Minolta 5400 "Raw-scan" workflow with Photoshop CS

[costas_lymbouris]

Joe ? need to be careful here; DO NOT use the Minolta Image Correction tools under that tab name to adjust your image, these work on the image post scan and are probably 8-bit tools.

 

Use the tools under the Exposure control tab to get as good an image as you can, these settings are pre-scan and adjust the exposure during the actual scan; that way you get a nice clean corrected image requiring less modification post scan. Use pointer and the RGB values to get neutral greys and whites.

 

I nearly always scan straight to disk at 2700dpi 16 bit (meets about 90% of my needs), the only time I scan from Photoshop is when I am editing an image and find I need to crop heavily so scan that frame again at 5400 dpi. I also set the Minolta software to ?not colour manage? the image and assign the appropriate Minolta profile (positive or negative) before converting to the working space when the image is opened for editing. That way I keep an archive copy of what was scanned and is unconverted to any particular workspace (I also save a copy of the Minolta profiles along with the images when I archive to DVD so I have that information as well)

[robert_k1]

"Epson 2200 driver handle 16 bit files - yes it should. I have the R800 which is similar in that it uses the same inks and print heads but only does A4."

 

A file's bit depth, 8 or 16, has nothing to do with how big a print you can get from it. The desktop printers can only print a really limited gamut, much less than what is available in an 8-bit depth file. It makes no sense to send an 16-bit depth file to a printer driver.

[patrick_p]

Joe,

 

Think you misunderstood me, or I perhaps I wasn't clear. I do as little corrections to an image in the scanner software as possible. Because I use a custom profile I must scan the image with NO corrections (not even autoexposure). When the image is saved I open it in PS, assign the profile and do my image editing.

 

To answer you questions:

Do you scan directly to Photoshop? -- No I use the Minolta software on its own. It seems to work better like this.

 

If you have saved as a tiff when opening with Photoshop you can specify a profile... Such as 5400 pos. -- You can try the 5400 pos profile that Minolta provides but I found that it wasn't very good. Everyone's 5400 seems to produce different results. Some people are thrilled with the results out of the box. Without testing my machine side by side with there's I have no way of knowing if it is just a matter of opinion.

 

Profiling -- Ok, it goes something like this. You send away for an IT8 target. An IT8 targets is a slide with an image of a colour chart (more or less). With the target you also get a text file that holds the numeric colour values of the chart in your target. You scan the target. Open a profiling software like LittleCMS or MonacoEZColour. This software matches the colour chart on the image to the expected values in the text file and produces a profile that "corrects" the image. I hope that makes sense. You can probably find better more detailed description on the web.

 

could you describes the problems that profiling prevents -- Put simply it fixes the colours of your image to match the slide/negative. It can fix colour casts and things like that. It is a far more scientific way to do things, better than relying on PS skills alone.

 

Robert,

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm a little confused, are you saying that Epson's Ultrachrome inks don't have a wide enough colour gamut to handle 16-bit images? If so could you please send a link where I can get some information on this. Thanks.

[joe4peace]

Patrick P. and Costas

 

Thank you for your replies, they have enabled me to set firm guidelines to scanning for greatest quality and proper workflow in Pshop. Along with my own testing I have come up with these methods.

 

 

SCANNER

 

-Set exposure (Kodachrome scans very dark)

 

- Rarely, adjust color sliders under exposure

 

- Manual Focus

 

- Input 5400 dpi, Output 300 dpi

 

- No Ice or grain Dissolve unless absolutely neccessary

(Should I use neat image for this instead?)

 

SCANNER PREFRENCES

 

-16 bit

 

-Multi sample 4x

 

-Prescan size Large

 

-Save as Tiff

 

PHOTOSHOP CS

 

-Open Tiff

 

-set profile to Dimage Scan Elite (posi)--Convert to working space Adobe 1998 RGB

 

- Use adjustment layers curves, hue & saturation,

 

-ocassional layer overlay for burning and dodging, and rarely more exotic fine tuning,

 

-mode, lab color(lightness unsharpmask),

 

-mode back to RGB color,

 

-convert to 8 bit (due to printer color gamut)

 

-inkjet print

 

This particular workflow is giving me a printed image extremely close to the slide film. That is if I wish for it to look accurate to the slide, sometimes the image is changed significantly from the original and that is why I like the digital darkroom far more than the chemical wet darkroom. I did all my printing on Cibachrome and Agfa B&W papers. (In the furture maybe we could discuss scanning B&W negatives and quadtone rips for printing.) The slides and negatives make up my earlier archives. I do all my shooting now on a Nikon D-100.

[robert_k1]

Patrick, check out this thread on printing with 16 or 8 bit files:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=41234911.E89D2B03%40att.net&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dps%2Bprinting%2B16%2Bor%2B8%26ie%3DISO-8859-1%26hl%3Den%26btnG%3DGoogle%2BSearch