[alt-photo] Re: scanning negatives (negative carrier)

[Ryuji Suzuki]

I bought a neg carrier from Doug Fisher soon after it became available but he 
didn't make a 35mm carrier. I don't think he offered one since then, at least 
for V700 series. But he does seem to have AN glass to slip over the flimsy Epson 
carrier, so that might be better than nothing. Not ideal though.

Regarding the contrast and readable Dmax, I used to post RAW readings of a step 
wedge on my website, and it does have a gradual loss of contrast in dense area. 
This make me think straight-line films are better than traditional films with 
gentle shoulder region.

I also thought about this process, and came up with a few differences from when 
developing for printing:

- exact control of contrast not as important - contrast to print on grade 2.5
   or 3.5 paper makes little difference after digital correction. Higher contrast
   is ok as long as DR is clear. Much lower contrast neg might give more grain/noise
   when contrast is digitally boosted.
- straight-line highlight with longer toe is better for exposure latitude
   (curve shapes can be changed to whatever you want anyway)
- a tradeoff exists between low granularity and medium accutance (granularity
   goes up when accutance is enhanced digitally)
- low fog is desirable

I might have to go to a library to find the issue of View Camera you 
mentioned... but are there any other factors that get discussed?

I think T-MAX Developer fits the bill as far as the tonality and contrast 
control is concerned, but not sure about grain-accutance tradeoff. But for 
today's experimentation I took one of my formula and modified it for all powder 
formulation (20g of the powder mix per liter of water to make working solution). 
Once I nailed the details, I think I'll find a plastic spoon so that one scoop 
makes 10g of this powder mix or 500ml of working solution, or something like 
that. When I have little reason to control contrast very tightly, that should be 
more than enough---tho it should be tested first.

It's also kinda funny that the films I never liked when printing in darkroom are 
now top candidates to re-test.

--
Ryuji Suzuki
"Don't play what's there, play what's not there." (Miles Davis)




Don Bryant wrote:
>> Is there a decent solution for this?
>
> www.betterscanning.com
>
>
>> Also, is there any study/report on film developers optimized for scanning?
>
> Generally speaking, regardless of developer, a lower gamma is more
> desirable, especially with consumer grade scanners like the Epson flatbeds
> (or other brands), since their ability to properly scan dense highlights is
> limited compared to a dedicated film scanner, high end flat bed or drum
> scanner.
>
> Scan a step tablet to discover the effective dynamic range of your specific
> scanner.
>
> Don Bryant
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Alt-photo-process-list | http://altphotolist.org/listinfo