Film scanning procedure?

<p>Hi,<br>

I would greatly appreciate if somebody can provide a short summary of a good scanning procedure. I use Epson V700 for large format and Nikon Coolscan V for the 35mm.<br>

- In order to scan for the web, do you scan full resolution (e.g. 3200 dpi) and then downsize for web, or do you scan at lower resolution so that you do not have to downsize as much.<br>

- What color profile should be used? When I open the scanned (tiff) file in Photoshop, should I use the embeded profile or switch to a different profile for touch up editing in Photoshop. What color profile is best for publishing on the web? And which one for printing?<br>

- What about touch up tools in Potoshop (unsharp mask etc.) Any advices on proper use of it so to get optimum results for printing or showing on the web?<br>

I am asking these because my negatives and color slides turn out quite sharp (I always use a tripod), but somehow I do not manage to get crisp image appearance when I scan them and downsize for the web.<br>

I know this is a lengthy subject, but any responses will be greatly appreciated.<br>

Thanks in advance.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'll not go into colour management because that will open a whole can of worms but for initial scan settings, I like to scan maybe 2 or 3 times the final size of the web image. Then in PS, I will do an initial sharpening pass and correct any colour or contrast etc. Then I downsize to the final size and apply a light sharpen if I think it needs it. I'm not really too critical of my web stuff because its not important work so take that with a grain of salt.<br>

With your sharpness problems, it sounds like just a standard part of what happens when you scan on a flatbed. I think all scans from flatbeds will look less sharp than the original film and you will invariably have to apply sharpening of some sort.<br>

The Coolscan should do a better job but I think it will still need some sharpening, although not nearly as much as the flatbed. You can help sharpness in both by using a good flat neg carrier but don't expect miracles.</p>

<p>I like to scan everything at 100% size and high resolution. For 35mm slides that would be around 4000 ppi. I like to make this master scan, spot it, remove dust, etc, little color correction if needed, and then save it. In the future when I need the file for different outputs I make a copy from the master file, then re-size it for me needs. For the web that would be 72 ppi. You will have to sharpen all of the images. For the web, you actually want to add quite a bit a sharpening. This may sound counter intuitive, but the web needs the most sharpening. Make the files to final size and resolution, then sharpen them. How much? Until they look a little too sharp but have not entered into grainy land. For the web the color profile is sRGB. For sharpening use the Smart Sharpen and not the Unsharp Mask. With Smart Sharpen it is about twice as strong. I rarely go over 100% or a radius of 2.5. You will not need much since you will have small files.</p>

<p>I agree broadly with the previous post. I scan everything at 16-bit at the highest native scanner resolution - for 35mm that is 6300ppi on my Imacon 646. I scan in 3F, the Imacon version of a raw scan. No sharpening or any other adjustments at scan time and no colour profile. I just dust this raw 3F scan in Photoshop and then save it as my master in 3F format. From there I save a copy as a 16-bit TIFF with Abobe RGB profile and do all the necessary adjustments (crop, levels, curves, colour, etc, etc) on this TIFF file. This becomes my "post processed" master. No sharpening or filtering yet at this point. Next step is to resize to the finished size, apply noise filtering if needed, followed by sharpening. As Gary pointed out, amount of sharpening needed depends on image size. Finally change profile to sRGB for the web, then convert to 8-bit and save as jpeg.<br>

For the web, use sRGB. For printing use Abobe RGB.</p>

<p>Thank you all for your responses. Greatly appreciated. Regards</p>