Re: Scanning Negatives

> > > >I was thinking of upgrading my scanner, and was
> > > >hoping to get a unit that might be capable of
> > > >scanning 4x5 (b&w) negatives. Does such a thing exist?
> > > >Are other people here scanning negatives to
> > > >create positive "prints" for web pages?

Brahma wrote:

> > There is not really a difference between scanning a b/w neg or a b/w
> > pos as they are not masked. You can just scan them positive and
> > invert them in Photoshop.

Mike Vande Bunt wrote:

> This is mostly correct, but not quite.
>
> Scanning a b/w negative in a scanner designed for reflective scanning
> only will not produce as good a scan as using a scanner designed for
> scanning transparencies. The problen is that in a reflective scanner,
> the scanner "sees" the scanner pressure plate through the clear areas
> of the negative. Because these pressure plates are never a "perfect"
> white, the contrast of the negative scan is reduced. The contrast can
> be adjusted after the scan, but this will not restore the dynamic
> range of the original.
>
> This is why transparency scanner that passes light through the
> negative will produce a much better scan than a reflective scanner.

Mike is right, of course. I've been using a drum scanner for so long and
wasn't aware that there might still be scanners designed only for
reflective originals. Naturally there is a big difference between
scanning a b/w film negative and a b/w reflective positive, but there is
no difference between scanning a b/w neg or a b/w pos.

Brahma
Received on Mon Sep 18 16:49:16 2000