Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Wade Heninger writes: > [...] > I went down to the local digital shop (Glazers in Seattle) and had a talk > with the digital salesperson. She said that the V ED wouldn?t do well > with > B/W and that she recommended the Minolta Elite 5400. Of course they > didn't > have any in stock, so I have to wait a few days. > > So in the meantime, what scanners are you using for B/W and are you happy > with it? My only complaint with my Nikon LS-4000 is that it really seems to emphasize the grain in my fast films (Delta 3200, Fuji 1600). It's bad enough that I consider it a problem, but for now I've just been contenting myself with a "going for the grainy look" attitude. If it's important, I rescan it on my LeafScan45. I've heard explanations that the effect is caused by an unfortunate confluence of the small light source (led?) that Nikon uses, along with an aliasing interaction between the film grain and the 4000 spi sampling rate. I've read that scanners at a higher resolution don't have as much trouble with aliasing of b&w film grain, and that scanners that use a diffuse light source also make less of it. Both of these observations run true w/ the results from my Leaf. Hopefully you've also figured out that Nikon's automagic dust-n-scratches stuff doesn't work with silver-based B&W films (although it does work w/ the chromogenic varieties). g.