Digital BW, The Print

Rick Schiller wrote:
>
> What's the best 35mm scanner at a reasonable price for primarily BW
> negatives.  There some to be some issues about the Nikons, they they
> are
> otherwise generally rated excellent.   Is the Polaroid
> ss4000+ a good
> choice, or perhaps even the older ss4000 model?
>
> Rick Schiller

Rick,

"best" is not really a quantifiable term...  I personally believe the Leaf45
is THE best B&W film scanner there is for 35mm film, it scans at 5080, and
no other film scanner, short of a PMT scanner does that.  It scans B&W as a
single B&W channel, which, IMO, gives better tonality to the scans.  It
isn't the fastest scanner in the world...but it does things no other current
scanner can.  There is also a 35mm only version of this scanner, that goes
for under $500 or so, and scans at 4000.  The software is old, but complete,
and will give you gorgeous scans.  The Leaf scanners aren't for
everyone...because of their age...but the results, IMO, are unsurpassed for
B&W.

I have the spec sheets on-line if you're interested.

Austin