[filmscanners] Re: film and scanning vs digital photography

["R. Jackson" <jackson.robert.r@comcast.net>]

On Jul 4, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Laurie@advancenet.net wrote:

> I have not used VueScan in years and am unfamiliar with its current
> raw
> output.  When I used it the raw scan was 16 bit non-linear scan
> without any
> software processing applied at all output as a TIFF file.

Correct. You can also save the VueScan data as an Adobe DNG file,
which allows for lossless compression and a considerable space
savings over 16-bit uncompressed tiff files, which may seem trivial,
but when scanning color 6x7 transparencies at 4800 dpi the output is
13,376 x 10,676 and around 260 meg in size. DNG can pull that back to
around 175 meg.

>   This is not
> exactly the same as Camera RAW which via camera raw conversion
> programs
> allows the user to interpret the raw data as to exposure, white light,
> saturation levels, chromatic distortion, and color settings prior to
> converting the interpreted data into a standard format which the
> user can
> then manipulate in image editing programs like Photoshop.

All true.

When many people scan film, though, they subject the image to
automated processing that may well result in the kind of irreversible
image degradation you were talking about earlier. By storing a file
directly from the CCD output of the scanner and dealing with all
processing post-capture you allow yourself the freedom to oversee any
processing manually, potentially avoiding the kind of problems you
seemed to be referring to. Obviously it's more time-consuming. I find
that the RAW files from VueScan can withstand a considerable amount
of tweaking in Photoshop before they start to show visible artifacts.
Obviously much more than most pre-processed scanner output. Of
course, they don't look as appealing right out of the scanner, which
may put off more casual users.

-Rob

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