Difficulties scanning Agfa Brovira

[Jac@stafford.net]

I just scanned a few B&W prints made about forty-years ago on Agfa Brovira paper. I liked the paper for its super-white base that showed so well in most lighting situations.

However the scans are weak in terms of range perhaps due due my poor expertise.

There seems to be a quality to the paper-base that makes it luminous in gallery, incandescent environments.

Am I simply an incompetent scanner or missing something (as if there is a difference?)

[Oren Grad]

It's best to aim for a "full-information" scan, with modest contrast and no clipping in either highlights and shadows. You then take the file into the image editor of your choice and (re)create the tonal scale you want for final presentation by manipulating the curve.

Depending on your output medium - computer screen, inkjet print, something else - you may not be able to mimic the original subjective effect very closely. But you should have plenty of flexibility to produce a pleasing result.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Oren, thank you, I am abandoning attempts to digitize the images. I cannot find a digital print with the same depth of a good chemical print. Still looking for an equivalent silver base emulsion similar to Agfa Brovira. Ilford fiber is the closest to date, and digitizing is out of the picture.

[Lenny Eiger]

Oren, thank you, I am abandoning attempts to digitize the images. I cannot find a digital print with the same depth of a good chemical print. Still looking for an equivalent silver base emulsion similar to Agfa Brovira. Ilford fiber is the closest to date, and digitizing is out of the picture.

This is ridiculous. With all respect, if you can't make a print with the same range off of a scan of a negative, then your printing skills need a little work. It does take some doing, I happen to favor the Cone inks and I use Hahnemuhle Photo Rag and japanese Kozo. I also can create my own profiles for b&w and color. However, given this I am able to make prints that match platinum prints, which have had the highest range of all of the processes before inkjet came along. If I can do this, so can you.

The biggest block to this is knowing that its possible, and knowing what you are looking for.

Lenny

[Jac@stafford.net]

This is ridiculous. With all respect, if you can't make a print with the same range off of a scan of a negative, then your printing skills need a little work.

I was scanning a conventional B&W print, Lenny. The negative was lost decades ago. I am going to put it under an LF copy camera and copy it to 4x5 T-Max and print it in my conventional darkroom.

I do not visit this site to read about digital.
.

[IanG]

I've found that Fibre based prints don't scan that well, in comparison glossy RC prints scan superbly, it's all due to the print surface.

Personally I'd rather do a negative scan and my digital prints from those scans are equally as good a s a silver gelatin print, my preferred papers are the Harman (Ilford) FB inkjet papers. As it happens I actually prefer making darkroom Silver gelatin prints.

Ian

[Lenny Eiger]

I do not visit this site to read about digital.


You did post in a forum called "digital processing". I made an assumption you were trying to print from your scan. Sorry.

[Jac@stafford.net]

You did post in a forum called "digital processing". I made an assumption you were trying to print from your scan. Sorry.

My fault, Sir.

I was looking for some experience with the paper, specifically wondering if it contained brighteners and how scanners might respond.

Thank you for your patience.
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[Oren Grad]

Oren, thank you, I am abandoning attempts to digitize the images. I cannot find a digital print with the same depth of a good chemical print. Still looking for an equivalent silver base emulsion similar to Agfa Brovira. Ilford fiber is the closest to date, and digitizing is out of the picture.

My earlier response was in terms of the tonal scale of the picture. But it's hard to scan a print with good sharpness. "Fixing" fuzzy scans with lots of sharpening introduces new pathologies. If you're comfortable with making LF copy negs, that's a perfectly reasonable way to go. I'd probably do that myself if I were in your situation.

If a bright base is what you want, the current Ilford FB offerings - they now have three VC FB papers (Classic, Cooltone, and Warmtone) - are certainly a place to look, as they're generously loaded with brighteners. They won't match the Brovira characteristic curve, though, and in any case you'll be working from a copy negative with a different curve from your original negative, so you'll still have to reinterpret the picture. If you're calibrated to develop your copy negative precisely to a given contrast, Ilford Galerie FB (graded paper) might be worth a try.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Oren, awesome. I am definitely on track with Ilford paper. Many thanks.

[Larry Kellogg]

I've found that Fibre based prints don't scan that well, in comparison glossy RC prints scan superbly, it's all due to the print surface.

Personally I'd rather do a negative scan and my digital prints from those scans are equally as good a s a silver gelatin print, my preferred papers are the Harman (Ilford) FB inkjet papers. As it happens I actually prefer making darkroom Silver gelatin prints.

Ian

Any experience scanning Ilford RC Pearl? I bought an Epson 10000XL in order to scan 11x14 RC Pearl prints to make books. I also prefer making darkroom silver gelatin prints and will not scan negatives.