Digital BW, The Print

...Of course,  the LED (Nikon) light source is reported to significantly
outperform fluorescents in terms of Digital ICE performance. You just can't
win. :-)

To the original poster, I'd suggest trying a different (pro-oriented) lab
for processing to see if the problem goes away. Try to give your negs a
slight bend when sliding in and out of sleeves, vs. dragging the emulsion.
Another option is to experiment with the C-41 B&W films so you can use ICE
and forget about it entirely.

Doug 

> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 11:03:31 -0600
> From: James Klebau <jklebau@...> Subject: Re: micro-scratches on
> scans
> 
> Point source and condenser enlargers present the same problem -- very sharp,
> and mercilessly so with grain and scratches. Nikon scanners use a small point
> light source that has the same effect. Polaroid and others use a flourescent
> bulb for the light source, similar in effect to a diffusion enlarger.
> 
> When I compared a nikon scanner with a polaroid scanner, the nikon was
> slightly sharper but revealed much more grain and surface flaws. My rough
> guess would be that the nikon was 5% sharper, but revealed 100% more grain and
> defects. In Photoshop I could easily use the unsharp mask filter to sharpen
> the polaroid image to surpass the nikon image. When I tried to sharpen the
> nikon image, the graininess would limit what I could do.
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
> On 4/29/03 9:33 AM, "digikdm" <monroekd@...> wrote:
> 
>> having scanned many of my B&W negatives recently with a Nikon 4000
>> coolscan( digital ICE is off), i noticed that many of my negatives
>> have at least one and often multiple micro-scratches of varing
>> length. These negatives have not been subjected to any unusual abuse
>> that i am aware of. I use an air gun and gently wipe the negatives
>> with a clean lint free pad to clean them before scanning.Although the
>> micro-scratches can be "cloned" out, i am wondering  about the
>> following:
>> 1. Are these micro-sratches present in most negatives that are
>> scanned with high-res scanners?
>> 2. Are the micro-scratches significant in regards to creating good
>> wet darkroom prints in the future?
>> 3.Can they be avoided or kept to a minimum?
>> 
>> thanks for any insights!!
>> k.monroe
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ________________________________________________________________________
> 
> Message: 15
> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 17:43:02 -0000
> From: "Antonis Ricos" <antonisphoto@...> Subject: Re: simple B&W
> printing on Epson 2200 ?
> 
> John,
> 
> look at the archives here - we have discussed this way too many times, it
> seems.  If you are on Mac OS 8 or 9 the simplest thing is OPM and its free.
> 
> Antonis
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Anyhow, I'm wondering, has anything changed ?  Has a silver bullet
>> been found ?
>> 
>> Thanks, John
>>