Scanning

[marion3b]

Hi everyone. I've been a keen photographer for years and years (Canon EOS10 + Yashica Mat 6x6) and after much soul searching, I've just bought my first digital camera - a Canon Powershot S50. I'm getting to know it and am enjoying it very much. But, having just got a new printer too (HP Photosmart 7760), I'd like to try printing some of my b & w photos to compare the results with my darkroom efforts. My problem is I don't know how to scan negatives properly. Can anybody give me a few tips please. (My scanner is an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo).
This forum looks great.
Thanks in advance.

[jerrymeola]

The first place to start is with your Epson manual. I use a dedicated film scanner but I believe the epson is the best rated flatbed scanner that still does decent film scans.

There should be a slide holder attachment for the 35mm. And the Yashica will have to be scanned on the glass. Wow Yashica mat 6x6, that was my first medium format camera in 1963! It was 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 then no one used metric.

The epson software will install a Twain driver to import the images into your camera. You will want to import it directly to a decent editing package. One probably came with the epson but Photoshop elements can be purchased cheaply if you do not have anything else.

Slides will need post scan processing to remove dust and defects. This can be fun as easily as work. I love digital darkroom. At the very least you need to color balance the scan, remove dust and crop to the best presentation.

Scanning negatives is more difficult and equally more rewarding. slides are already in a viewable form, but negatives are open to subjective interpretation. It will take longer to develope the skills to interpret negatives, but when solved the images will be the best possible. Negatives have a dynamic range of about 8.5 slides about 7 and digital capture only about 5.5.

When I teach seminars I try to instill in the audience not to try to learn to much all at once. Learn one skill at a time and grow from there. If you happen to be in Southwest Florida. I am teaching a seminar on digital darkroom including scanning. It will be March 6th at the Riverdale Branch Library in Fort Myers. It is free.