Digital BW, The Print

Bill,

You asked:

>How do you handle profiles with the 8000?

I don't.

The machine is at some default profile, no doubt.  However, I don't worry
about it. The B&W scans at the default are fine -- assuming the black and
white points have been set on the histogram tool.  (But, as I said, the main
thing I've found is that the negative must be scanned as a positive.  I use
grayscale and find no advantage or need for RGB files.)

One can also use the curve adjustments in the driver, but I find just
letting the machine do what it considers a linear scan works.  With 14 bits,
I found I have all the information I need to do all manipulations is
Photoshop.

I never just scan and print.  For me the art of printing is in what one does
with the information after the scan.  What I'm looking for in a scan is the
best, maximum, and most efficient capture of information.

I tried multiple 14 bit scans with different curves, depending on the
negative, but I found no advantage.  The single 14 bit scan and PS
manipulation were just as good.  So, that's all I do.

I also don't bother with the multiple sampling.  It's improvement is not
worth the time.

What I do find the scanner's GEM grain-reduction feature very useful.  Where
there is an important sky, I scan with and without GEM enabled.  My Medium
Format Tech Pan negatives are giving me skies that I can enhance beautifully
with virtually no grain even at 16x20.  Frankly, scanners without this grain
reduction program (even drums) are now obsolete, in my view.

As an aside, my Tech Pan procedures are producing negatives that are a major
improvement over my prior Tmax 100 negatives.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com


__________________________________________
on 7/20/02 6:51 PM, Paul Roark wrote:

> With the Nikon 8000, the basic things I do is tell the scanner the
negative
> is a positive (slide) grayscale (otherwise the AE clips the highlights,
and
> the other tools are a nuisance to use),  use the driver histogram to set
the

> white and black points, and scan (& work) at full optical 4000 dpi and 14
> bit depth.  That's about all it takes to get a great scan.
>
> Paul