Hi, I have about 100 8X10 negatives (B&W) That I need to scan. They are from a time when I had the camera and a wet darkroom (and an 8X10 enlarger).
I have a flatbed scanner (Epson expression 800) and a Polaroid 35MM -4000 dpi scanner. I don't see a good way to use the 35 MM scanner, although it has occurred to me that I might photograph the negatives - perhaps on Ilford XP2 and scan those negatives (done with a proper copy rig). The other alternative I have considered is to obtain some POP paper (it is available) and make contacts which I scan using the Epson. (a third possibility - using a sony 707 -5 Mpixel, seems like it would lose too much quality). I have had good success with using the Epson to scan the few contact prints (on regular silver chloride paper), that I still have. Yet another possibility would be to buy another flatbed scanner just to get something that would work with the the negatives directly, although I don't know which one would be the most appropriate (if any). Having read this, it appears that I am looking for guidance, rather than determining the best quality empirically. If anyone has any thoughts, please let me know. I love the quality in these negs and I would like to maintain as much of it as possible. Thoughts - XP2 has sufficient range and is soft enough (in terms of contrast) to work with these negs, but it doesn't have the resolution that some other films might have - but which, I could shoot on Tech Pan if it still exists. That would match my Contax lenses, but the contrast would then be a problem. The Polaroid scanner will produce 12 bit pixel depth and I do have Photoshop CS. Perhaps there is a color film that would provide both the sharpness and long scale that I want?! Using POP, would the tone of the paper change appreciably from being scanned (would the scanner light tend to fog the paper if it is not fixed). I can learn that easily if I decid3e to go this way. Would working with the negatives directly be appreciably better than from contacts on POP. That is, should I get a new flatbed, I find little use for the one I have now. How good would a copy (directly of the negative) using a 5 Mpixel camera be (as compared with the other options). HAH!! I am being lazy, I will do some empirical testing, but will post this (since it is written). Perhaps I'll gain some insight. Brad ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe by mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with 'unsubscribe filmscanners' or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or body
