| I get my lab to develop the films and that's all.
I scan negatives or (preferably) positive slides most of the time (and for colour). I use a Minolta Dimage Elite II scanner which can give some good results. Some of the epson flatbeds can give good results, but be careful of film which does not lie flat in the holder. The epson units are also prone to out of focus results - a unit which can adjust focus is a big step forward.
I was always told that the range of tonality on prints is only 100, whereas the range of negative is around 1000 (as per the Ansel Adams Zone system), so have always scanned negatives.
If you are able, either purchase a good dedicated scanner (I'd recommend the Minolta, the Nikon coolscan or the Microtek i900 with the dual tray (especially if you are thinking about MF scanning as well). The epson units are good within the limits mentioned.
Scan in as high a bitrate as you can and scan in TIFF. That way you have an "archive" to go back to when working on images - you can always down convert, but the other way is hard.
Finally, if you need noise free images (maybe not since you have indicated that you are scanning BW) consider some 3rd party noise plugin. I have used Neat image with good success. |