Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pdcorlis" <pdcorlis@a...> 
wrote:
> I'm an old zone system guy that has used the "proper proof" to dial
> in my negative ISO and 
> development times to work well on my printing paper. Now the old wet
> lab is gone and 
> replaced with a scanner, computer, and printer. When I scan one of my
> negatives on my 
> Epson 3200 - the histgram shows data (tones?) from about 80 - 240.
> I'm assuming the 
> more of the input histgram I use, the fewer the gaps when I set my
> black and white points 
> to output to 0 - 255. I hope thats right thinking.
> 
> If it is, I would assume from the histgram that my ISO is a bit too
> high and development a 
> bit too short
> 
> Would it make sense to calibrate ISO and development times to use
> more of the scanner 
> histogram? If so - is there a better way than shooting test frames
> and scanning them?
> 
> Any help would be appreciated!
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Phil C.

The scanner is much more forgiving with negatives than the darkroom.
I wouldn't worry about your ISO and dev times they should be just fine.

I use the Epson 3200 all the time with just the Epson Twain software.
The important things are:  always scan 16 bit grayscale, the auto is pretty
good but going into the histogram page is worthwhile. At the top is the
"raw" histogram and If you click on "Output" you'll see the result histogram.
Occasionally I'll adjust for a better output, but as long it's reasonable with
no losses at the end points, you'll have plenty of data for Photoshop.

Roy