[filmscanners] Re: Scanning chromogenic

["Arthur Entlich" <artistic-1@shaw.ca>]

I'm not Tony, but I have a few suggestions.

Unlike color photo papers, which are sensitive to color filters and film
base color, etc, you have a LOT more control with inkjet printing.

There are two ways you can get neutral B+W out of your inkjet printer
from chromogenic films.

1) Scan it as a black and white film, so that the scanner provides a
monochromic image to begin with.  When you set up the film scanner
driver to black and white it should screen out all color and create a
gray-scale image only.

Even if it doesn't, most image manipulation software like Photoshop,
allow you to convert an RGB image to Grayscale, which will discard all
color information from the image.

Once you have a real grayscale image, the next issue is how to print it
so it comes out grayscale.

   Most inkjet printers allow within the driver to set it to monochrome
or grayscale, which will make the printer use only black ink.  On some
printers this will give you a fine image.  My older Epsons do fine with
only black ink.

If you are unhappy with that result, you can attempt to print a black
and white result using all the color inks.  On some printers this makes
a more smooth gradient image, but on some it is more difficult to get a
neutral image.  SOme printers will tend to make each grayscale step a
slightly different color, moving to tones of gray with cyan or magenta
influences.  Playing with color management can sometimes help this, or
using CMYK output of the file and playing with the CMYK color levels and
curves within your image software.

If you do a lot of B&W printing, you may wish to convert one inkjet
printer to quadtone, which uses a special driver and 3-4 different
densities of black ink to create a well toned image.

If you like sepia tones, you can usually use one of the duo-tone or
tri-tone settings in your image manipulation programs, which converts
the image to a toned image, or you can take the monochromic image
(grayscale) convert it back to RGB and then alter the color balance or
hue to make it whatever tones you wish.

Lastly, in terms of paper, whatever inkjet papers you use for your color
prints should work well with B&W images, but if you end up printing with
the full color inks rather than either quad-tone or just black ink, it
may become toned just due to the bias in the papers, which tend to throw
colors off neutral somewhat.  Testing is the only way to know, as each
paper is different.

Art



Ken Durling wrote:

> On Wed, 30 Jan 2002 11:28 +0000 (GMT), you wrote:
>
>
>>It arises purely out of the filtration used by the lab for C41 printing,
>>and is not a property of the film itself, just a workaround for the fact
>>that it's difficult to get a neutral greyscale print on colour paper with
>>this film.
>>
>
>
> Thanks, Tony.  I suspected something like that.   I know the processes
> are very different, but would those difficulties translate to inkjet
> paper?  Or is the home digital dkrm workflows the same as any B&W
> film?  If not, are there recommended papers to print C-41 with on an
> inkjet?  I'm using an Epson 820, FWIW.
>
>
> Ken
>
>
>


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