digi negs - poor sharpness

[Jarvman]

I've been scanning my negs with epson silverfast at 2400dpi without any auto features and using around 100% unsharp mask, then further sharpening with around 70% high pass sharpening on soft light mode and my negs aren't very sharp. Printing at 360dpi. It's not an issue with my contact printing frame either which is top notch. Any ideas how I could improve the sharpness of my images without detrimentally affecting them?

 

[Marco B]

and my negs aren't very sharp.

I think you need to specify more clearly at what stage your negatives are "not sharp".

- Have you looked at your negatives using a loop to verify that they are actually "sharp". If not, that might be caused by focus errors, lack of depth of field, or not using a tripod. You will especially be surprised to see how much difference using a good professional tripod can make (not the cheap $30 plastic bullshit).

- If the negs are OK, it's likely the scanning. Well, since you mentioned Epson, that means flatbed, and that in turn means you will never have a top quality scan. Even the best flatbeds just don't have the focusing abilities of dedicated film scanners, and that means a less "sharp" scan result (for a shocking example see my page here with a comparison of a Canon 9950F and Imacon. Scroll down on that page to see it). For a really "sharp", or better said "in-focus" scan result, you will need at least a Nikon coolscan. Anyway, some improvement can be had by using something like the "Betterscanning" height adjustable film holders, instead of the standard ones.

- Considering you already do a two phase sharpening, with reasonable values, I guess it is related to one of the factors mentioned above...

Marco

 

[Jarvman]

Well it's definately not the negs, I've got a very hefty manfrotto studio jobby for a tripod and have made very nice silver prints from the same negs I'm using for pt/pd. Must be as you said the scanner. I'll have to invest in a top quality one some day. Shame imacon scans are pricey, but that might have to be the way if I'm going to make some large prints for my final degree show. Could probably get some student discount. Cheers Marco

 

[donbga]

Well it's definately not the negs, I've got a very hefty manfrotto studio jobby for a tripod and have made very nice silver prints from the same negs I'm using for pt/pd. Must be as you said the scanner. I'll have to invest in a top quality one some day. Shame imacon scans are pricey, but that might have to be the way if I'm going to make some large prints for my final degree show. Could probably get some student discount. Cheers Marco

Are these colorized negs or black ink only? What process are you printing?

Don Bryant

 

[Jarvman]

green negs with pt/pd. Finally got there!

 

[donbga]

green negs with pt/pd. Finally got there!

Try a diffeerent blocking color. This problem occurs occasionaly with other printers with similar or different colors.

Don Bryant