Djatwill

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you scan a 6X7 B&W negative RGB @ 3200 DPI (the Max of a Minolta Pro) outputing to 300 DPI for 11X enlargements and after PS "manipulations"--- convert that file to greyscale..... will the print be a noticable 2/3 less quality ?


thanks kindly cjogo
...tried this thread elsewhere..maybe someone here will have a idea

Bacardi

This depends also on the graininess of the film you used and the way it is developed (developer, temperature,...) but you knew all this, didn't you? At 11x all negatives start showing grain etc.

I would never scan a B&W negative other than in greyscale, so I don't get the point of converting it to grey at the end, after the PS manipulations.

300 dpi means that you want it printed on an offset press. A 6x7 image at 300dpi will be some 2,7meg, or, at 11x magnification some 30 meg. If you're in greyscale that is. RGB would make it 90 meg, and CMYK even 120. Per layer.

May I also add that printing in one colour (black ink or whatever) makes the pic very meagre? Better use duotone, or even CMYK.

My idea.

Djatwill

Erik

The film in question is PanF ( one of the many standards back in 70/80's) we scan the B&W negs in RGB (Minolta DImage Multi) and with PS we convert to 16 bit and begin our Curves of each channel..Unsharp, etc. We then convert back to 8 bit, greyscale and then file transfer the 11X 300 DPI TIF to our NetLab for printing.
We have a Epson 1280 for test prints,,,but not archival enough for the Galleries where we sell our work. If we send a RGB file for printing it is very difficult to maintain a neutral white ( the lab suggest a calibration every 7/10 days to match profiles) Our galleries can see a few points colour shift in the whites....especially since the original silver prints our on display, printed 10 or more years ago. Maybe Espons' new 2220 would be a answer..I was hoping that with seperate cartridges I could produce no color at all...but your reference to "meagre quality with one color" leads me to believe that I need to research more in this wonderful forum!!

thanks kindly for all your help''''''''

CJOGO

Bacardi

I scan black and white negatives in 16bit greyscale. The SilverfastAI 6 software allows me to do all corrections that would be destructive in Photoshop on the prescan. This means that when I enter the scan in Photoshop, I have no gaps in the levels. Unfortunately, even working in 16bits in Photoshop cannot avoid this. And every gap means the loss of a specific value, aka posterisation.
I have no experience with the Minolta you talk about, so I cannot help you there. In fact, From the first moment I read between the lines that you are not a beginner. So I can only give you my opinion, and that is that every avoided manipulation of the original material is an avoided deterioration. That is why I prefer to work in greyscale.

Djatwill

I will try an search the web for the SilverFast plugin..see if I can introduce this to my pre scans


thanks

Bacardi

http://www.silverfast.com/highlights/en.html

I don't like to make publicity for anything, but Silverfast is really outstanding. Depending on what you use, the price may vary. But, to be honest, I now use the standalone application they offer (you need to have the Photoshop plugin installed, not the twain) and save tiffs directly. Only when it comes to duotone, print or further "real" manipulation (let's call that one artistic ) I open Photoshop.

The advantage of working with the scanner software itself is that an adapted prescan corrects how the scanner will interpret the original material. Photoshop is limited to what it is offered, and that material is fixed. Therefore every change is destructive in one way or the other.

A trick someone told me: should you encounter posterisation in your image, then you can use the magick wand tool set to a sensitivity of zero so it only selects that specific hue. Then you make the selection a bit larger, say some 4 pixels and you apply a subtle Gaussian Blur. This has to be done with every posterized detail one by one.

monsta

Interesting, I have had some Silverfast issues lately and will have to look at this.

Djatwill

Unfortunately it seems Silver Fast does not support my Minolta Scanner--so maybe there will be an update in the future--sure sounds the improvement I could use....especially the NegFix program

thanks cjogo

Djatwill

ERIC
finally got Silver Fast loaded--but it seems I have to first scan with Minolta --via twain to PS--and then use SFast from the Plug-in...seems to be defeating the idea of the software..not good to have that many processes before you even start manipulations in PS


thanks cjogo

Bacardi

Very bizarre this is....mmm...

Silverfast Photoshop plugin appears in Photoshop under File>Import>Silverfast. (the twain version also works in other apps like Irfanview etc).
But now you also have this little app that can be downloaded from the Lasersoft site and that allows you to open the Silverfast software outside of Photoshop. You simply specify a folder where the scans go in to, press import and you're on your way.
I upgraded from Silverfast 5 to 6, so I downloaded the whole bunch, but perhaps it is already on the CD, if you got one, that is? If not: try their site.

But it is very illogical that the Minolta software should need to be opened before you can do anything else. As a registered user you can also ask the question on their forum. The engineers hang out there regularly and their answers are really to the point.

Hope to hear from you soon with good news...