Sample scan of Fuji Reala with the MicroTek 120tf

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Above image is a small section shown at 100% from a Fuji Reala

negative scanned at 2800 dpi. I believe I am truly at grain level

here and do not find additional detail if I scan at higher dpi. No

sharpening, USM or postprocessing has been applied, this is how the

file comes out of the scanner and I am VERY IMPRESSED by these

results!

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I find the MicroTek quite tricky to use for optimal results. A glass

negative carrier is a MUST (with all the consequences of dust

removal - I use antistatic brush and air). The autofocus of the

MicroTek is not precise enough for my taste. Fortunately I can switch

focus off in SilverFast. I also found that for whatever reason,

window #2 gives much better results than window #1 (out of the 4

frames a strip of 6x6 120 roll film contains). Thus I now cut my

rolls into halves of 2 frames each so I can orient the strip in a

way, that the iamge is always being scanned in window #2.

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And here is the same with some sharpening, looks almost ridiculously sharp, right? Which bringe me to my question: Negative film displays lots of tiny white dots ("snow"). Slide film on the other hand shows a similar degree of black dots ("pepper grain"). What is the reason for this? Is this how silver retention looks like? Is the degree of silver retention I get normal for these films?

PS: Images were taken with Hasselblad CF100 lens. Some of the softness you see (bleeding of white areas into black jacket) is due to the use of a Carl Zeiss #1 softar.

this may be dust or other contaminates on the glass or lens. When the neg is scanned the dark dust is reversed so becomes light.

oh, here is a scan of a 4x5 ektachrome and detail scanned at 2400 dpi. Showing the full image helps to show the relative size of the detail area.

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Andreas

 

What sort of crop is that & what are your USM settings, it looks like you are exaggerating the grain unless you are posting a 100% view? Have you tred using a high pass filter to sharpen?

 

I have a Nikon Coolscan 8000 and whatever resolution you pick it will alway scan at 4000dpi and then downsample on the basis that this gives better results; I can't therefore actually scan at lower resolutions. Have you tried this on the Microtek how does it work?

 

Regards

 

Tapas

No, no, it's not dust, this is the actual structure of the film!!! (I know, cause I also examine my film under a 100x dissecting microscope).

 

The crop shown is less than 1% of the total image area! I posted the second example (sharpened) only for curiosity value. In "real life", I apply USM at the very end of my workflow, just before printing, and adjust the degree of sharpening very carefully to the desired print size.

 

Darin, I am surprised that you don't see grain at 2400 dpi. Your scan should be able to resolve grain at that level. I suspect that your crop is not displayed at 100% pixel level (the original size of the slide is not relevant, cause a 2400 dpi scan will always look the same at 100%, no matter how big the slide). So it's hard to compare to my results.

 

Tapas, I agree that scanning at 4000 dpi, then downsampling, gives better results but the difference was very very slight in the tests I did.

I believe you're correct in that the image accurately depicts the film's grain, I got some similar results a few years back with a Kodak 3600 with color negative film (film grained slide seemed to be clearly smoother, which I believe is in part due to the greater density range of slide film.) The "white holes" are usual, the gaps in the dyes perhaps? (see if you can find them in parts that are oversaturated and how they compare to midtones of modest saturation.)

Ah, the Peppergrain Question... Well, let me assure you it is not

grain at all, but very tiny air bubbles in the carrier of the film.

When light is very collimated it will be directed away from the

light path by these tiny bubbles and thus miss the CCD. When

you put your film on a light table -be it slide film or negative film-

you will not be able to see these black spots because there is

light going through them in all directions. Why do you think I

made the Scanhancer 5LE? I even made one for the Microtek

120tf, for those who were bothered by this phenomenon. It

seems to work, considering the samples they've sent me.

 

http://scanhancer.iddo.nl/index.php?art=10&men=10