Scanning 'thin' negs.

[sweathog]

Hey guys, got a quick question for you. I've just picked up some 120 negs, and they're very, very pale. I'm not too bothered about that in itself, as it was a test roll, out of date shot using (my attempt at) the f16 rule.
Anyway, I thought I might try to scan them in on my brothers cheapy flatbed, but I'm having real trouble getting any detail out of them.
Any suggestions?
Cheers,
Tom

 

[varjag]

You can try:
- finding a real scanner
- print them on grade 5 and scan the prints.

Either way result will not be very good. Unless any of the shots shows great promise, I wouldn't bother.

 

[Pherdinand]

You can also try to scan them as positive and invert later.
Somehow with very thin delta3200 negatives, i get more details and less "grain" in the shadows this way. (I scan on the epson v700 if that matters, but i think i have seen the same effect on a cheap HP flatbed before.)

 

[sweathog]

You can try:
- finding a real scanner
- print them on grade 5 and scan the prints.

Either way result will not be very good. Unless any of the shots shows great promise, I wouldn't bother.

I have a 'real' scanner, unfortuantely it is only 35mm as I am only just starting to enter the world of MF. I am thinking of doing a contact print as soon as I get my other darkroom tasks sorted.

 

[Larry H-L]

The Sunny 16 rule works for chromes, but for negs, go with Sunny 11.

 

[sweathog]

The Sunny 16 rule works for chromes, but for negs, go with Sunny 11.

Aha. Now that is something I will definitely keep in my memory banks.