Digital BW, The Print

Frank,

I've used the Sprintscan 120 and SF before I got my Howtek. I would not have
bothered to move up to the Howtek except I needed a way to get top quality
scans of 4x5 negs. I would have to give the Howtek the edge in sharpness at
the scan level but, as Antonis pointed out, it is the print sharpness that
really matters and the difference is minor. I think you would be hard
pressed to look at two prints and say one was from a Howtek scan and one was
from a SS120 scan.

A year or more back Tim Spragens and I compared the output of the SS120 and
the equivalent Minolta unit. The scans were not precisely the same but we
concluded there was no difference in quality.

Silverfast has often been a pain though. When the scanner came out, there
was a bug involving SF, Window 2000 and Firewire connections. For a
considerable time I did raw scans using Polaroid Insight. I then opened the
raw file either with the Silverfast HDR module, which you should have, or
directly into Photoshop.

This is a very good workflow and essentially how I use SF with my Howtek. I
do a raw scan to a TIFF file and then "scan" the data using SF HDR making
first overall adjustments and outputting a 16-bit file to PS. The has the
advantage of being able to make different corrected "scans" very quickly.

The other thing to watch with Silverfast is that they will get around to
fixing the problem. (I actually thought they had corrected this particular
one.) They also occasionally lose fixes when releasing upgrades. The trick
is to check their site often and stay on top of the often frequent upgrades
and save all the versions. In the meantime just use Insight. As far as I can
tell it's a fine okay program for B&W work.

I also do all my sharpening in PS and not during scanning since I find the
amount needed is print size dependent.

Martin Wesley

http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html



----- Original Message -----
From: "frankg_photo" <fh.gross@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 2:10 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Sprintscan120/Silverfast6 (& Glass holder) scan
sharpness problem

>
> Thank you for the offer to test scan a couple of frames - maybe I'll
> take you up on this.
>
> Yes I have been in email contact with SF tech support all day - it
> seems that the Focus button which you refer to that greys out or is
> col (off/on) is not effective with the glass holder!
>
> In other words there is effectively no scanner focusing when the
> glass carrier is used. It is just focused on wherever the
> default/manual setting is - which is pretty close but probably the
> thickness of the glass away from being optimum.
>
> Try a few transparencies or negs in this usual mode and then try them
> with Polaroid Insight (f you have it installed - if not it's free
> from the polaroid>support>download site) - you may be very surprised
> at what you thought was in focus. I was - suddenly there is detail
> and texture that i never saw before !
> Frank
>
>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Shilesh Jani"
> <shilesh.jani@s...> wrote:
> > Yes it is.  Have you confirmed this with people at Silverfast? I
> know
> > SF 6 cannot manually focus the SS120.  But there is a tab for this
> > function - must be in all versions of SF.  It toggles between being
> > grayed out and showing an "A".  I have assumed that "A" stands for
> > autofocus - hey how about the SF documentation, eh ;-(.
> >
> > Quite frankly, I have not encountered "soft" scans when scanning
> > transparencies (which is mostly what I use).  But, I am going to
> > explore this further.  For me, at least, it may be a lesser problem
> > because I don't scan too many negatives, and in fact have recently
> > decided NEVER to shoot them any more.  I like the grain I get from
> > Fujichrome Provia 400 when pushed 1 or 2 stops.  And, it is so much
> > easier to scan than Tri-X or Ilford Delta 3200.  I like some
> features
> > of SF 6, but I can live without them.
> >
> > Is it possible that the problem is in your scanner?  If you like, I
> > would gladly scan a couple of your negatives  to test it out.
> > Contact me off-list.
> >
> > If all esle fails, time to be rid of the scanner, and go with a
> > Minolta or Nikon (argh  $$$$).
> >
> > Regards.
> >
> > Shilesh

Martin,
Thanks for this - all good points.

My issue with SF is that film in the glass holder will not be 
focused - although the focus icon is "on" in the SF interface it does 
not actually focus the hardware (on the film plane) !

Maybe someone else with the Sprintscan, Silverfast and the Glass 
Holder can jump in here and tell what their focus experience has 
been ?

Since trying Insight I have had better focus - but there are 2 things 
that I miss already compared to SF:
1. the Histogram with the little sliders to bring the scan into the 
high & low range.
2. For the occasional col transparency there is no 'calibration' like 
the IT8 supplied with SF

To clarify your workflow described below; you choose the 16 bit Raw 
scan option in Insight, save it as a Tif. Then open SF HDR and import 
it. Make global adjustments, then export to PS. ?

