Ezzie
E. D. Russell Roberts
Hi Daveleo
For web use I can´t be bothered with a too expensive scanner, nor extra SW, betterscan holders etc. I use a plain and simple Epson V500. I clean the negatives of dust with a lint free non-abrasive wipe, and I clean the glass scanning surface for every scan. I use Epson Scan SW. I set it to document type: Film. Film type: BW negative. I set the target to 16bit greyscale, and 2400dpi (Medium Format scans). I then do a pre-scan (my SW is in Norwegian so I´m guessing at the English language equivalents), I then mark the area to be scanned, one negative at a time. I then adjust the histogram. I set the white and black points to the very edges of the histogram. It will differ for each scan. I then set the grey point to 1.00 and check if the curve is nice and even and the slope not too straight nor too rounded. If not I adjust the grey point. All the time keep an eye on the pre-scanned image. Don´t worry if it looks low on contrast and rather bland. This will be adjusted later. I check the output histogram to see if it agrees with me. I then scan the image.
Post scanning, I use Aperture and adjust levels, highlight/shadow and mid-contrast (incl radius), low and high tonal width, to my taste. I add a bit of definition, and if the highlights are a bit blown, I use recovery to bring them back down (if at all possible). I rarely sharpen my MF web scans much or at all. They usually don´t need it.
For web use I can´t be bothered with a too expensive scanner, nor extra SW, betterscan holders etc. I use a plain and simple Epson V500. I clean the negatives of dust with a lint free non-abrasive wipe, and I clean the glass scanning surface for every scan. I use Epson Scan SW. I set it to document type: Film. Film type: BW negative. I set the target to 16bit greyscale, and 2400dpi (Medium Format scans). I then do a pre-scan (my SW is in Norwegian so I´m guessing at the English language equivalents), I then mark the area to be scanned, one negative at a time. I then adjust the histogram. I set the white and black points to the very edges of the histogram. It will differ for each scan. I then set the grey point to 1.00 and check if the curve is nice and even and the slope not too straight nor too rounded. If not I adjust the grey point. All the time keep an eye on the pre-scanned image. Don´t worry if it looks low on contrast and rather bland. This will be adjusted later. I check the output histogram to see if it agrees with me. I then scan the image.
Post scanning, I use Aperture and adjust levels, highlight/shadow and mid-contrast (incl radius), low and high tonal width, to my taste. I add a bit of definition, and if the highlights are a bit blown, I use recovery to bring them back down (if at all possible). I rarely sharpen my MF web scans much or at all. They usually don´t need it.
