Digital BW, The Print

Ernst,

Thanks for the tip on scanning at 1605 ppi.  This made a dramatic difference in the quality 
of my 4x5 negative scans on the 3200, compared to just scanning at 1600 ppi.  Much 
better detail and sharpeness at 1605 ppi (using Vuescan).

Carl
--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Ernst Dinkla <E.Dinkla@c...> 
wrote:
> With many scanners you must be aware that selecting a lower resolution 
> that is related to the highest scan resolution with a factor 2/3/4 etc 
> the chance exists that the software let the hardware skip steps in 
> between. The 3200 probably has a true optical resolution of 1800 PPI 
> max. but that's only obtained at its highest resolution setting and not 
> when the hardware skips readings in between. I do not know whether that 
> also happens at the 1600 PPI setting in this case but there are two ways 
> to avoid it: the obvious one is scanning at the highest sampling 
> resolution and downsampling later on in Photoshop, the other one is 
> scanning at say 1605 PPI. With the last the scanner will use the highest 
> hardware sampling resolution it has and the driver software will do the 
> downsampling.
> 
> With my 3200 I use a wet mount method that I developed and refined over 
> the years, much of that can be found in the archives of the 3200 and 
> 4870 list on Yahoo. To sum it up for the 3200:
> 
> Find the focus for your 3200. See Norman Koren's pages.
> 
> Cover the entire area of the glassbed with a black mask as thick as the 
> focus you found and keep a less than 4x5 inch window in the middle of 
> the lamphouse area. Masking is important, the internal reflections play 
> a role in quality.
> 
> Wet mount the film with an extra sheet of polyester to an extra sheet of 
> 2 mm floatglass. Emulsion side to the glass.
> 
> Lay the film-glass sandwich with the film at the underside on top of the 
> mask, the film is below the glass then and doesn't get the heat of the lamp.
> 
> Get an extra sheet of glass to prepare the next film for the next scan.
> 
> Ernst