Scanning b&w woes

[nobbylon]

I've recently started developing my own film again. I'm really enjoying the whole process however my scans are, to be honest, bl@@dy awfull.
I'm using an epson 4990 and silverfast and for some reason they are always too soft.
My typical workflow is to scan as a positive and then pp in photoshop.
I tried the epson software as a last resort today and hey presto they are in focus.
Does anyone know what is going on? It's really annoying me.

 

[charjohncarter]

I have always used the Epson software so I can't tell you about Silverfast. But my friend had something like this with his SF and called tech in, I think, Florida. They fixed him up.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I wonder if the Epson software is applying sharpening and silverfast isn't, making you THINK the Epson software gives sharper scans?

 

[japancamerahunter]

I personally HATE the Epson software, it is slow in poorly maintained. The updates are rubbish. And as soon as I put T-Max in the scanner it just freaked out and would not have any of it.
So I switched to Vuescan. Best decidion I ever made. Excellent support, free updates for life. Brilliant product too. Since using Vuescan I have never had a problem with any of my scans, they come out crisp and well balanced. I barely have to do anything in PS.
Cheers
Japancamerahunter

 

[Keith]

I've never bothered venturing away from the standard software with my V700 because I've had no problems. I did try Silverfast very briefly and went straight back to the Epson software ... personally I though Silverfast wasn't worth the money because you can only extract so much information from a negative with the V700 and if you know how to use the standard software effectively there's no advantage to my eyes!

 

[sahe69]

----- ah overlooked one important thing in the original post -------

 

[RAZOR]

My experience has been the opposite. I get better/sharper scans from silverfast. I am using it with the V700 however. I would double check the sharpening settings?

 

[nobbylon]

Thanks all, it was the sharpening settings. Next question is what settings do SF use. I've been scanning as a positive colour and in PS inverting and converting to grayscale. I'm looking for some good pointers for sharpening settings.
The epson scans look great at med and possibly high unsharp mask setings. Here's one at medium with Epson,

and the same at high,

 

[Colin Corneau]

I use an Epson v700, which came with Silverfast software but the interface was so bloody complicated and indecipherable, I used the built-in Epson software.

A word of context, I open and enhance my scans in Photoshop. Anyway, the scans are perfect, the software interface in Epson is easy and most importantly -- IT WORKS.

No problem with oversharpening.

I have heard that on occasion holders have to be adjusted to be the right height from the scanning surface...akin to mild astigmatism in our eyes.

 

[cosmonaut]

I went through the same thing. Your negatives need to be completely flat when scanned. Make sure when you dry the negatives to hang a clothes pin on the end of the strip. This will help them dry and be flat with no curl. From top of the picture to the bottom. Also scan around 1200dpi.

 

[Mablo]

I wouldn't let the scanner software do sharpening or any image processing for that matter. Do your testing and scan as 16bit negative (tiff) and compare that with the inverted result you get from 48bit positive scan. I personally don't get any more information from a positive scan but YMMV. Flatbed scanners typically have a very shallow DOF, like 0,3mm or so which means that your negative must be really flat and the distance from the scanner bed must be exactly right. This is why people like to use betterscanning.com neg holders.

 

[ScottAlexander]

Continuing the discussion, has anyone used the Epson V600 or the V700? Is there a reason to go with an epson V700 or 750 at nearly (70% of) the price of a Nikon Coolscan V?

 

[Roscoe]

I think it was mentioned, but try turning off all sharpening when scanning and dial it in with PS. Much more control this way.

 

[250swb]

If you already do post processing I would do all your sharpening there, not in scanner software.

All I aim for is a low contrast scan that contains all the information possible, and that usually means it in no way resembles the final photograph I have in mind. They can look appalling, but I don't worry, because Photoshop and its much more sophisticated software can do all the rest. Unless you are aiming to churn out lower quality images with minimum post processing I don't think you gain anything, and lose a lot, by entrusting your fine tuning even to good scanner software like Vuescan.

Steve

 

[Keith]

Continuing the discussion, has anyone used the Epson V600 or the V700? Is there a reason to go with an epson V700 or 750 at nearly (70% of) the price of a Nikon Coolscan V?

Probably only if you want to scan medium and large format negs I guess!

The V700 is very good with the larger formats and well worth owning if you're a regular shooter with these.