Scan or Contacts

[Rtcjr]

Hi All,

I am trying to decide if I should scan my 6x6 MF negatives or go straight to contact sheets to determine the keepers. I have not scanned film before so I am unsure if the process is practical or not. If I did scan, then I would have them in digital format would be nice for a variety of reasons, I am just not sure if the workflow is worth it. I develop myself - this is for BW - and want to determine which exposures to enlarge. I don't shoot a high volume, maybe a roll of 120 every two weeks, so would scanning really take a lot of time? My guess is that I can print out a contact sheet much faster than scanning the same amount of negatives (w/ medium priced scanner), but does the added benefits of having a digitized exposure outweigh that added time?

Thanks in advance.

Rich

 

[L Gebhardt]

I still make contact sheets in the darkroom. It's fast and easy. I might scan if I had a scanner that could do 8x10, which would allow a whole roll of 6x6 in one scan.

 

[jeffreyg]

Rich,

I never liked making contact sheets. I look at my negatives with a loupe and light box and can pretty well judge which ones to scan. I will scan those and make a small 7"x7" or so print and then have a good idea as to which I will print in the darkroom. I find it easier to scan when I can do it at any time or as time permits then to set up and clean the darkroom for just a short session.

HOME

 

[Alan Klein]

Maybe you guys can help on a related question. How do you tell which contacts are the "right" results. I don't processs my own MF film. Recently I was trying to determine if I should switch to Ektar 100 (negative color film) for the greater stops or stick with Velvia 50 (chromes which I have experience with). So I shot two rolls of each and sent them to the developer asking for contacts for the negatives.

They sent back two version of contacts for each Ektar negative roll. Since I bracket one stop above and one stop below, I had 6 exposure versions of each shot. Totally confused, I asked the processor how they made the contacts. They said the lighter one was done "normal" and the other darker. Well, maybe I said to myself. I gave up trying to determine which is the really right exposure from the contacts.

I also scanned them all "flat" but scanners tend to produce light, off color results with no contrst that you have to change in post processing. So I don't want to process the three bracketed shots for each picture to determine which is "right"> And again which one is right?

So the question is, how do you tell? What guidelines should I use? My frustration now is to just continue to shoot chromes like Velvia.

 

[Alan Klein]

Just to clarify the above, I had 6 contact versions, not exposure version. Three bracketed exposures for each shot on the film times the two versions of contact sheets.

 

[L Gebhardt]

Alan, when I make contact prints in the darkroom (for both color and black and white) I try for an exposure that prints the clear borders as just slightly less than maximum black. Coupled with a low contrast (or as low as I can get on color paper) lets me see most of what is on the film. It's also very easy to spot the frames that are over or under exposed.

In your case you should be trying to make the best print possible from each of the bracketed shots. If you can see little to know difference (usually the case with color negative material once you get the minimum exposure met) then you want to one with the least exposure as your exposure index (EI) for that film. Focus your looking at the shadow and highlight detail. You can also readily see this in scans just by adjusting the levels slider and holding the option button (on mac) in photoshop. If the image area shows up before or with the edges for any channel you have underexposed the film for those areas (no detail was captured in one or more of the channels).

So to test Ektar I would simple shoot a bracketed set of exposures at 1/3 stop differences. Then scan the images making sure to not clip the shadows in scanning process. Adjust levels in PS and look for underexposure. Pick the first image that doesn't clip for your EI. I usually still give it an extra 1/3 of a stop for safety and to get a bit more separation in the shadows for darkroom printing.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

If you're going to print analog, then make a contact print emulstion-to-emulsion, not in a file page. A contact print can tell you more about exposure, contrast for the print material you are actually going to use, and focus. You can't really judge the sharpness of the neg from a scan, unless you know the scanner to be calibrated very precisely.

 

[GRHazelton]

I scan all negatives into Lightroom with my Epson V700. This gives me contacts, of a sort, and also lets me catalog the images, via the tags in Lightroom. Its very easy then to find that special shot without rummaging through negative folders. Of course, if you don't mark the negative folders with the image numbers in Lightroom....