ryan_synovec

<p>I searched the forum for an answer to this and only seem to find bits and pieces about this, maybe there is no exact answer, but if anyone has past experience with this I would love to hear what you know.<br>

I recently purchased a Nikon 9000 scanner and the Image mechanics wet mount tray. My question is two fold. First, has anyone else that uses the image mechanics wet mount tray (or the one sold by Aztec, same thing) done a manual focus reading over several spots on the same negative, and how much do your readings vary from spot to spot? As an example, when I take three focus readings on a negative, it always desends in focus units from left to right: left edge reads at 110 focus units, middle of negative at 90 units, and right edge at 73 units. When I place the negative at the left (top) of the tray, the difference in readings is greatist.When placed in the middle of the tray it is a little smaller in difference. When I look at the wet mount itself, it is flat/flush to the glass, so I'm thinking the way the glass is attached to the tray holder, that the glass is not lying truly flat, but angled down slightly from left to right. Has anyone else run into this and does this amount of difference in focus readings seem excessive, or, if I use the average, even though it would end up being about 20 focus units from the most extreme reading will the scanners "depth of field or focus" correct for this difference? I'm going to try some tests for myself, but I am very interested to hear what others have experienced regarding this.<br>

The other part of the question has to do with using the Nikon glass mount trays. For anyone who uses either of them, If you have taken multiple focus position readings on a negative, how great is the variation in each focus reading for different spots on the negative? Just trying to get a comparrision versus the wet mount tray. Thanks for any and all help with this!</p>

<p> I have recently decided to move from traditional darkroom printing to digital. I will be scanning my medium

format B&W negatives with a Nikon 9000, and printing using an Epson 4880. I am currently using

Photoshop Elements 7 for my website images. PE7 has been fine for editing my images for my website, but from the

previous threads that I've read, I'm not sure if it is what I want to use for editing my images for printing. Initially I

thought PE7 would be fine as I'm probably only going to be doing some basic adjustments to the scans: cropping,

using levels to adjust, possibly adjusting brightness/contrast. Most of what I will be doing can be done in 16 bit, but

the problem comes when some things such as using the spot healing brush, etc., require converting to 8 bit.

I'm wondering how much of a detrimental effect this has on the final print? I read in a previous post that it is best to

do all 16 bit edits first, then convert to 8 bit as late as possible in the process. Does this really minimize the effect of

changing from 16 bit to 8 bit, by doing it later in the process, or is there still a significant difference in image quality?

I would like to keep working with PE7, since it is what I am already comfortable with, but If it would make a difference

in the quality of my prints by switching to a different software such as Picture Window Pro, which I understand is

capable of working with 16 bit throughout, I would probably go that route. Any opinions and experience with this

would be greatly appreciated. Please forgive me in advance for my relative ignorance with terms, etc. in this area as

this a whole new world for me! Thanks so much.</p>