Digital BW, The Print

You might want to visit Tony Sleep's web site

http://www.halftone.co.uk/

Marcel and consider asking your questions on his filmscanner list too.

My technical socks aren't very high either, and I don't use B&W film, 
but I print B&W on one of my 1160s, in which I use MIS VM 
Sepia-Neutral.

I use color negative/print film because I heard on these lists that 
not-too-expensive 35mm scanners do a better job of scanning it than 
slides. My impression is that there's probably more to be gained from 
worrying about which film to use and how to use it than there is to 
be gained from worrying about which of the not-too-expensive scanners 
to use.

There is however a lot of compare-and-contrast posting on the 
filmscanner list. I don't think Minolta (or Canon) has done as well 
as Nikon and Polaroid have in those comparisons. But I also don't 
think that's had anything much to do with scanning B&W film.

Incidentally, the comparison of negative/print films most recently 
posted on the filmscanner list rated Fuji Superia best and Kodak 
Supra second (at ASA 100). But it wasn't a close second. And 
incidental to those posts, it was said that Kodak was merging Supra 
100 and Royal Gold 100 into one 200 ASA film already being sold in 
England. So when I use my Supra 100 up, I think I'll try Superia 100 
in my Polaroid SprintScan 4000 (not Plus). In it I've used 
Lasersoft's Silverfast scanning software through two or three 
upgrades now. Silverfast seems to me to have improved, but its 
documentation still frustrates me.

Your in-Photoshop conversion to grayscale seems to me more 
sophisticated and controlled (by you) than any not-too-expensive 
scanner would do for you. And nothing in such a workflow seems to me 
to be "cheating".

Good luck and happy holidays.

Sam

Sam McCandless                 samcc@...


>I have been trying to follow this group for a few months now.  I do
>not possess the technical knowledge that most of you do.  I have been
>trying to get my 1160 with variable tone MIS inks up and running.  I
>have been moderately successful when using either color slide or
>color neg. films.  I have NOT been so with B&W.  This has been a
>frustrating thing.  My Minolta multi-pro scanner does not give me
>good scans from B&W.  The histogram is always 'pushed over' to the
>left (appears dark with 'blown-out' highlights).  Today I went over
>to a friend's and he scanned my B&W slide on an older AGFA ( model
>HID)  which looks like a flat bed but isn't and scans either
>documents or film up to 8x10.  And lo and behold a far superior scan!
>The histogram was nice and 'spread out' and the shadow's all had good
>detail.
>I have gathered by now that scanning silver halide films is not easy.
>I wonder, as a 'dumb newbie' to the field if someone would step up
>and tell me the short answers to the following questions:
>1)Which (not too expensive) scanner is best for black and white?
>2)Is there any LOSS of Quality using a color slide (or neg) and
>converting to monochrome (I usually do this in channel mixer after
>obtaining what looks like the right filtration). Is this 'cheating'
>in any way?
>I'm sure these are old questions and that those among you who are the
>most expert will find them boring.
>Thanks,
>ML
>--