Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "hlockwood"
<hlockwood@...> wrote:
...
> I'm shooting a couple of test rolls of XP2 Super...

I use that film regularly for medium format and have for many years,
it scans well. With large prints, people are amazed to learn it's not 4x5.

> 
> Rather than scan as grayscale, I scanned (Nikon 4000ED) in RGB, then
converted to Lab 
> and discarded the color channels.  I did this to get rid of any
effects of the background 
> mask.

I'm not sure this procedure is giving you any advantage when it comes
to the mask. It contains a limited amount of color, so really you're
just going to have to remove it's density with an end point adjustment
at some point along the way, whether in the scanner software, or
Photoshop, intentionally or due some some unseen "auto" function.

Scanners are native RGB, so even with a grayscale scan it's just
converting on the fly for you. It's been a long time since I used a
Nikon, is there a preference setting allowing you to select one of the
channels for gray, R, G, or B? If so, do an identical test scan of the
same neg using each color, with no auto adjustments. In PS look at the
histograms and see which one has filled it out the most, icluding that
low ened for the base density. Then look at 100%, check noise and
sharpness.
If one channel outperforms the others, go with that.

>  This resulted in an image that required gentler tonal corrections
than if I had 
> scanned in grayscale.

That may very well be. And if no other method shows any improvement,
you might as well stay with it.

...
> So, have I stumbled onto a well-known procedure, or does it make
little or no difference 
> which route one takes in the scanning step.

It's known, and some recommend it. Anything can make a difference, and
 these things are well worth exploring. We called it craft in the
olden days of yore and lore.
I just try to stay away from a lot of mode conversions, for B&W you'll
be doing a lot of tonal editing in PS anyway, so combined the loss can
add up. However you do it, I highly recomend scanning and staying in
high bit for those steps, and as long as possible down the line when
working on single channel files.
> 
> Also, any comments on the relative merits of Ilford vs. Kodak
chromogenic film would be 
> welcome.  TIA

I'd be very interested in anyone's comments about that as well, I've
yet to test the Kodak.

Tyler