What is the best scanner for Black and White

[josh_rodriguez1]

Scanning the silver based black and white proves to be very

difficult. I hear some scanners are better than others like the

Dimage IV is better than the Coolscan V.

 

What is the best scanner for silver based black and white?

[anton_v.]

Minolta Multi Pro does an amazing job with scanhancer.

Check out one of my recent scans of Fuji Neopan:

<p><img border="0" src="http://img.photosight.ru/2005/01/20/734875.jpg" width="752" height="940"></p>

 

Anton.

[anton_v.]

Let me try again:

<p><img border="0" src="http://img.photosight.ru/2005/01/20/734875.jpg" width="752" height="940"></p>

Anton.

[peter_n1664876959]

Terrific Anton! That was Neopan 400? (Neopan 100 is still being sold.)<br><br>

 

Josh this is a tough question. What I read is that Minolta is "better" than Nikon for B&W. Also that the Minolta 5400 is "better" than the SDIV, and that Viewscan & Silverfast are "better" than the Minolta software.<br><br>

 

My use of scans is purely for web use - I'm not printing from the scan so I don't necessarily need the "best". YMMV. I'm a new owner of an SDIV and I use the Minolta software which I find perfectly adequate for my needs. One thing I like about it is that it allows you to do a quick index scan of each neg strip so you don't need contacts from the processing lab. The Minolta SDIV (stupid name) costs approx. $250, about 1/2 the price of a 5400. My first scan is attached below, an unremarkable picture but it was scanned in as a color neg and desaturated in Photoshop, no other post processing. Shot with Neopan 400. The Minolta software is very easy to learn and use.<br><br>

 

<CENTER>

<img src="http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/data/500/35301.jpg" width="760" height="507" border="0"></CENTER><br><br>

 

~Peter

[josh_rodriguez1]

So how long does it take to do a top res. photo with that Dimage IV? with and without everything on?

[kelly_flanigan1]

<IMG SRC=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-244.jpg><BR><BR><IMG SRC=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-543.jpg><BR><BR><IMG SRC=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-498.jpg><BR><BR><IMG SRC=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-322.jpg><BR><BR>Just used an Epson 2450 flatbed; with stock drivers; stock filmholders; and a 200 Mhz computer.

[peter_n1664876959]

<i>So how long does it take to do a top res. photo with that Dimage IV? with and without everything on?</i><br><br>

 

I'm not sure what <i>with and without everything on</i> means, but an index scan takes a few seconds, and my post of the father/son at the Red Sox parade was at 3200dpi with the default settings except I set multi-sample scan to 8x. That scan took around a minute or so.

[josh_rodriguez1]

I just meant the basic 3200 scan with nothing done @ high res as opposed to a 3200 dpi scan with pixel polish and dust remover, sharpening etc.

[peter_n1664876959]

OK, I'm sorry but I didn't time this scan - it took around a minute as I remember but with no pixel polish, dust remover or sharpening. I just changed the multi-scan to 8x. According to the manual, the scan takes 21 sec. with multi-scan set to 1x.

[peter_n1664876959]

I meant multi-sample, not multi-scan. Maybe you shouldn't be talking to such a scanning newbie...