hasselblad flextight and flexcolor software: why Tif only in 8 bit?

Hi all, I have just acquired an used hasselblad flextight 646 and I'm in the process of learning to use it so you can expect some question

by me in the future? Thank you in advance.

But let'get to the first question: if I scan in .fff format and then want to save the file as a .tif, why it is possible only in .tif 8 bit but not in 16

bit.

Diego

<p>Hi Diego,<br /> I have an Imacon 848 but things should be the same as the 646.</p>

<p>When you scan an .fff it's like having a digital RAW file. Once loaded it in FlexColor you can change all the "developing" parameters without physically modifying the original .fff file.</p>

<p>Once you're happy with your development, and before saving the TIF file, you must select "RGB 16 bit" (or "Grayscale 16 bit") in the "Mode" combo box located on the upper left area, just above the color picker. Then the file will be saved as TIFF 16 bit.</p>

<p>I'll attach a photo indicating the option you have to set.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.<br /> Marco</p><div></div>

Marco, thank a lot for the prompt and comprehensive reply. I have another question regarding the scanning in .fff mode:

the unsharp mask (that I have read must be set on -120 to be "not applied") is set at this stage or when I export the file

as a .tif?

<p>It's a long and sad story. As far as I know the facts are the following:</p>

<p>1) When you scan directly as TIFF, before scanning you have to set the unsharp mask to "active / -120" in order to have no sharpening at all, or values greater than -120 if you want some sharpening. The value "inactive" is equivalent to "active / 0" and applies some amount of sharpening.</p>

<p>2) When you scan as .fff, FlexColor ALWAYS APPLIES an unsharp mask equivalent to the value "active / 0" (or "disabled") of the direct TIFF scan, and there is no way to disable this. If you then apply a value of "active / -120" to the scanned .fff file, FlexColor will only blur the image in order to soften it. If I remember well, a value of "active / -60" will give a good "fake" equivalent of the unsharpened image. So, to summarize: the 3f file comes already pre-sharpened regardless of the sharpening setting; after scanning it, you can use negative values to blur it or positive ones to sharpen it even more. Personally I don't find this problem too bad. But there are people who prefer a softer image to begin with and complain about that.</p>

Ok ora è perfettamente chiaro. Grazie ancora. Ho visto che sei di Siracusa, splendido posto, ci vado spesso per lavoro.

Ciao e grazie ancora.

Diego

<p>Ciao Diego, bene, sono contento di esserti stato utile!<br>

Si sono di Siracusa ma ora vivo a Berlino, e tu in quale parte d'Italia vivi?<br>

Ciao e buone scansioni!</p>

Sono di Spello, Umbria, ma vivo a Milano. Grazie delle info, se avrò ancora dubbi o problemi spero di poter fare riferimento a te, grazie

ancora.

Ciao

Diego