First scans 4x5

These are wet mounted directly to the scanner glass using view scan. I don't like Silverfast that ships with Epson Scanner as it only lets me save the files as 8 bit. Strange that it scans at 16 bit a channel (48 bit) but then converts to 8 bits a channel. I haven't really played with the Epson software yet. I also just ordered the dry/wet scan set u from Better Scanning. I am going to try using the ANR glass in place of the optical mylar when mounting directly to the scanner glass. If it works that is one less consumable I might need to buy. I am also going to try using the Better Scanning system and see if focus can be improved, that way less chance of damaging scanner glass if I can achieve better focus, but so far, what I have seen, mounting directly to the scanner glass is the best.

The first shot is from the Painted Desert in AZ. First ever 4x5. Should have been in landscape orientation though. Second is a b/w night shot of a building in Holbrook, AZ from the same trip as Painted Desert. 4-5 minute exposure on iLford D100. Should have been a 1 hour and 5 minute exposure, but this seems to work nicely. The Painted Desert is shot with Extar 100 and a 3 stop grad nd. Probably didn't need the filter though as this was mid-day and the difference between sky and foreground was 0 stops. Chamonix 45H-1. Don't remember lens used or if used any tilt for landscape one. No tilt for b/w.

More practicing to do, which is the best part of photography, the practice.

Attachment 175571Attachment 175572

I like the second one, particularly, Steven. I also scan 4X5 with View Scan and an Epson flatbed (V700). For 4X5, I use the plastic 4X5 Epson plastic holders for my initial scan and then wet scan the keepers with a Better-Scanning holder, Kami fluid, mylar,etc. The wet-mounted scans are a pain, but they do look better to me. Have fun. Bill

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Originally Posted by Bill Poole

I like the second one, particularly, Steven. I also scan 4X5 with View Scan and an Epson flatbed (V700). For 4X5, I use the plastic 4X5 Epson plastic holders for my initial scan and then wet scan the keepers with a Better-Scanning holder, Kami fluid, mylar,etc. The wet-mounted scans are a pain, but they do look better to me. Have fun. Bill

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Thanks. I didn't find the wet scan so much a pain, just a little extra work once I got the rhythm down. I have some others I am working on and will post those up as I get a chance.

What settings do you use on vuescan? I use 48 bit, 2400 dpi scan, no image correction (dust removal, etc) set film type to generic and slam all the sliders for brightness, etc to the left to avoid clipping anything. Renders a rather flat scan, but that is what works best. I also save the file as a 48 bit tiff dng file. I don't save a raw file, but I suppose I should as it will let me revisit the scan without having to rescan it.

I scan black and white as 16-bit grey and and save as 16-bit grey tiffs. I scan to highest available resolution, on the idea that downsizing is most efficacious than upsizing. On the color panel, I select the film type options that put as much of the image data as possible within the histogram and put the values about where I want them in the final images. For the films I use, this is usually the TMX - TMY d76 options. I adjust the histogram sliders to get a pleasing image --usually, but not always, this is with the black histogram chevron just below the clipping point for black and the white chevron just above the clipping point for white. I may also do some adjustments within Vue Scan after the scan and before I commit the data to file. I have tried a lot of approaches--scanning as DNGs, scanning B&W as RGB, etc.., and this one seems to work best for me and my workflow. To save disk space, periodically I will go through and save all but my best keepers as jpgs. and throw out the tiffs for those files. You may get a lot of advice on this, and mine approach may not be orthodox. The nice thing about film is that you can always rescan and experiment until you find an approach that works for you. I also have a Nikon 8000 scanner, which I use for medium format, also with VueScan. It is a much better scanner than the Epson, but a lot slower, and, of course, it does not do LF. Hope this helps.

That is useful information. I will be trying different things and will try your method as part of this. The rgb scanning for bw really does nothing from what I have seen. You don't get additional adjustment capability like you do when you start with a color file, analog or digital. I do like dog because it opens in camera raw by default, but once I load into LR it wouldn't matter I suppose.

I use a Nikon cools and 4000 with Vuescan for my 35mm stuff. Got like 10000 frames to digitize for archiving. I had a bunch of negatives and slide film get hosed while in SC so I need to get them all in computer before something else happens. Mostly family stuff so want to be sure all archived digitally.

Thank you for the sharing of your work flow.

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Originally Posted by Bill Poole

I scan black and white as 16-bit grey and and save as 16-bit grey tiffs. I scan to highest available resolution, on the idea that downsizing is most efficacious than upsizing. On the color panel, I select the film type options that put as much of the image data as possible within the histogram and put the values about where I want them in the final images. For the films I use, this is usually the TMX - TMY d76 options. I adjust the histogram sliders to get a pleasing image --usually, but not always, this is with the black histogram chevron just below the clipping point for black and the white chevron just above the clipping point for white. I may also do some adjustments within Vue Scan after the scan and before I commit the data to file. I have tried a lot of approaches--scanning as DNGs, scanning B&W as RGB, etc.., and this one seems to work best for me and my workflow. To save disk space, periodically I will go through and save all but my best keepers as jpgs. and throw out the tiffs for those files. You may get a lot of advice on this, and mine approach may not be orthodox. The nice thing about film is that you can always rescan and experiment until you find an approach that works for you. I also have a Nikon 8000 scanner, which I use for medium format, also with VueScan. It is a much better scanner than the Epson, but a lot slower, and, of course, it does not do LF. Hope this helps.

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