[filmscanners] RE: additional remarks about 8bit / hi bit

["LAURIE SOLOMON" <laurie@advancenet.net>]

>LAURIE SOLOMON asked if my digital prints apparently look better "because
of
>their scanning in 8-bit versus 16-bit and not because of some other
>factor...?" In addition to the hi bit factor, I make serious efforts in
>color balance, defect removal, perspective correction, and anything else i
>can figure out how to do.

Alas, without trying to belabor this, you avoided my question.  You claim
with the implicit if not explicit implication that your pproduct is better
than the others because of the 16-bit rather than 8-bit scans, regardless of
what other corrections, adjustments, etc. you engage in.  I did not ask what
other techniques you used to produce your output; I explicitly asked what
evidence you had that the bit depth difference between your scans and those
of the others actually made a difference or entered into the equation in
determining why your output is better than theirs.  It could be that the
difference would have taken place given all your other effort even if you
had scanned in 8-bit.

> I know that the next generation of
>Epsons will be 16 bit, the next version of photoshop will be 16 bit

And how pray tell do you know this with any sort of certainty?  Are you
privy to information that the general public is not?

I do thank you for your source referrals, however.

-----Original Message-----
From: filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of HPA
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 9:58 PM
To: laurie@advancenet.net
Subject: [filmscanners] additional remarks about 8bit / hi bit


LAURIE SOLOMON asked if my digital prints apparently look better "because of
their scanning in 8-bit versus 16-bit and not because of some other
factor...?" In addition to the hi bit factor, I make serious efforts in
color balance, defect removal, perspective correction, and anything else i
can figure out how to do.

HI bit technique has some good tutorials.  Check the writings of Jeff
Schewe, here is his basic tutorial:
schewephoto.com/workshop/pdfs/Pro_Workflow.pdf

I found a lot of great tips on the digital black & white list on Yahoo, in
particular Roy Harrington's posts.  These are the guys who are winning
fine-art photography print contests with digital prints.

"but what are you printing or outputing to?"
I am making a master scan on CD.  It needs to be able to print on an epson
or get sent to a publisher as a tif cd.  I know that the next generation of
Epsons will be 16 bit, the next version of photoshop will be 16 bit, so I
don't want to have to re-do everything every few years.   Publishers will do
final adjustments to my files, depending on whether they are printing color,
halftone, duotone, etc., I have no control.  Art directors appreciate a file
they can work with.  I am doing both black & white and color.

Arthur Entlich asked what kind of scanner i use.  I have Polaroid SS4000 for
slides.  I have my own half-glass carriers to keep the film entirely in
focus. I always remove the film from the slide mount for scanning.
Kodachromes made before 1955 had a varnish on the film that needs to be
removed before scanning.  My large format negative scanner is a Artixscan
1800.  I bought it because it was reputed to have the greatest scan depth of
any 8x10 flatbed. Some of the stuff i have to scan is unbelievable poor
quality compared to modern professional film.  I scan glass plates that are
so dense you can't see through them.  I scan Autochrome color plates from
the early 1900s to 1950s Ektachromes with only the red layer surviving.  I
do have some programs that fix up old faded color photos.  i use them to
preview my possibilities for color restorations.  After I see these results
i have a good idea of what i want to do.  Then I do all the restorations
manually using curves. Dan Margulis book Professional Photoshop has some of
the best color correction info available that i know of.  If you get PPI
magazine, check the dec 2002 issue for a preview of the book.


Tom Robinson

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