Scanner/software as darkroom densitometer

[barry_weiss]

Anyone have experience/recommendations/tips on using a film scanner

and software as a densitometer for readings of negative density that

you translate into exposure values for printing in the darkroom. I

haven't used a densitometer in the darkroom (only test strips and

good guesses) but realized that a scanner set-up may serve well.

 

Thanks.

[steve_barnett2]

I suppose in theory it may be possible. But I would suspect that the warm up time of the scanner may give you variable results unless you went through a set proceedure to even this out. I don't mean the time it takes to get any old regular scan from it, this can be done within seconds of turning it on, and the result will be 'compensated' for in the software (you won't want the scanner or software to 'compensate' for irregular exposure or bulb temperature). But rather the time it takes for the bulb, and surrounding area to get to a consistent working temperature, say after a long full res scan with everything switched on to increase the time as much as possible. Then you would need to work quickly.

 

Then you could use software like Vuescan, where you can lock the exposure based on a 'standard' neg, and use the histograms to analyze the result of your density test. But personally I think the variables of the bulb temperature will constantly defeat any consistent results.

[al_kaplan1]

I've tried a few enlarging meters over the years. At least for B&W, where contrast manipulation is part of the game, nothing beats a test strip. I cut a lot of 5x7 out of 8x10 so I have plenty of 1x5 strips. Anything smaller is a waste. Even cutting up larger sheets is still cheaper than wasting whole sheets with the wrong contrast/exposure! Eventually you should get to the point where you can "eyeball" your neg, pick the right filter, make a test strip that's within a few seconds of perfect, and get your burning and dodging pretty close the first time.

[bill_carson]

Hi Barry: If you find a need for a densitometer in your darkroom, I suggest that you check out the Laser Soft/SilverFast program. They offer a precision densitometer function for monitoring density values in scanning and printing. Good Luck. Bill