Scanning 4x5

[CTSELLAS]

I am just curious to hear how all of you scan a 4x5 negative on a flat bed scanner. Everyone has a different way and I am curious to hear them.

[Gene McCluney]

I use an Artixscan 2500f, Silverfast scanner software, and I scan the negative in the factory supplied glassless carrier. I scan in 16 bit as a Tiff, open in Photoshop, make corrections, then save as an 8 bit tiff. I generally scan at the highest scanner optical resolution, which in the case of this scanner is 2500 ppi. I only want to scan a negative once, hence I go for all the quality I can get, and resize a copy of the scan smaller if I need to, but I keep the full resolution scan (saved as an 8 bit tiff).

[trink408]

I'm still learning, but so far I like this process.

I have an Epson 4990 and I use there 4x5 film holder
Scan using Silverfast, set at 2400ppi and now I use full 48 bit scanning, save as tiff
Open the file in photoshop and remove any dust or scratches, save file
Do my editing in photoshop using adjustment layers, save the adjusted, color corrected file as a PSD file to preserve all my adjustment layers.
From there I will adjust image size, sharpen, and save as tiff or jpg depending on what my final output will be (print or web)

I'm still learning my process, but this seems to work well for me. I will be using lots of disc space, but that is cheap these days, and my time is valuable so I don't want to be rescanning my files for different output...

[Scott Kathe]

I'm still learning too but I use a procedure very similar to trink408:
(for black and white negative)
Epson 4990 with the Epson 4x5 film holder
Scan using Silverfast Ai, set at 2400ppi with 48 bit scanning, save as tiff
Open the file in photoshop and downsize the file for maximum print size, 16x20 at 300ppi, keep as 16 bit
Split the channels, throw out the red and blue, keep the green (sharpest)
Convert back to RBG (Photokit Sharpener only works on RGB files)
Run PhotoKit Capture Sharpener with 4x5 and medium edge sharpen
Convert back to grayscale
Adjustments in Photoshop CS3 as needed
Convert back to RBG
Run PhotoKit Output Sharpener for desired output

Scott

[Ted Harris]

I'm still learning too but I use a procedure very similar to trink408:
(for black and white negative)
Epson 4990 with the Epson 4x5 film holder
Scan using Silverfast Ai, set at 2400ppi with 48 bit scanning, save as tiff
Open the file in photoshop and downsize the file for maximum print size, 16x20 at
Scott

Scott, you should save the downsizing to the last step before you sharpen otherwise you lose information.

[trink408]

I'm still learning too but I use a procedure very similar to trink408:
(for black and white negative)
Epson 4990 with the Epson 4x5 film holder
Scan using Silverfast Ai, set at 2400ppi with 48 bit scanning, save as tiff
Open the file in photoshop and downsize the file for maximum print size, 16x20 at 300ppi, keep as 16 bit
Split the channels, throw out the red and blue, keep the green (sharpest)
Convert back to RBG (Photokit Sharpener only works on RGB files)
Run PhotoKit Capture Sharpener with 4x5 and medium edge sharpen
Convert back to grayscale
Adjustments in Photoshop CS3 as needed
Convert back to RBG
Run PhotoKit Output Sharpener for desired output

Scott

So how does one throw out the other channels and keep only the green? I was playing around with some black and white negs scanned in color, but wasn't exactly sure how to remove the Red and blue channels.

Thanks

[Scott Kathe]

Take a look at the Channels Window.
Click on the fly out menu (upper right in Channels Window)
Select 'Split channels'
Then I look at all three channels
Window, Arrange, Tile
Zoom to 100%
Then click on Window, Match Zoom and Location
The green channel has always been the sharpest with my scanner so I don't bother to do the zoom and look at all three anymore.

Hope that helps.

Scott

[trink408]

Take a look at the Channels Window.
Click on the fly out menu (upper right in Channels Window)
Select 'Split channels'
Then I look at all three channels
Window, Arrange, Tile
Zoom to 100%
Then click on Window, Match Zoom and Location
The green channel has always been the sharpest with my scanner so I don't bother to do the zoom and look at all three anymore.

Hope that helps.

Scott

Thanks, I will have to check that out tonight. I was trying to do this through the channel mixer and that wasn't working out right...

[CTSELLAS]

why would you want to remove the channels? I was always told to never erase them. If you have a color cast you are supposed to fix it, not remove channels. That is the only reason i would assume someone would do that.

[Tyler Boley]

I'm curious why anyone is downsizing, other than for jpegs for the internet?
All the testing I and others I know and trust have been doing lately is pointing to the RIPS and printer drivers doing the best rasterizing from the files and they seem to like all the PPI they can get. I'm sure there is an upper useful limit but why rewrite all your pixels from the native info if it's not necessary?
Also, all these mode conversions, just make sure your grayscale space is the same gamma as your RGB space.Tyler