Sorry I should have mentioned that it was an Epson v700 scanner and I use Vuescan.

To me it says that the film density should be between step 3 and step 21 which would be 7 optical density doublings on film. Optical densities lower than say 0.25 or 0.3 should be avoided and also optical densities above 2.0 which are at the top end of the scanner ability with it reading 239 out of a possible 255 in 8-bit mode (roughly).

As I understand it, a negative properly developed for printing will seek to put the shadows fairly close to the knee of the curve (ie. try to have discernible but low density) and the highlights such that they fit for a specific paper and condenser (ie. say 1.2 above the shadow). As I also understand it. this practice is not necessary for scanning in that the optical density of the negative probably should try to take up as much of the scanners ability. In this case, a negative for the scanner should seek to reach from say 0.25 (or 0.3) through 2.0 and still have room to play on either side. This would lead to a massively more dense negative in nearly every case.

It seems to me that this is opposing the commonly accepted lore whereby people are developing very flat negatives for the scanner. I am yet to fully play with this as yet. Whatever the outcome, it would be a very safe bet that you cant go wrong with strong exposure and strong development. You will get a result from the scanner but it wont be optically printable.

I am always happy to help.

Cheers.