Digital BW, The Print

I scan my medium format negatives in a Polaroid Sprintscan 120 with 
Silverfast. By selecting the negative mode the Negafix component of Silverfast 
automatically takes over. I think the following workflow should be appropriate 
for most scanning software,though. Choose the bit depth that you want to 
scan in (36-48 is preferred unless you have a real memory constraint). Scan 
your black and white negatives in RGB not grayscale. Do the grayscale 
conversion in photoshop. Some advise scanning at the resolution required for 
the ultimate print size  you want, but many , including me, scan at the highest 
resolution the scanner will do. In my setup that is 4000 dpi, enough to capture 
full information from the 6x7 negative. That results in a pretty large file, but if 
you archive it on a CD or external drive, you don't have to scan again when 
you change your mind about print size. I do a simple levels adjustment. (black 
and white points) Silverfast has an exposure slider as well, and I use that to 
kick up exposure on negatives that  look underexposed to me. But go easy on 
this step. If the scan is difficult to work with in Photoshop, you can go back and 
rescan with another overall density adjustment. The main objective of the 
scan is to get all the information, as noise free as possible, from the negative. I 
rarely use curves at the scanning stage, preferring to do most of my local 
contrast and other adjustments in photoshop. I do not sharpen in the scan 
software. After checking that my scan settings are what I want (RGB,  4000 
dpi, 36-48 bit), I hit the scan button. When the scan is complete and it opens in 
Photoshop, the first thing I do is prepare the file for archiving. Viewing at 
actual pixels, I inspect the whole file cleaning up spots and artifacts with the 
clone tool or the healing brush. Then I make a copy for a working file and 
rename it, saving the original in an archive folder on an external device.