Re: Scanning Color Zone Plate Negatives

I use a polaroid 4x5negative scanner. If the negative is properly exposed
and of average density I don't see why it wouldn't scan properly. I don't
have any color zone plate negatives to test but I have scanned some color
4x5 pinhole negatives. When the negative is thin I often get something that
I would call beginning posterization in large areas that have very subtle
tonal differences. You're stimulating me to do some 4x5 color zone plates,
just to see.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Miller <twmiller@mr.net>
To: <pinhole-discussion@pinhole.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 8:26 PM
Subject: [pinhole-discussion] Scanning Color Zone Plate Negatives

> Dear Gang,
>
> Does anyone on the list have experience scanning color zone plate
> negatives?
>
> Despite 19 years in the computer trade, I have no experience with
> photographic scanners, Photoshop, etc. After doing some research, it
> looked like the the Umax Power Look 1100 would be the best combination
> of features and price for my use. One of the things I hoped to do was
> scan color negatives to produce quick proofs and eventually finished
> prints. I took a couple of 4x5 zone plate color negatives (Kodak) to
> the local photo store to see how the scanner would handle then. One
> of the store's digital imaging folks spent an hour trying to scan the
> negs with no success, or more precisely the scans didn't produce
> images that looked anything like the prints I made using standard
> enlarger / chemical processes. His guess was that the zone plate
> negatives were just too wacky for the scanner; the density was poor
> compared to what the scanner is used to dealing with. Scanning 4x5
> color negs taken with a lens camera worked great. Darn, I was looking
> forward to taking the plunge into digital. Also, the store is
> arguably the best one locally for working with professional
> photographers, so I don't think this was a case of operator error.
>
> Any ideas? Would a dedicated large format negative scanner have
> worked better that the flatbed scanner (for a similar price)? Would
> another brand of flatbed scanner work any better? Or is the default
> option of waiting for the price to drop and the quality to go up the
> only viable one?
>
> Thanks,
> Tom
>
>
>
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Received on Tue Dec 19 23:11:29 2000