Film, cheap scanner and beaut 8X10's

[David Strachan]

Here's an example using a cheap scanner, film and gorgeous old cameras again.

Camera Leica M6 with Summicron 50mm @ f16, used cheap thyristor flash.
Film Ilford FP4 iso 125
Develop Ilfotec LC29
scan Canoscan 9000f scan neg, base settings only set "unsharp Mask" on, rest OFF.
Photoshop CS4 using dodge and burn layer do local contrast, very little extra sharpening is needed using doge and burn layers.

Print to A4 using Epson R800...looks sharp enough,. I was very careful to sharpen with no haloes, only 75 and very low settings in "Unsharp Mask". I let Photoshop do the printing as well (also like Qimage), and that way get the shading and highlights I want in the final priint. The image looks really nice and plenty sharp enough in print.

It all seems to be working seamlessly...am I missing something?? The negs scan easily with huge recovery available in the shadows and highlights usinig levels or whateverin PS.

Any comments on film to print??

Anyone printing from their film scans??

Greatly enjoying film again
cheers Dave S 🙂

 

[RallyFan]

Fun, isn't it? I love being involved in the process again, digital just became too robotic. As far as scanning goes, I've been using an Epson V500. My only complaint is dust can be a pain sometimes, but for my purposes (web and prints up to 5x7, maybe the occasional 8x10), it works perfectly. I have a lab that's about a 5 minute walk from my house, so at $1 each, I let them print my 5x7's. My Epson 1400 devours ink, and I was never great at printing.

As for film, I've been using PanF+ and TMAX 100, both seem to work fine for scanning. I've used both Adinol and Ilfosol 3 as well.

 

[David Strachan]

Fun, isn't it? I love being involved in the process again, digital just became too robotic. As far as scanning goes, I've been using an Epson V500. My only complaint is dust can be a pain sometimes, but for my purposes (web and prints up to 5x7, maybe the occasional 8x10), it works perfectly. I have a lab that's about a 5 minute walk from my house, so at $1 each, I let them print my 5x7's. My Epson 1400 devours ink, and I was never great at printing.

As for film, I've been using PanF+ and TMAX 100, both seem to work fine for scanning. I've used both Adinol and Ilfosol 3 as well.

Good one Rally...looks like a nice easy workflow for you. Yes, spotting out the dust and scratches in PS takes some time with the "Clone Tool". But spotting film prints in my darkroom used to take ages too!

All the best, Dave S