I recently scanned a few images from a roll of color negative film. The film was exposed in heavy mist so the contrast was very low, and the auto-focus of my Howtek 7500 kept missing the mark. After two misses I recognized the problem, and set the scanner manually to the focus number, 17, that I knew would give the sharpest result.
This got me to thinking. If I am scanning film, the emulsion is always going to be at the same place, right? I mean, a Howtek scanner is a very precise instrument. So if one is scanning film why not just set the focus point and turn off auto-focus entirely? Seems like the focus point will always be right, and auto-focus will always fail with certain kinds of low contrast scene, even though it is bang on for the great majority of negatives and transparencies.
So, those who have a lot of scanning experience, like Lenny, is that how you work?
Sandy
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