Scanning Black and White

[ahelg]

I've heard that it's quite a difficoult process to scan black and white negatives (traditional, not C-41). Is this true? I much prefear traditional black and white film as I like being able to develope them myself, but there is not much point if the quality is crap.

I use Kodak TMAX 400 film.

 

[Rob]

It's theoretically not difficult to scan B&W, especially if you have a dedicated film scanner. Results from a flatbed can be a touch variable, but no different in concept to colour.

I use a Nikon CoolScan V with T-Max 400 and have success by leaving all the options off except the digital ICE.

R

 

[ksmattfish]

I've been reading that in general film scanners are designed for the density range of transparencies (slides) which is greater than BW negs. This means that BW negs tend to scan flat, but I haven't had much trouble correcting this with levels/curves. I scan my BW negs as if they were color transparencies, and then invert and desaturate in Adobe PS. This has been giving me much better results than setting the scanner up for BW negs. Of course the only thing I'm looking to get is low res files for my website and forums like this one. I really don't know what the quality is for high res scans.

 

[oriecat]

I've just recently tried what Matt says (he mentioned it in the darkroom forum last week or so) and it definitely helps!

 

[doxx]

Vuescan allows to scan RAW with many scanners...
it gives excellent results. digital ICE doesn't work
with b/w film - the additional infrared beam can't
get thru the silver halide, for that no dust detection