Digital BW, The Print

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the advise!  I am considering getting a dedicated film 
scanner.  The real thing that is holding be back is that none except 
the very (many many thousands of dollars) expensive scanners do not 
scan 4x5.  That is mainly why I am trying to get at least a decent 
scan out of a flatbed for the large format.

I have tried scanning the b&w negative as a color positive as you 
suggest & it seems to be no better then any other method.  I can live 
with the initial scan being either negative or a positive when opened 
in Photoshop but the real problem from the standpoint of a good 
result is that the scan is bunched up so much at one end of the 
histogram that even using levels & curves I end out with a very flat 
image when I know the negative is not flat.

what strikes me funny about this is that when I see the scanned 
negative in Vuescan it looks perfect, but when it gets opened in 
Photoshop it does not seem to be the same scan???

I wonder if I am doing something wrong in the process, but if so why 
do all other types of film scans I do come out fine?  I don't know.

Bruce


>Hello Bruce,

>I experienced a lot of inconsistency in scanning b&w negatives until 
>I adopted a workflow I'd read about from a couple of different 
>sources - David Brooks is one I recall.

>I use a film scanner - Minolta Multi Pro II - but the basic 
>technique will be the same for your flatbed. basically, I 
>deliberately scan the negative in as a color positive. I scan at the 
>highest in to out resolution in 16 bit mode and usually set the 
>number of passes between 8 and 16 depending upon the amount of noise 
>I expect, then get and reset it / rescan it until I'm happy with it.

>Once it's in Photoshop, I'll make level and curve adjustments in 
>reverse - it helps if you have a contact or small print from the 
>lab. Once it looks like you have a good tonal range go to 
>Image>Adjustments>Invert and you should have a fairly decent b&w 
>image to tweak from there.

>This is far from an automatic process and does require some getting 
>used to working "inside out". But it has resulted in dramatically 
>improved scans for me.

>Mr. Brook's article may still be on the Shutterbug site. If so I 
>recommend giving it a read.




>I am new to this newsgroup & I hope this topic is correct for the 
>group.

>I have gotten aware from black & white since moving to mainly 
>digital capture.  I am now attempting to re-enter producing black & 
>white images in the digital darkroom.  I am not new to digital, just 
>to digital b&w.

>I currently have an Epson 2450 scanner which works "ok" for medium 
>format transparencies.  When I attempt to scan b&w negative film 
>however, the results are horrible.  Here is my two current questions.

>1)  How do you get good scans of b&w negative film?

>2)  When I scan b&w negative film and then open it in Photoshop, the 
>file is still a negative.  It has not been converted to a positive. 
>Also, the exposure is wayyyyyy off!  Always to dark, even though 
>during the scanning process the exposure looks fine.  What am I 
>doing wrong?

>My work flow is:
>Epson 2450 scanner
>Viewscan 7.6.18 scan software
>Photoshop CS
>Epson 2000 printer
>Quadtone for Windows b&w printing software

>By the way, I can print b&w fine with desiderated color images.

>Bruce Varner
>Kansas City metro area