On 10/1/2010 12:46 PM, John Hudson wrote:
> I am in need of a reality check !
>
> I have spent many hours this week using a Nikon 9000 Coolscan to scan
> numerous 35mm slides [K25 and K64] and colour negatives [Portra NC and VC] ...
>
>
> Most, if not all, of the on-screen slide and neg scans seem to have a deeper
> and richer visual ambience than any digital images generated by my E3 and
> 12-60 lens.
>
> Do I need to get my eyes checked or is what I am sensing quite rational and
> to be expected ?
Moose weighed in at some length about the difference between the digital
capture step and a finished print.
John also asked about Ctein.
Co-incidentally, Ctein weighed in on the process of digital printing from film
in his TOP column this week.
<http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2010/10/perfunctory-guide-i.html>
In particular:
"Scanning film, especially negative film, is very straightforward in principle.
People most often get into trouble when
they try to get too "clever" about their scanning, hoping to divine some
magical trick. The purpose of scanning should
simply be to capture as much data as possible from the original film in a form
that is easily manipulated on the
computer. Choose scanner settings that will catch the longest density range in
the film, hopefully everything from the
deepest shadows through the brightest highlights (this can frequently be done
with a not-excessively-expensive scanner),
at as high a resolution as is practical, and in as linear a form as is possible.
Aesthetically, such a scan will not look good: it will look flat, low in
contrast and/or color saturation, and it will
in no way make a good print by itself. Effectively, it is a digital negative.
But, that's what you want to start off with."
I'm not entirely in agreement with him. When scanning color neg film with an
ICC profile, I usually find the scan to
look quite good "right out of the box". However, I still am mostly interested
in the histogram at that point - and he is
the well known master printer.
Moose
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|