Digital BW, The Print

Hi guys,

First a little announcement. One of my Holga images was accepted into 
this years Annual Soho Krappy Kamera competition. 200 photographers 
submitted over 1200 images and they only choose 35 so I'm pleased and 
honored to have been chosen from such a large pool of excellent 
images and photographers.

Now back to digital print making where I am still learning and am so 
grateful to the wealth of talent and knowledge that makes up this 
fine board.

My question today is:

I just downloaded Vuescan and have only had a chance to view a couple 
so far. In comparison with the twain4 on my epson 1200u photo the 
image appears sharper but I have difficulty making corrections prior 
to final scan. I'm sure I'll figure it out but I thought in interest 
of time conservation I would shout out to you all for tips any of you 
have learned about settings or standard adjustments you make to 
assure best possible scan. I know each neg, transparancy, and even 
print will be different but are there some basic rules of attack to 
take to get the most out of the source. I noticed on bw negs there 
seems to be more information gleened by putting the setting on color 
neg rather than b/w. Any tips on best res target or are the auto 
settings pretty good on VS. Also, should I check the "sharpen" box 
and leave it as a default setting?

I'd appreciate any tips and suggestions you may have. I'm using a PC, 
win98, outputting to 1280 using OEM inks and papers for the moment 
although a CFS and MIS VM inks are probably in my near future.

Thanks,
Tim Timmermans