Help with scanning Tri-X with a Nikon Coolscan IV

[johns1]

Kodak gave me a roll of Tri-X this past weekend and even though I

have not shot this emulsion (or any true B&W) for two decades I ran

it through my camera during a trip to San Francisco. The lab

returned the processed roll with a contact sheet yesterday and the

faint memories (rommance?) of processed Tri-X from my salad days

crept in on cat's feet to demand that some interested frames be

scanned and worked.

 

In attempting to scan the roll into my Nikon Coolscan IV with

Digital ICE 4, I got a rude surprise. Bad things happened when I

used ICE although I was somewhat successful in scanning the neg when

I turned ICE off. But now I have to deal with the cleanup of the

photo where I used to rely on ICE to take care of minor debris on

the negative. Note that this negative is fresh from a pro lab with

no visible junk on the negative when viewed through my loupe on the

light table. (Yes, the scanner was re-programmed for monochrome.)

 

What's the deal with using Digital ICE whilst scanning Tri-X with a

Coolscan IV? (Yes, I have Nikon's current scanning s/w loaded.)

[Ed_Ingold]

The Nikon scanner uses an infrared sensor for Digital ICE. Ordinary color film is transparent to IR and not dust particles, so there is a clear distinction. A B&W image is composed of metallic silver particles, which are also opaque to IR. Hence, Digital ICE does not work with B&W (nor with color film which was improperly bleached).

 

Use the high-bit mode when scanning B&W. 8-bit mode is just too contrasty. I haven't scanned B&W since my LS-20 days, so technology may have changed. You may get good results using the monochrome mode. You can also try RGB mode. In that case, you should probably scan as a positive (there's no orange mask to remove) and invert the results in Photoshop. The Scanner actually works in RGB mode, but removes the color information for the output.

 

If you want to see dust while cleaning, use a strong glancing light, like from an halogen lamp. Loupe or not, the light table doesn't give the contrast you need. Under ideal circumstances, you can see particles as small as about 5 microns, which would cover a pixel in the Nikon.

[mendel_leisk]

Jack, no scanner works with any silver based emulsions with ICE.

 

The Photoshop history brush technique I outline here may be of use:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00DmJq