Scanning Paper negatives.

Hi,
What I have long understood about paper negatives is that one should expose and process them so that when view by transmitted light they look like a "good negative" When viewed by reflected light they should look way to dark. Viewing by reflected light does show all the good detail buried in the shadows - so you can't judge when they're coming up in the tray.
So the questions. Do you scan as a transparent medium or as a reflective print?
Thanks,
Robert

If scanned as transparent, you will probably get the paper fibres showing, same as when a paper neg is enlarged, so safer on reflective light. Unless you like the look of the fibres!

If you are shooting paper negs for scanning, then expose them as you would for transparency film. You expose for highlights, then scan and reverse. You want blacks(in neg) with detail, and light areas with some detail.

If you scan by reflective light you will never see the detail buried down in the shadows - at least it seems so.
Robert

This was taken with a Pentax MX, XR Rikenon 1:1.4 50mm
Ilford hp5
Enlarged on to Ilford Multigrade perl 8 by 10 inch paper with a Rogonar S 50mm
scanned ( necessarily reflective mode) by an Epson V600

https://app.box.com/s/eknh47tirp7zqb5p6hpm

I like my paper negatives to have both shadow and highlight detail clearly visible. Usually this means the negative's tonal range needs to have less contrast than the subsequent print or positive image would. I've found if the highlights are too dark in the negative, they rarely hold up well as a positive, regardless whether scanning or wet printing.

I agree that you can't tell a good paper negative by the image coming up in the tray, especially if your developer is well-used and dark. But you can sometimes tell by the speed at which it comes up; but in general, inspection of the negative after processing is required.

Regarding paper fibers from the negative showing through in silver prints, I really don't see this much when using RC paper negatives. Hold the paper negative, emulsion facing you, up to a backlight - that's what the print paper sees when contact printing. If you can't see the paper fibers when backlit, it shouldn't show up in the print. Fiber-based paper negatives, that's another story.

~Joe