Digital BW, The Print

Correction on the URL for Neat Image
http://absoft.nm.ru/  There are also quite a few other NR apps, some free, some not.  
Diane
----------
Diane B. Fields
picnic@...
photo site    http://www.pbase.com/picnic
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Wendel White 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2002 9:51 AM
  Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Excessive grain in scanned images


  There is a product I was just told about, but have had little chance to
  test--called Neat Image (http://absoft.hotbox.ru): it is designed to reduce
  noise in digital camera files, but I intend to try it for this very problem,
  it looks promising and its free!

  Wendel

  > -----Original Message-----
  > From: atmcintyre2001 [mailto:amcintyre@...]
  > Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2002 7:53 AM
  > To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  > Subject: [Digital BW] Excessive grain in scanned images
  >
  >
  > I have some 6cm x 6cm b&w negatives exposed back in the early '60s on
  > Tri X Pan Professional. They blew up to 20" x 16" quite successfully
  > using a DeVere cold-cathode enlarger.
  >
  > Recently I had some of these negatives scanned by a bureau through an
  > Imacon Flextight machine, but grain has become so pronounced that the
  > scans are virtually unusable.
  >
  > I understand the problem. Light in a scanner is highly collimated -
  > the light beams are nearly perfectly parallel. So the grains don't
  > just block the light - they scatter it creating greater apparent
  > density. The so-called "Callier Effect." And it will have been made
  > worse because I neglected to tell the bureau *not* to sharpen the
  > image!
  >
  > However I wondered what 'work-round' others in this group have tried
  > to reduce grain on silver negatives.
  >
  > I have tried blurring  the image lightly in Photoshop, followed by
  > unsharp masking but am not very happy with the results.
  >
  > I have also read somewhere that some old-timers digitise their images
  > via a conventional photographic print and a flat-bed scanner. By
  > printing with a diffuse light source and a relatively soft grade of
  > paper they suppress grain while capturing a tonal range that can be
  > enhanced in Photoshop. Doubtless this works, but it does seem 'the
  > long way round' and since it introduces an extra step in the process,
  > image quality is bound to suffer.
  >
  > Of course I'm now running trials with the newer chromogenic films but
  > that doesn't solve my problems with the archival images I still have.
  >
  > Any ideas on this theme would be most welcome!
  >
  >


        Yahoo! Groups Sponsor 


------------------------------------------------------------------------
       
       

  Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint

  Please follow these basic guidelines:
  - Include your full name with your message.
  - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
  - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep them short.
  - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject header.
  - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or "flames."
  - Complete your Yahoo profile.
  - Before posting a question, search the message archives and the various resources on the homepage. 




  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]