film type converts every frame of the roll wrong, so it comes first.*

### Slides and black and white, too

Film Type, the first step of Prepare the Roll, says what you scanned: Negative, Positive or B&W. A slide is already a positive, so it is not inverted, and its blacks and whites stay as you shot them.

What drifts across a roll of slides is colour, from the film batch, the lab or the light you scanned on. Click a white or grey on one slide in Prepare the Roll, and the whole roll takes one balance from it.

| In the Crop tab | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| COPY | Copies this photo's crop |
| PASTE | Pastes the copied crop on this photo, or on the photos you selected |
| PASTE TO ROLL | Pastes the copied crop on every photo measured with this roll |

***The crop travels on its own.** Copy and Paste carry the whole framing to other photographs, PASTE TO ROLL to every frame of the roll; the settings paste never does.*

### Cropping a scanned strip

Shot a whole strip in one frame? Crop it frame by frame in the Crop tab: one photo is one frame. Its Copy, Paste and PASTE TO ROLL carry the framing to other photos, so on a copy stand where the film holds still, one crop frames the whole roll, and the crop travels apart from the settings.

When you scan, leave a little of the rebate, the bare border around each frame, in the picture: it holds the film base you click in Prepare the Roll, and the crop takes it off at the end.

|  | On the negative | In your converted photo | What clears it |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dust | A speck that blocks light | A bright speck | A blower and a lint-free cloth before you scan, the De-dust brush after |
| A scratch | A line across the film | A bright line | The De-dust brush, painted over it |

***Bright, once inverted.** What blocks light on your negative turns bright in your photo: every speck taken off the film is one less to paint.*

### Dust and scratches, before and after the scan

Dust on a negative blocks light, so once the scan is inverted it shows as bright specks, and a scratch as a bright line. A blower and a clean, lint-free cloth before scanning remove most of it, and every speck taken off the film is one less to paint.

What stays, [the De-dust brush](https://open-negative-initiative.com/features/dust-and-scratches) clears: you paint over the mark, and a patch is copied from your own frame, found by a classical search of the photo.