Digital BW, The Print

I am in agreement with Mahesi.  I am probably being too harsh 
on my Minolta Pro.  The best scans are in the slide mode no 
matter what the film.  It seems like the Minolta color adjustment 
settings are best avoided even though they seem so simple and 
comprehensive.  My b/w prints look good.  The prints from color 
negatives suffer the most.  Slides look great.

I should get the Polaroid test scans back soon.  They will be 
done with Silverfast.  So far, Minolta is the sharpest film scanner 
for under $3000, but Nikon makes the best looking scans overall 
from color negatives.  Nikon has better color rendition, less 
grain, less blown out highlights, but can look soft beyond about  
a 20X24 inch blow up.

I also want to support Alan Zinn's comment on the "grain" 
postings that comparing scanners is a great way to learn about 
scanners and scanning.

Frank

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Mahesi Caplan-Faust" 
<caplan@n...> wrote:
> I thought I would throw in my pennys worth on the subject of the 
minolta
> Pro. I print with Piezo inks. I scan all B&W  6x7 negs in colour 
slide mode
> with 4 times oversampling. I do no adjustments in with the 
minolta sofware
> and leave all that to photoshop. I then invert and have to convert 
to
> greyscale in order to export to the Piezo software. I have been 
getting
> truely lovely tonality and incredible depth of detail. No doubt 
Frank has a
> more informed and professional eye than mine but I am very 
happy with the
> results and they are an improvement on my Wet processed 
prints.
> 
> Adam
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: Victor Landweber [mailto:victor@l...]
>   Sent: 28 January 2002 23:43
>   To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y...
>   Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Minolta Pro Vs Nikon 8000: Grain 
vs Softness
> 
> 
>   Frank --
> 
>   I will be very interested in hearing about your Polaroid 120 
experience.
>   Will your prior disappointment with the Minolta and Silverfast 
keep you
>   from trying Silverfast with the Polaroid? I have a low opinion of
>   Polaroid's alternative software -- Polacolor Insight.
> 
>   Thank you for persevering with your thorough medium-format 
scanner search.
> 
>   -- Victor Landweber
> 
> 
>   At 09:28 PM 1/28/2002 +0000, you wrote:
> 
>   >Earlier in this post I said that I scanned the same color negs 
on
>   >a Nikon and on a Minolta Pro.  I will now scan those same 
negs
>   >on a Polaroid 120.  I'll get them to my friend this week so I 
can
>   >add a more informed opinion to our options.
>   >
>   >  After working with my Minolta for 3 months, trying Silverfast 
HDR
>   >(much too much grain) as well as the Minolta software, I am
>   >dissatisfied and cannot recommend the product for any 
negative
>   >scanning.  The problem is squarely placed on the grain 
aliasing.
>   >There are other problems such as the highlights blow out 
very
>   >quickly, but I would be happy to simply get an answer for the
>   >graininess.
>   >
>   >I have scanned b&w and color negs as slides, negs (both 
b/w
>   >and color) and as 16 bit linear files.  I have oversampled 16
>   >times, added Gem, Ice and Roc, added gaussian blur and 
used
>   >the smudge tool.  I have tried the workarounds that have 
been
>   >offered on this list.  I have not tried Neatscan (or whatever)
>   >because I have a Mac.  I have also not tried VueScan.
>   >
>   >I will say that the negative carriers and the software is a 
pleasure
>   >to work with.  Ergonomically, this machine is great.  The 
problem
>   >is in the results from negatives.  Slides look great.
>   >
>   >I am considering selling the Minolta Pro.  If anyone out there
>   >wants it, I will send it to Minolta warranty service, first , so 
they
>   >can completely go through it , and then send it off to you.  I 
will do
>   >this for $300 less than what any Minolta Pro is selling for on 
the
>   >web.
> 
> 
> 
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