[Leica] B&W Scanning

["Peter A. Klein" <pklein@2alpha.net>]

(I've changed the subject to B&W scanning to separate this from the
Great Ongoing Debate...)

This is good information Tina, thank you.  If I remember correctly, you
used to use a 2700 dpi scanner (the LS-2000?).  What were the grain
issues with it?  What are the visible differences between a 2700 dpi
scan of, say Tri-X, and a 4000 dpi scan?  I'm not so concerned about
digitally minimizing real grain.  I'm *am* concerned about grain
*aliasing*, since I prefer "real" black and white film. Did you have any
techniques to minimize grain aliasing?

As you can probably guess, I'm thinking seriously about a film scanner. 
At first it will be just for onscreen viewing and the Web.  I don't plan
on going bigger than 8x10 prints at home, when and if I get a
photo-quality printer.  I figure for the really good stuff, I can go to
a rental darkroom or use a lab.  I mostly want ot scan my own B&W, but I
also have lots of old Kodachromes I'd like to put on the Web one of
these days.

The new Nikon 4000 dpi scanner is way beyond my price limit right now. 
I've been debating between picking up a used LS-2000, maybe a Poloroid
Sprintscan 4000.  Or just going for a blowout sale price on an HP
PhotoSmart (2400 dpi), which will at least get me started, and can scan
up to 5x7 prints as well.

(For the person who asked what grain aliasing was, it's what happens
when your film grain is close to your scanner's resolution. Grain ends
up appearing worse in the digital print than it would in a wet darkroom
print.  In bad casees, prints from 400 speed film can look like sand
paintings, or like prints from reticulated negatives. The general wisdom
is that chromagenic films (T400-CN) scan better than T-Grain films
(T-Max), which in turn scan better than conventional black-and-white
(Tri-X).

- --Peter

> At 12:01 AM 7/26/01 -0700, Tina Manley <images@InfoAve.Net> wrote:

> I'm scanning B&W TMax films with the Nikon LS4000 and have not seen any 
> grain aliasing (maybe the T grain films are different?)  I had some very 
> old TriX that was so grainy I couldn't print it in the darkroom.  The GEM 
> software with the LS4000 (Grain Equalization and Management) allows you to 
> control the amount of grain and I've made beautiful Piezography prints with 
> those grainy old negatives.

I wrote:
> >Hear ye, hear ye, all ye good folks who scan black and white *film*.  Do 
> >you use "real" B&W or chromagenic film?  I'm particularly interested in 
> >people who use film scanners and real black-and-white.  Have you had 
> >problems with grain aliasing?  If so, what scanner do you use, what's its 
> >resolution, and what do you do about the aliasing?  Defocus?  Scan at 
> >lower resolution?  Limit the size of your prints?  Wave chicken entrails 
> >over your head in a paper bag at midnight?