Digital BW, The Print

> I have been using transparency (predominantly Fujichrome Velvia and
> some Provia) because it allows me the best option for color. Lately,
> however, I have found this solution less than perfect, particularly
> in the dense regions (shadows for tranparency, highlights for
> negative). I could upgrade my scanner from the current LS 2000 to LS
> 4000 which supposedely had greater Dmax. Or, I could start using
> negative film. My understanding still is that b/w negative film
> cannot be scanned really well with the Nikon scanners. Not wanting to
> give up the terrific scanner for color, would color negative film be
> a good solution? If so, how does one go around getting N-1 conditions
> for color work? Would underexpsure of 1 stop, normal development cut
> it? Which color negative film?

I'm using a Nikon scanner (the 8000), and most of my scans are B&W. The
quality of scans is very good, at least as good if not better than other
film scanners in it's class. I'm processing my own film and find that I get
better results from slightly denser negs than I would use for silver
printing. Others are using a variety of methods to scan B&W negs; from
scanning as a positive and inverting in Photoshop, to alternative software
programs (like Vuescan, for instance).

Before worrying too much about N-1 processing and such, you may wish to try
out some of the chromogenic B&W films. Just run them through the standard
C41 process, and you'll probably get good results with a minimum of effort