my 25 year old b&w negs suffer more from scratches then dust (I lived on the Outer Banks at the time and sand was everywhere)
I scan in using VueScan (usually don't filter for grain) then use the dust & scratch filter & the marque tool in Photoshop on the obvious dust & scratches - NOTE: The marque tool is essential for this operation as I select an area just slightly larger then the dust/scratch then apply the filter. Using this technique I've been able to print out negs that 25 years ago I had given up on due to dust/scratches. It helps to print out a test pic first as the very small dust spots don't always print. Most of my b&w work is printed on Arches bright white hot press watercolor paper. my b&w negs however are in better shape then new color negs processed at the local pro lab. For me the least troublesome film is luckily for me the largest part of my film library - b&w tri-x. I had started 3 years ago with the Polaroid SprintScan 35+ which basically couldn't handle the grain in Tri-x film but did ok for slides & color negs. The Polaroid SS4000 does great with b&w negs & color slides - I'm still struggling to find the sweat spot for color negs when using Kodak Portra nc 400. for most of my b&w negs its a simple matter of touching up a few spots/scratches after I've scanned the neg. I spend way more time manipulating the image in PS then I do with dust (b&w) In my book the Polaroid ss4k at it's current price is worth the money just to handle my b&w negs - I feel confident that I will eventually get a handle on the color negs - for the moment I'm putting off upgrading the SilverFast 5.5 while Polaroid works on pricing but can't afford to wait much longer. btw my earlier Sprintscan was so loud that I had to wear hearing protection, the ss4k is much more pleasant to work with. On Fri, 19 Oct 2001 13:51:22 +0200, you wrote: >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Shawn Coggins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Friday, October 19, 2001 8:44 AM >Subject: Re: filmscanners: best film scanner for b&w negs > > >>I'm very, very happy with the results I get scanning in my Tri-X negs >>using VueScan & my new Polaroid SS4000. > >>It is also able to handle the grain in 3200 ASA film. > >>I have already sold several prints of a negative that used to give me >>fits in the darkroom. Recently had a exhibit of my work about half >>digital & half from my 25 year old Tri-X negs. > >Shawn - how about dust? Does the software based dust removal work on >negatives with normal amount of some dustspecks? And does it work without >reducing sharpness? > >greetings Bernhard > > > > Shawn Coggins http://www.originalgimp.org/index.htm http://www.herronparkhorsetrials.org/
