Exactly and you are an experienced photographer, so you can imagine why manual control is not offered in epson scan, and indeed why an automatic function can do a very good job of the required task. It's not clear in epson scan what high or low even means, or how it varies the automatic exposure calculation, if at all. Indeed it may just be a mistake.Originally Posted by Ken Lee
I am sure that's what everyone wants, but that is not what happens. If I print a Black and white print on grade 2 paper, I WILL get a tonal adjustment from the negative, and that is what I want and that IS THE WAY it is designed. (any grade actually).
If I want to process a roll of negative film as a positive, other than the reversal step (bleach/2nd developer), what else do you need to do?
I hope you understand I am not criticising your methods in anyway, I am just point out a discrepancy in your description.
That was always the goal with Epson scanners, Alan; get a neutral scan, flat as can be, so that one could have more post-processing options available in PS/LR.
I've since moved to an Eversmart Pro, but the scanning goal is the same: neutral, flat, unsharpened file that can be tweaked as much as I like in post.
I have the Eversmart Supreme as well and I agree with Ari, 16 bit also Gamma 2.2 for BW 16bit RGB (I use Adobe 1998) and keep within the scanners native resolution, rather than trying to make bigger files.
A D750 and many other cameras have a setting for Flat, Neutral, Standard, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait and Landscape.
The video guys want 'Flat' for the best in post.
I do like this thread.
Ken, thank you for your webpage explaining scanning! It's good and this thread only helps everyone figure things out also.
I am sure that's what everyone wants, but that is not what happens. If I print a Black and white print on grade 2 paper, I WILL get a tonal adjustment from the negative, and that is what I want and that IS THE WAY it is designed. (any grade actually).
If I want to process a roll of negative film as a positive, other than the reversal step (bleach/2nd developer), what else do you need to do?
I hope you understand I am not criticising your methods in anyway, I am just point out a discrepancy in your description.
There is no discrepancy...
The real scene or what is recorded in the negative can have more range than what the display medium allows, a paper has 1:100 aprox static contrast. So a common situation is having to compress (or cut off) more or less the shadows and the highlights to have mids taking enough dynamic range. This can be performed by the scanner software automaticly or it can be adjusted manually with Ps. For important shots I prefer to adjust manually what's in the toe and what's in the shoulder, tonal adjustment with PS is flexible and easy, single key point is having a 16 bits tiff file to avoid banding.
I also guess this is a very common practice for film photographers: scanning as raw as possible (a flat scan, with no sharpen) and cooking with edition software.
You never answered the question.
What you describe IS a tonal adjustment.
Yes, of course, but one thing if making tonal adjustment with scanner software and another one is doing it in Ps. I was speaking about that, as my understanding is that the thread is about that: "how to bypass all tonal adjustments" is to do it with edition.
Tonal adjustments in scanner software may work great a lot of times, but if wanting full control best is doing that in edition soft...
Although it hasn't been mentioned from what I can see, has anyone actually done a scan with no adjustments of a stouffer wedge to see how many steps the scanner can actually read
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks