Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Scanning negative film


I have many black and white negatives that I had made during my darkroom days.  Most of my work back then was done with a Linhof 4x5 view camera using Kodak films.  Tri-x was one film I enjoyed because of it's exposure latitude and the way I could easily manipulate it.  When Tmax films came along it was a challenge at first to know how to use and process the film.  Tmax was revolutionary because of the grain structure and the very fine detail it could record.  It was a film that needed a strict processing procedure, and I used a calibrated Jobo processor to do all of my development.  The time and temperature was extremely critical to getting satisfactory and repeatable results with Tmax.  Recently I have   been scanning a few of my old negatives to use on my web site.  I have an Epson V750 flatbed scanner and use a fluid mount scanning procedure. The results are alright for web images but when compared to my finished fine gelatin silver prints they can not compare.  Certainly there are better quality scanning devices such as a drum scanner.  Someday I may use a custom lab to make a high end scan of some of my favorite negatives to see if I could print them to my satisfaction.  The above image, called Roger, is one I made with Tmax-100 film and scanned with my flatbed scanner.  


No comments:

Post a Comment