Frank


DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Martin Wesley" 
<mwesley250@e...> wrote:
> Frank,
> 
> I've used the Sprintscan 120 and SF before I got my Howtek. I would 
not have
> bothered to move up to the Howtek except I needed a way to get top 
quality
> scans of 4x5 negs. I would have to give the Howtek the edge in 
sharpness at
> the scan level but, as Antonis pointed out, it is the print 
sharpness that
> really matters and the difference is minor. I think you would be 
hard
> pressed to look at two prints and say one was from a Howtek scan 
and one was
> from a SS120 scan.
> 
> A year or more back Tim Spragens and I compared the output of the 
SS120 and
> the equivalent Minolta unit. The scans were not precisely the same 
but we
> concluded there was no difference in quality.
> 
> Silverfast has often been a pain though. When the scanner came out, 
there
> was a bug involving SF, Window 2000 and Firewire connections. For a
> considerable time I did raw scans using Polaroid Insight. I then 
opened the
> raw file either with the Silverfast HDR module, which you should 
have, or
> directly into Photoshop.
> 
> This is a very good workflow and essentially how I use SF with my 
Howtek. I
> do a raw scan to a TIFF file and then "scan" the data using SF HDR 
making
> first overall adjustments and outputting a 16-bit file to PS. The 
has the
> advantage of being able to make different corrected "scans" very 
quickly.
> 
> The other thing to watch with Silverfast is that they will get 
around to
> fixing the problem. (I actually thought they had corrected this 
particular
> one.) They also occasionally lose fixes when releasing upgrades. 
The trick
> is to check their site often and stay on top of the often frequent 
upgrades
> and save all the versions. In the meantime just use Insight. As far 
as I can
> tell it's a fine okay program for B&W work.
> 
> I also do all my sharpening in PS and not during scanning since I 
find the
> amount needed is print size dependent.
> 
> Martin Wesley
> 
> http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "frankg_photo" <fh.gross@s...>
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 2:10 PM
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Sprintscan120/Silverfast6 (& Glass 
holder) scan
> sharpness problem
> 
> 
> >
> > Thank you for the offer to test scan a couple of frames - maybe 
I'll
> > take you up on this.
> >
> > Yes I have been in email contact with SF tech support all day - it
> > seems that the Focus button which you refer to that greys out or 
is
> > col (off/on) is not effective with the glass holder!
> >
> > In other words there is effectively no scanner focusing when the
> > glass carrier is used. It is just focused on wherever the
> > default/manual setting is - which is pretty close but probably the
> > thickness of the glass away from being optimum.
> >
> > Try a few transparencies or negs in this usual mode and then try 
them
> > with Polaroid Insight (f you have it installed - if not it's free
> > from the polaroid>support>download site) - you may be very 
surprised
> > at what you thought was in focus. I was - suddenly there is detail
> > and texture that i never saw before !
> > Frank
> >
> >
> > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Shilesh 
Jani"
> > <shilesh.jani@s...> wrote:
> > > Yes it is.  Have you confirmed this with people at Silverfast? I
> > know
> > > SF 6 cannot manually focus the SS120.  But there is a tab for 
this
> > > function - must be in all versions of SF.  It toggles between 
being
> > > grayed out and showing an "A".  I have assumed that "A" stands 
for
> > > autofocus - hey how about the SF documentation, eh ;-(.
> > >
> > > Quite frankly, I have not encountered "soft" scans when scanning
> > > transparencies (which is mostly what I use).  But, I am going to
> > > explore this further.  For me, at least, it may be a lesser 
problem
> > > because I don't scan too many negatives, and in fact have 
recently
> > > decided NEVER to shoot them any more.  I like the grain I get 
from
> > > Fujichrome Provia 400 when pushed 1 or 2 stops.  And, it is so 
much
> > > easier to scan than Tri-X or Ilford Delta 3200.  I like some
> > features
> > > of SF 6, but I can live without them.
> > >
> > > Is it possible that the problem is in your scanner?  If you 
like, I

> > > would gladly scan a couple of your negatives  to test it out.
> > > Contact me off-list.
> > >
> > > If all esle fails, time to be rid of the scanner, and go with a
> > > Minolta or Nikon (argh  $$$$).
> > >
> > > Regards.
> > >
> > > Shilesh