Digital BW, The Print

Andre,

Initially I used the specific TMY profiles which also gave me the 
same amount of grain. I have been trying to solve this problem for 
some time now, following discussions in photo.net and asking in that 
forum. The advice I got was to use Vuescan, scan in Raw mode (of 
course without ICE which anyway does not work when you choose "B&W 
negative" film) and do all manipulations in PS, because the raw file 
should contain all the information available and PS is a better tool 
to manipulate. Some people said that with this method they never had 
problems, but then I read one of those people recognizing that using 
the Nikon 8000 scanner for MF negatives was not satisfactory because 
it gives harsh grain and he preferred to go back to his previous 
scanner, an Epson 2450. Now, I also have the Epson scanner (which 
shouldn't be very different from your 1640 version) and it doesn't 
give noticeable grain, but for scanning 35mm is a bit soft. I use it 
for 4x5 film and I'm very happy with it, and you and that person in 
photo net use it for MF negatives, for which the 2450 seems to be 
also good.
The fact of too much grain with the 4000 dpi scanners has its part of 
good news (they are very sharp), but of course is not satisfactory 
for final prints. I am not ready to swap the Canon scanner by a 
Polaroid, which seems to accentuate grain by less. I have just had a 
look at Norman Koren's site, and the software suggested by previous 
posts here and recommended there looks promising (less grain 
with "natural" look). We'll see. Thanks for your interest though.

Miguel

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "sceptre12345 
<am1000@v...>" <am1000@v...> wrote:
> I have to ask why are you scanning TMY in RGB mode when there is a 
> specific TMY profile in Viewscan with a CI of .40 to .80
> 
> I have scanned TMY in 120 size with Viewscan on an Epson 1640 with 
> very good result and with no grain. I scanned in 16 bits b&w mode 
> using the TMY profile and ajusting for the CI.
> 
> Then using the right sharpening method, result were quite good.
> Andre
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "jimenez12fr 
> <miguel.jimenez@o...>" <miguel.jimenez@o...> wrote:
> > I'm talking about Canon 4000 FS, and the film is usually Kodak 
TMY 
> > developed with TMAX developer at a 1+6 dilution. But I get also 
> > unsatisfactory results with chromogenic films when they are shot 
> > indoors with available light (slightly underexposed, which is not 
> > good for these films, I know).
> > 
> > Thanks for the reference to the grain reduction software, I'll 
have 
> a 
> > look as soon as I find the time. I liked the remark 
about "plastic 
> > fantastic"... but it is not what I am looking for.
> > 
> > 
> > --- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "sceptre12345 
> > <am1000@v...>" <am1000@v...> wrote:
> > > Jimenez,
> > > 
> > > Which Canon scanner model are you talking about? 
> > > 
> > > Also, which film are you scanning in RGB mode in Viewscan, then 
> > > converting to greyscale ? Also, which scanning resolution are 
you 
> > > using and what print size are you trying to acheive ?
> > > 
> > > Andre