Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

[OM] B&W film scanning

Subject: [OM] B&W film scanning
From: AG Schnozz <agschnozz@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 07:53:30 -0700 (PDT)
I'm experimenting a little with different B&W films again, and
find that scanning films is a whole different ballgame than
enlarging them in the darkroom. What looks absolutely stunning
on photographic paper is downright grotty when scanned into the
computer.

Scanner: Nikon Coolscan II
Software:  Vuescan (very latest version)
Editors:  Gimp, XRes

I haven't yet mastered the scanning software.  I can get
wonderful scans out of color negs and slides, but B&W is a
challenge.  The brightness levels are all wrong.

In the resolving department, I'm finding that the multipass with
long exposure works exceptionally well on slide films and does
reduce some noise.  In the B&W negs it doesn't help as much
unless the neg is really dense.

I'm working on my website and I'll post a few comparison shots,
but as a general rule, the TMAX 100 is scanning the best of
anything and holds the tonalities exceptionally well.  Ilford
Pan-F also scans as well as the TMAX but seems to be slightly
more suseptable to dust problems.  Tri-X and HP5 grain tends to
"clump".  I'm experimenting with multipass and scanner
resolution to try and improve the characteristics and would
gladly take any advice there.  Plus-X seems to scan worse than
Tri-X.  Can't figure out why.  T400CN is a disaster in the
darkroom, but does scan pretty well.  Quite noisy, though.

What's interesting about the T400CN is that in the darkroom it
favors overexposed negs, but in the scanner it prefers thin
negs.

Anybody who can help me with profiles for B&W films, I'd
appreciate it.  Sure, I can clean up a lot of tonal messes in
the editors, but I'd rather get it right during the scan.  (No,
I have no intention of going digital output for B&W, this is for
web/desktop application).

AG-Schnozz


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
http://taxes.yahoo.com/

< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz