Digital BW, The Print

I'm renting time at a lab on an Imacon with flexcolor 4.8.6 (Mac) tomorrow and need help to optimize the settings for scanning black and white negatives (+I'm not too familiar with the program.)

Firstly, is there any benefit to scanning RGB rather than Greyscale?

I understand that if I was converting from a col transparency or col neg to black & white, I'd have the advantage of selecting the best of the three channels for my B&W image. But if the original is a B&W neg, then is there really any advantage? After all there is no col info in the neg to begin with. Or am I mistaken about hoe the software scans and converts to B&W?

I intend to scan at max optical res,16bit, Tif files 
Thanks

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 8:07 PM, frankg_photo <frankgross@...> wrote:

>
>
> I'm renting time at a lab on an Imacon with flexcolor 4.8.6 (Mac) tomorrow
> and need help to optimize the settings for scanning black and white
> negatives (+I'm not too familiar with the program.)
>
> Firstly, is there any benefit to scanning RGB rather than Greyscale?
>
> I understand that if I was converting from a col transparency or col neg to
> black & white, I'd have the advantage of selecting the best of the three
> channels for my B&W image. But if the original is a B&W neg, then is there
> really any advantage? After all there is no col info in the neg to begin
> with. Or am I mistaken about hoe the software scans and converts to B&W?
>
> I intend to scan at max optical res,16bit, Tif files
> Thanks
>
>  _
>
I haven't used that scanner.  If the negative was developed in a staining
developer, such as Pyrocat, PMK..., then scanning in color can be useful.
In addition, usually a scanner does best with one of the channels, which is
normally the green channel.  The way to know is to scan as RGB and examine
the channels in photoshop.  There will likely be some big differences.  The
scanning software will probably allow you to specify what channel/channels
go into a grayscale rendering.  Once you've figured out what is best, you
can then scan that way directly.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Normal neg development. No col staining formula. Since there is no col info in the neg, I wonder what difference there could be in any of the channels. Therefore why RGB vs Greyscale?

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pdesmidt tds.net" <pdesmidt@...> wrote:

>
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 8:07 PM, frankg_photo <frankgross@...> wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > I'm renting time at a lab on an Imacon with flexcolor 4.8.6 (Mac) tomorrow
> > and need help to optimize the settings for scanning black and white
> > negatives (+I'm not too familiar with the program.)
> >
> > Firstly, is there any benefit to scanning RGB rather than Greyscale?
> >
> > I understand that if I was converting from a col transparency or col neg to
> > black & white, I'd have the advantage of selecting the best of the three
> > channels for my B&W image. But if the original is a B&W neg, then is there
> > really any advantage? After all there is no col info in the neg to begin
> > with. Or am I mistaken about hoe the software scans and converts to B&W?
> >
> > I intend to scan at max optical res,16bit, Tif files
> > Thanks
> >
> >  _
> >
> I haven't used that scanner.  If the negative was developed in a staining
> developer, such as Pyrocat, PMK..., then scanning in color can be useful.
> In addition, usually a scanner does best with one of the channels, which is
> normally the green channel.  The way to know is to scan as RGB and examine
> the channels in photoshop.  There will likely be some big differences.  The
> scanning software will probably allow you to specify what channel/channels
> go into a grayscale rendering.  Once you've figured out what is best, you
> can then scan that way directly.
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

On 22/01/2010 frankg_photo wrote:
> Since there is no col info in the neg, I wonder what difference there 
> could be in any of the channels. Therefore why RGB vs Greyscale?

CCD noise varies between colour channels. Blue is usually worst.

It will do no harm to scan as RGB and, if necessary or worthwhile, 
postpone the decision about which channel to use (or a blend of all 3) 
until later. The only cost is disk space.

-- 
Regards
Tony Sleep

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 8:30 PM, frankg_photo <frankgross@...> wrote:

>
>
> Normal neg development. No col staining formula. Since there is no col info
> in the neg, I wonder what difference there could be in any of the channels.
> Therefore why RGB vs Greyscale?
>
> See for yourself.  If there's no difference, you're not out much.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]