Digital BW, The Print

Martin,
I'll try out the workflow you suggest experimenting with.

SF will no longer develop for Polaroid because ogf the 
discontinuation of the scanner - and also there is some issue on 
olaroids part about not changing anything since they got into 
financial difficulty
Frank

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Martin Wesley" 
<mwesley250@e...> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "frankg_photo" <fh.gross@s...>
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 8:20 PM
> Subject: [Digital BW] Sprintscan120/Silverfast6 & Glass holder 
sharpness
> problem
> 
> 
> > Martin,
> > Thanks for this - all good points.
> >
> > My issue with SF is that film in the glass holder will not be
> > focused - although the focus icon is "on" in the SF interface it 
does
> > not actually focus the hardware (on the film plane) !
> 
> Frank,
> 
> Keep bugging SF techsupport and perhaps bug Polaroid too. If they 
are
> bundling SF with the scanner they have an obligation too.
> >
> > Maybe someone else with the Sprintscan, Silverfast and the Glass
> > Holder can jump in here and tell what their focus experience has
> > been ?
> 
> I didn't use the scanner much with the glass holder as I got the 
holder
> about the same time I got the Howtek. I don't recall any focus 
problems.
> >
> > Since trying Insight I have had better focus - but there are 2 
things
> > that I miss already compared to SF:
> > 1. the Histogram with the little sliders to bring the scan into 
the
> > high & low range.
> 
> There is a simple Levels/Histogram tool with sliders. Getting to it 
is not
> obvious and unfortunately I no longer have the software installed 
to tell
> you how to open it but it is there.
> 
> > 2. For the occasional col transparency there is no 'calibration' 
like
> > the IT8 supplied with SF
> 
> If you do a raw scan with Insight I believe you should be able to 
apply
> calibration when you open the tiff file with SF HDR, but color is 
not my
> strong point.
> >
> > To clarify your workflow described below; you choose the 16 bit 
Raw
> > scan option in Insight, save it as a Tif. Then open SF HDR and 
import
> > it. Make global adjustments, then export to PS. ?
> 
> Yes. In Insight you choose to scan to file and it opens a window 
that let's
> you choose the file type. One of the choices is 16-bit raw tif. 
When you
> open the file with SF HDR you have all the same tools you have in 
regular
> SF. Remember that SF is just manipulating the data stream from the 
scanner.
> The only difference between using SF directly and the RAW-to-SF HDR 
method
> is that SF is doing the adjustments on the fly.
> 
> Leaving the glass holder out of the workflow for the moment, try 
scanning in
> SF and make a note of your settings. Do a raw scan in Insight and 
open it
> with SF HDR using the same settings you used with SF and see how 
the results
> compare.
> 
> Martin
> 
> >
> > DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Martin Wesley"
> > <mwesley250@e...> wrote:
> > > Frank,
> > >
> > > I've used the Sprintscan 120 and SF before I got my Howtek. I 
would
> > not have
> > > bothered to move up to the Howtek except I needed a way to get 
top
> > quality
> > > scans of 4x5 negs. I would have to give the Howtek the edge in
> > sharpness at
> > > the scan level but, as Antonis pointed out, it is the print
> > sharpness that
> > > really matters and the difference is minor. I think you would be
> > hard
> > > pressed to look at two prints and say one was from a Howtek scan
> > and one was
> > > from a SS120 scan.
> > >
> > > A year or more back Tim Spragens and I compared the output of 
the
> > SS120 and
> > > the equivalent Minolta unit. The scans were not precisely the 
same
> > but we
> > > concluded there was no difference in quality.
> > >
> > > Silverfast has often been a pain though. When the scanner came 
out,
> > there
> > > was a bug involving SF, Window 2000 and Firewire connections. 
For a
> > > considerable time I did raw scans using Polaroid Insight. I then
> > opened the
> > > raw file either with the Silverfast HDR module, which you should
> > have, or
> > > directly into Photoshop.
> > >
> > > This is a very good workflow and essentially how I use SF with 
my
> > Howtek. I
> > > do a raw scan to a TIFF file and then "scan" the data using SF 
HDR
> > making
> > > first overall adjustments and outputting a 16-bit file to PS. 
The
> > has the
> > > advantage of being able to make different corrected "scans" very
> > quickly.
> > >
> > > The other thing to watch with Silverfast is that they will get
> > around to
> > > fixing the problem. (I actually thought they had corrected this
> > particular
> > > one.) They also occasionally lose fixes when releasing upgrades.
> > The trick
> > > is to check their site often and stay on top of the often 
frequent
> > upgrades
> > > and save all the versions. In the meantime just use Insight. As 
far
> > as I can
> > > tell it's a fine okay program for B&W work.
> > >
> > > I also do all my sharpening in PS and not during scanning since 
I
> > find the
> > > amount needed is print size dependent.
> > >
> > > Martin Wesley
> > >
> > > http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "frankg_photo" <fh.gross@s...>
> > > To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 2:10 PM
> > > Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Sprintscan120/Silverfast6 (& Glass
> > holder) scan
> > > sharpness problem
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Thank you for the offer to test scan a couple of frames - 
maybe
> > I'll
> > > > take you up on this.
> > > >
> > > > Yes I have been in email contact with SF tech support all 
day - it
> > > > seems that the Focus button which you refer to that greys out 
or
> > is
> > > > col (off/on) is not effective with the glass holder!
> > > >
> > > > In other words there is effectively no scanner focusing when 
the
> > > > glass carrier is used. It is just focused on wherever the
> > > > default/manual setting is - which is pretty close but 
probably the
> > > > thickness of the glass away from being optimum.
> > > >
> > > > Try a few transparencies or negs in this usual mode and then 
try
> > them
> > > > with Polaroid Insight (f you have it installed - if not it's 
free
> > > > from the polaroid>support>download site) - you may be very
> > surprised
> > > > at what you thought was in focus. I was - suddenly there is 
detail
> > > > and texture that i never saw before !
> > > > Frank
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Shilesh
> > Jani"
> > > > <shilesh.jani@s...> wrote:
> > > > > Yes it is.  Have you confirmed this with people at 
Silverfast? I
> > > > know
> > > > > SF 6 cannot manually focus the SS120.  But there is a tab 
for
> > this
> > > > > function - must be in all versions of SF.  It toggles 
between
> > being
> > > > > grayed out and showing an "A".  I have assumed that "A" 
stands
> > for
> > > > > autofocus - hey how about the SF documentation, eh ;-(.
> > > > >
> > > > > Quite frankly, I have not encountered "soft" scans when 
scanning
> > > > > transparencies (which is mostly what I use).  But, I am 
going to
> > > > > explore this further.  For me, at least, it may be a lesser
> > problem
> > > > > because I don't scan too many negatives, and in fact have
> > recently
> > > > > decided NEVER to shoot them any more.  I like the grain I 
get
> > from
> > > > > Fujichrome Provia 400 when pushed 1 or 2 stops.  And, it is 
so
> > much
> > > > > easier to scan than Tri-X or Ilford Delta 3200.  I like some
> > > > features
> > > > > of SF 6, but I can live without them.
> > > > >
> > > > > Is it possible that the problem is in your scanner?  If you
> > like, I
> > > > > would gladly scan a couple of your negatives  to test it 
out.
> > > > > Contact me off-list.
> > > > >
> > > > > If all esle fails, time to be rid of the scanner, and go 
with a
> > > > > Minolta or Nikon (argh  $$$$).
> > > > >
> > > > > Regards.
> > > > >
> > > > > Shilesh
> >
> >
> >
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