Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/13

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Opinion on HP Scanner
From: "Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 17:01:39 -0800

At 11:11 PM +0100 3/13/00, Nathan Wajsman wrote:
>Not much in my opinion. The dynamic range of B&W is only 2.4-2.6 (as far as I
>remember), so the range of the HP is perfectly adequate for that.
>
>Nathan
>
>"B. D. Colen" wrote:
>
>> How much of a difference does it make with black and white?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Nathan
>> Wajsman
>> Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 9:59 PM
>> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Opinion on HP Scanner
>>
>> Les,
>>
>> It is not the resolution that is the crucial difference between a $500 and
>> $1500 scanner. The Nikon LS-2000 has a resolution of 2700 dpi, which is only
>> slightly more than the HP. But it has a dynamic range of 3.6 vs. 3.0 for the
>> HP. That is what makes a big difference when scanning slides.
>>
>> Nathan
>
>--
>Nathan Wajsman
>Overijse, Belgium and Zurich, Switzerland
>e-mail: wajsman@webshuttle.ch
>General photo page: http://members.tripod.com/belgiangator
>Belgium photo page: http://members.xoom.com/wajsman

True, the dynamic range of B&W is only 2.4-3.0 for most pictorial films,
but as I posted before, the real dynamic range of the LS-2000 is about 2.5,
and the HP about 2.1. The HP has trouble with long tonal range B&W negs,
and will clip and/or produce noise in the highlights in particular. If you
know you are going to scan on an HP, consider the chromogenic films which
have a lower dynamic range, or develop your films to a lower gamma.

Don't get the dynamic range quoted by scanner manufacturers (where there
are no standards and marketing rules) confused with the (true) dynamic
range gnerally mentioned by film manufacturers and people who know how to
read densitometers.

   *            Henning J. Wulff
  /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
 /###\   mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
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