Low contrast scans from Epson 4990?

[paul_viapiano]

Hi all...

 

I just processed my own B&W negs for the first time this week.

Everything worked out fine and the negs look great.

 

However, when I scanned them on the 4990 at a friend's house, the

resulting files had much lower contrast than I expected from looking

at the negatives. I had all AUTO functions turned off, but I noticed

that the Histogram section of the scanner software had some numbers

pre-entered in the Input/Output area that I couldn't change, and

when I hit Reset they still didn't change. I believe the Input

number was 51 and the Output was 190. This seems to be a compressed

range to me.

 

Any 4990 experts out there with an explanation? I'd like to get an

accurate scan of the negative as is...

 

Much appreciated...thanks in advance!

[robert goldstein]

How does the scan look after you adjust levels in Photoshop? Typically, if the white and

black points are far outside the limits of the histogram, the image will appear very flat.

But moving the white and black points inward should improve contrast greatly. Just think

of it as the scanner doing a good job of capturing the entire tonal range of the negative.

[bobmichaels]

I'm with Robert. All you want the scanner to do is to capture ALL the information so you can later make a good looking print in your image editor. Good scans looks crappy as they come from the scanner before the image editor pass. And a reasonably good looking file straight from the scanner usually cannot be improved as it clipped some of the data.

 

There is no such thing as an "accurate" scan. It's all interpretation of dissimilar variables. Just as there is not such a thing as an accurate neg or accurate print.

[zee]

I have the 4990, Paul, but I can't remember the last time I used the Epson software with it. Normally, I use Silverfast AI 6.xx which gives superior results. I wonder if your friend's scanner is set to Auto or Home Mode. If it is, you'll want to change the Mode to Professional. After that, you should be able to click on the Histogram icon and adjust further as needed. Here's a link from Epson's website which might help you figure out where your settings need to be adjusted:

 

http://files.support.epson.com/htmldocs/pr49ph/pr49phrf/howto_2.htm#for%20film%20b

 

Better yet, ask your friend if he has his Silverfast software installed and use that instead. You can get additional assistance on using Silverfast here:

 

http://www.silverfast.com/show/movies/en.html

 

http://www.silverfast.com/show/sf-online-reviews/en.html

[paul_viapiano]

Thanks everyone!

 

I was using the Professional mode in the Epson software and basically all I wanted to do was get a scan of my negative in order to judge how well I made my exposures, since I'm pretty new to processing my own B&W film and not very experienced in judging exposures by looking at the negative itself. Therefore, that was my concern in getting an "unbiased" scan.

 

I'm hoping to get a 4990 of my own soon, and play around with it when I have more time.