Any advantages to staining developers when scanning?

[brian steinberger]

I understand the advantages of stainting developers when printing on VC paper. But are there any advantages to using staining developers when scanning, other than they're sharp and they're economical?

[robc]

if you go to Ag Magazine (http://www.ag-photo.co.uk/), you find in the Ag Archive/ Features / Digital Darkroom section, an article by Eddie Ephraums on the benefits of scanning pyro negatives.

[steve simmons]

Viw Camera did an article on staining developers in our Sept/Oc 06 issue. I have posted this in theFree Articles section of the View Camera web site.There is a section in the artcle on scanning stained negs.

www.viewcamera.com
steve simmons

[sanking]

I have scanned many negatives of both types, i.e. stained and non-stained. There is no question in my mind but that the dye stain reduces the appearance of grain with traditional films when compared to a negative of the same film developed in a non-staining developer. It does this also in projection printing but IMO the effect is even more pronounced in scanning.

Another advantage of stained negatives is that if you do an RGB scan you will probably find differnces in the color layers that may favor one or the other. One may be sharper, one may have better shadow density, etc.

For the record, I have scanned about an equal number of PMK and Pyrocat-HD negatives, and both types benefit in the same way.



Sandy King



I understand the advantages of stainting developers when printing on VC paper. But are there any advantages to using staining developers when scanning, other than they're sharp and they're economical?