Share your ultimate v700 B&W 4x5 workflow!

[Darin Boville]

You know how, back in "the day," people always said you had to do your own testing with film to come up with your own personal exposure index? And how after all kinds of tedious testing you came up with the same exposure index as everyone else who used the same film and developer?

That's sort of where I'm at now with regards to scanning. I need someone to point me to or share with me a detailed workflow--scanning for dumb monkeys--that will get me what I need for a project I plan to start printing (that is to say, scanning, then printing) starting Monday. I need to know how to engage the super-duper lens, how to sharpen for best results, any and all tricks to eck out every little bit of resolution and tonality. But for monkeys. My brain already hurts enough.

I've seen Ken's page at http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/tech/scanning.php so maybe that would be a good starting point. I've googled, of course.

I'm scanning fifty or so sheets of 4x5. If I recall correctly it is all Tri-X. I'll have to check on that--it's been eight years. I'm using an Epson v700 and I have the BetterScanning gizmo, which I know how to calibrate, but have not yet done so. I plan to use Vuescan but if Silverfast or Epson is a better answer I'll do that. I don't want to become a scanning expert, I just want to get these scanned and get printing. I want to scan at the highest resolution possible, files sizes be damned. I'm not sure about print sizes yet. Probably in the 11x14 range but may get to 16x20-ish. Probably on something like Epson Velvet or whatever it is called. Pictures are of cornfields, a bridge, grass, trees and sky.

(By the way, if there are any rumors of a new scanner coming out for 4x5 stop me right here and I'll wait.)

Anyone want to hold my hand through this?

--Darin

[RichardSperry]

Put the negative in the holder. Generous canned air application to bed and film.
Scan without any scanner software editing checked(hit reset). 4800dpi, 100%, 16bit(you said file size be damned).
Open tiff in PhotoShop.
Unsharp mask to taste(settings depend on your resolution). Contrast, curves, and exposure to taste.
Healing brush all the dust and lint.
Save to PSD. Do not save edits on original tiff.
Open in LightRoom for cropping, straightening, and local editing. I like the curves tools here much better than in PS.
Export to the size and file format you want.
Make sure your PSDs and LRCats are on your fast SSD.

[Bill Burk]

Thought about contacting Stephen Johnson?

[Mark Stahlke]

My B&W negative scanning workflow is kind of strange. Using my Epson 4990, I scan in 16 bit RGB mode and then user Nik SilverFX Pro to "convert" to black and white. The Nik software makes it easy to control brightness and contrast. The only other things I usually do are dust spotting and sharpening.

[Heroique]

Here are five steps to start you off:

Step one: slow down
Step two: get going on scanning height calibration
Step three: slow down
Step four: slow down
Step five: slow down

[Darin Boville]

Here are five steps to start you off:
Step one: slow down
Step two: get going on scanning height calibration
Step three: slow down
Step four: slow down
Step five: slow down

Eight years isn't slow enough?

--Darin

[Heroique]

Well, one productive way to minimize your effort is to search for posts by the late Ted Harris.

His scanning workflow tips turn years into weeks, weeks into days, days into hours.

Boy do I miss him.

[bob carnie]

Ted , yes I miss him as well, he came here and did a workshop for scanning , he really knew his stuff.

Well, one productive way to minimize your effort is to search for posts by the late Ted Harris.

His scanning workflow tips turn years into weeks, weeks into days, days into hours.

Boy do I miss him.

[sully75]

I scan as 16 bit BW neg in EPSON Scan (all the scanning software sucks ass, Epson Scan is Free). 2400dpi. I adjust the levels based on what I want the picture to look like, not on the wonky histograms (the histogram adjustments in Epson Scan make no sense). Basically I make it a little flatter than I ultimately want it to be so I don't lose anything. I do check as best I can that I have not blown out the highlights.

Bring it in to photoshop where I rotate and crop it. I tend to size things really large (5x7 negatives I crop to long edge 28" at 360 dpi) because, well...why not? My computer is pretty fast and I don't need to spend time figuring out exactly what the perfect size it. Then all my adjustments in photoshop and bring it in to lightroom for printing and exporting.

[Frank Petronio]

I use the lowly Mac OS to scan without any adjustments and do my edits in ACR and PS, found Kimwipes do a better job of cleaning the plaplten than regular paper or blowing.Test the height, I just use the stock holders.