Digital BW, The Print

_____  

Ernst,

I have only used dedicated film scanners (Minolta 5400 and Microtek 120tf)
and I have heard that the mirror and platen glass reduce the capabilities of
flat-bed scanners. Microtek did have flat-bed scanners with two optical
systems - one of which was for film scanned in a different compartment.

It is too bad that quality film scanners are not available for purchase now
and I have heard that Nikon will no longer produce scanners once the present
models are sold out.

Choosing the green channel has been recommended by several sources and,
based on my testing (by examining the content of each of the three channels)
green is definitely sharper in my scanners. Other scanners may have sharper
optics in the blue or red channels but to hold high resolution in all three
channels is a big ask.

If you are doing volume scanning, I would recommend you look at Silverfast.
It does a remarkable job with everything I have thrown at it from 1940's
Kodachrome to  Pan F. After scanning well over 15,000 images, the cost per
scan plus the speed of operation, for me, makes it a no-brainer.

I too, can vouch for Neat Image but use it only on images that require lots
of noise reduction or when I am too lazy to take the time in Photoshop or
ACR.

Deconvolution really only works well with digital camera raw files and is
easily handled by ACR 6. It counters the affect of the AA filter. Set the
radius to .5 and amount to 40 and above. Of course, noise will be introduced
so I may apply light noise reduction.

Interesting, I was actually doing the RAW road to see whether I could 
get better color control on reflective scans and shortly after that to 
see whether it would be possible to do deconvolution sharpening in ACR 
on B&W film scans. The noise reduction in ACR is not intended for 
(aliased) film grain so I do not expect a good result for that. Normally 
I use Neat Image in PS4 and that is quite good, better than what I got 
from Vuescan's own noise reduction. In a way I need good grain reduction 
and deconvolution sharpening in that order or possibly at the same time. 
It is possible that a split color route made from the RAW could be an 
answer in this case. Is the green channel the sharpest or is it a 
compromise between the red and the blue, the last sharper but noisy? I 
know that Vuescan's B&W routine favors the green channel in the 
conversion. I have a suspicion that the Epson V700 scanner optics are 
diffraction limited and would like to try a deconvolution sharpening 
directed to reverse that effect. Not covered in ACR. Just curiosity. My 
Nikon 8000 is very different so could use another approach.

-- 
Met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst

Try: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

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