Digital BW, The Print

Alex,

The question is how much more would you be willing to spend beyond the cost
of the 1680? It has gotten good reviews and the next step up is to
refurbished Scitex units starting at $2500 and climbing to $21,000 with
resolutions up to 5600 dpi.

My feeling is that the fact that the negs are old and dirty makes me want to
have a high quality scan so that there is no further degradation of the
images. It is often amazing how much information a scan can pull out of a
negative.

You really should contact Bill Morse who has an ongoing project of printing
his grandfather's negatives from his years as a missionary in China.
Wonderful stuff.

Martin Wesley

http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html



----- Original Message -----
From: "B. Alex Pettit Jr." <a_pettit_jr@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2002 2:50 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Cheap Scanner ??


> Hello Martin,
>
> I will take your advice and have a few commercially scanned to see what
quality I can obtain...
>
> As I recall, there are hundreds of these old 4x5s. I just need to get my
Father to send them all to me then I can ascertain the value in purchasing a
better scanner.
>
> Do you think the Epson 1680 would be an 'effective' scanner for this
purpose - considering the age, film grain and general degredation of old
glass negs ?
>
> Thanks ( again and again ),
> Alex
>
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
>
> I
> > would recommend that you check out the Epson 2450 and 1680 scanners,
$399
> > and $1,149. The best for the glass negs would probably be one of the
high
> > end Scitex scanners but I assume you don't want to part with several
> > thousand dollars. As someone suggested, you might want to contact a
service
> > bureau with a high end flat bed and have some things scanned so that you
can
> > see the difference.
> >
> > The scanner is probably more important or as important to getting a good
> > print as the printer.
> >
> > Martin Wesley
> >
> > http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "B. Alex Pettit Jr." <a_pettit_jr@y...>
> > To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y...>
> > Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2002 3:44 AM
> > Subject: [Digital BW] Cheap Scanner ??
> >
> >
> > > Well, now that I finally have a good BW printer ( Epson 2000P + MIS
FSe ),
> > I set up this Microtek X12USL scanner ($270) and 5x7" transparancy
adapter
> > lid ($80).
> > >
> > > I have some old glass 4x5 negatives from my grandfather that I wish to
> > scan and print, and I thought this scanner would work fine : Wrong !
> > > Although it is rated for 42 bit color and 2400x1200 resolution, the
> > dynamic range is just miserable. I cannot resolve anything in the darker
> > negative areas - they just show as white. I improved it a bit by
scanning as
> > a Positive and then swapping afterwards ( in Picture Windows 16 bit
mode ),
> > but in examining the negatives with a magnifier, I am loosing a great
amount
> > of detail. No afterscan correction curves work properly - the data is
lost:
> > the subtile grey shading in these deeper areas is not captured.
> > >
> > > 1) any tricks for wide white to black ratio negatives ?
> > > 2) what is an 'inexpensive' scanner capable of properly acquiring the
> > information from these, somewhat grainy and imperfect, but still
interesting
> >  circa 1900 negatives ???
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Alex
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and
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> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
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page.
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> Please follow these basic guidelines:
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> - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
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&amp;amp;quot;flames.&amp;amp;quot;
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