Digital BW, The Print

David:
  I have a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED. I've looked at Silverfast as
replacement software and it is high$$$ ... and it appears that you have to
order for a specific scanner. I also have a Microtek 6000. Is there, to your
knowledge, software that would work for both and avoid buying a separate
version for both? Or have I read the Silverfast website wrong?
  PS: I am one of your subscribers

  TIA.
  Joe


  Hi David,

  That's interesting, I found the 5400 to be unrelentingly hard (contrast
and grain to the max) when scanning retained-silver B&W film, and the grain
dissolver only seemed to make a slight improvement. I can't fault the
sharpness and for colour film, notably Kodachrome, it's a fantastic unit,
but I've found that with certain hard negs it's very difficult to get a good
tonal range without some fairly murderous moves with curves. That then
brings out any incipient noise and grain aliasing problems, so it's a catch
22. I have several negs that look considerably better scanned on an Epson
3200 flatbed than they do on the Minolta, in terms of tonality but of course
not sharpness. I've often wondered if the less directional lightsource of
the Nikons would be a bit better in this respect, but I've never had the
opportunity to perform a back-to-back comparison. I guess a lot of it comes
down to the kind of look you're after -- for someone seeking the grainy,
contrasty reportage look,
  then the Minolta might be just the ticket.

  Best regards,

  -= mike =-

  -----Original Message-----
  From: David B. Brooks [mailto:fotografx@...]
  Sent: 16 October 2004 05:32
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  Cc: la_native@...
  Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Film Scanners


  Robert,

  Shortly after its announcement I had the opportunity to test and report on
the Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400, which appeared in Shutterbug magazine
some issues back. I also tested and reported on the Canon 4000FS some months
before. I have not reviewed a Nikon scanner for some time, not because I
have any issue with the scanner itself as it is very fine hardware, but
because the software is the worst in its class and the scanner is on that
basis grossly over-priced.

  The one outstanding feature, especially applied to scanning B&W
silver-based film is the 5400dpi optical resolution. That is a distinct
advantage not just because it will natively support making 16x24 inch by
300dpi scans, but the high resolution avoids a pattern interference problem
with film grain, particularly with grainier film processed with acutance
developers (low sodium sulfite formula¹s) like Acufine and particularly
Rodinal. In addition, the Minolta has a Grain Dissolver feature which is
actually a very fine diffusion filter, which combined with the scanners tube
light source that also reduces apparent graininess and avoids highlight
blocking, which can occur with some 35mm dedicated scanners with a more
collimated light source (like the difference printing with a diffusion
versus and condenser enlarger).

  If it makes any difference, being an old f... With 3/4 of my film library
in B&W, my reaction after testing the Minolta was to ask for invoice sending
Minolta a check instead of returning the scanner.

  Regards, David B. Brooks
  Shutterbug Magazine
  E-mail: fotografx@...






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