[filmscanners] Re: Minolta 5400 & Photoshop CS: bestwaytoscan

["Ed Lusby" <elusby@adelphia.net>]

At 01:59 PM 8/18/2004, you wrote:
>Ed,
>
>I think what I'm trying to get at is: Given a person with good Photoshop
>skills, is it an easier path to simply scan the neg in and modify it in
>Photoshop vs tweaking it in the scanning program and modifying it with the
>scan software?

As you said, correctly, Photoshop is a better choice to do any tweaking.
But if you're scanning negatives, do you really want to do raw scans and
correct in photoshop, or do you want to use a scanner profile, be it
Vuescan or Minolta, and have the color come out correct, or near correct
right away? If you're concerned about degradation of the scan data by too
many digital manipulations, do a 48bit scan. My opinion is, it is easier to
let the scanner software do the corrections for negatives. However, for
slides, I would favor raw scans.

>I'm coming from the viewpoint that the scanning software, be it Minolta's,
>Silverfast Ai, or vuescan, just is doing a crappier job of modifying the
>file POST scan, just as I could do with Photoshop in a better way. I've read
>reports to that effect.

For negatives? Maybe, but it's too much hassle for me.


>So, I'm asking if either of the above software packages modify anything PRE
>scan. If they don't, then:

How do you modify anything before you have it?

>- does it matter what software package you use with the 5400,

Yes. Vuescan has a lot of advantages over minolta software, imo. Color
corrections are better; scans are faster because there is a scan from
preview feature and "ice" and grain dissolver can be used independently as
needed; much more flexibility in too many ways to go into.


>- what is the best setting to get the neg (both color and bw) scanned (16
>bit, 16 bit linear, positive, whatever).

That's for you to decide. All software has a lot of settings to make. Your
choice depends on what you are trying to do. You should read the manuals
completely. If you get Vuescan, print out the manual and read it, all of
it. Find a good source of information on color management. A Google search
will find you tons of information. A good book on the topic is Photoshop CS
Artistry.  It covers a lot about scanning. If there are any shortcuts to
learning about scanning, I didn't find them; I wish I had.

Ed




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