The best 8x10 film/s for scanning?

[l2oBiN]

I am looking for 8x10 film that is optimal for scanning on Epson v750. Ideally dries flat, very clear backing and wide,yet flat exposure latitude(?)

I am planning to develop in Xtol 1:1.


Your experience and suggestions much appreciated.

[Two23]

I've had good luck scanning Ilford FP4 in 5x7.


Kent in SD

[Peter De Smidt]

TMX and TMY.

[Bruce Watson]

TMX and TMY.

Yup. These.

Scanning responds to light very much like an enlarger. IOW, it's susceptible to Callier Effect. So it's sensitive to density, and thus graininess. On the other end, if you ever decide to go this route, a drum scanner can pull some amazing amounts of shadow information from film like TMY that looks completely clear on the light table (flat bed scanners, not so much). Another benefit of tabular grains (and drum scanning).

Bottom line isn't that different than optimizing a negative for darkroom printing -- use just enough density to get the job done and no more. Once you get into serious Callier Effect in the highlights, you'll see highlight compression. The more density, the more highlight compression. You can compensate for some of this in a photo editor, but using non-linear gradients on tricky selections is a PITA best avoided.

That said, don't discount the benefits of tabular grain films on reciprocity failure, which is a reasonably big issue with 8x10. Getting a linear response in your shadows is very helpful in a scanning workflow. I think it's more important when scanning than with darkroom printing personally, because it's easier to print that detail and see it in the final print.

So, with 8x10 there's no hesitation from me to go straight to TMY and not look back. And TMY with XTOL 1:1 is about as good as it gets IMHO.

[Alan9940]

Since I started doing linear scans and converting via the ColorPerfect plugin, I've not met a film developed in anything that I can't pull a decent scan from; speaking B&W film here.

[Pere Casals]

From my experince, use what 8x10 bw film you want and you'll obtain perfect results with your scanner, in special if you are not to print beyond 2m large.

It is true that grain depiction may cause troubles in some scanning jobs, but for 8x10 you won't notice grain even with HP5 or TXP, and add that you use a fine grain developer like xtol... if you still feel any grain is there (in don't think for 8x10) then use it stock.

For 8x10 the v750 uses the low resolution lens covering 8" wide, delivering some 2000 effective dpi from the nominal 4800 (with the low res lens), this is like scanning 4x5 at 4000 effective but being the grain relatively the half, so this is an insane amount of image quality to print 40" or more.

So I'd priorize in the film aesthetics/footprint, the tonality you can obtain with it, just use the film you master to obtain what you want. Me, for 8x10, I ended in HP5 and I'm very happy, an initial factor was price, but also I like the tonality I obtain with it.

[Michael W]

HP5 has worked well for me on Epson 4990 and V700. Emulsion side on the glass.

[otto.f]

TMX and TMY.

If that would be films that are the best to expose and develop too, they are not my first choice in that list though.