Scanning B&W Prints - Advice Needed

ManixZero · 08-04-2009, 04:43 AM

I have a huge collection of B&W prints from my old film and darkroom days and I would like to digitise them.

I have a flat bed scanner that I can borrow from work during my week off and would like to begin digitising them during that time.

My questions are:-

1. Best Format? (Tiff I guess)
2. Should I scan in B&W or colour? (Currently set to millions of colours)
3. Resolution? (The default is 300PPI but will go up to 4800PPi)

I am an absolute novice when it comes to scanning photographs and I want to preserve the prints as best I can. Most of the prints are 10x8 B&W and normally on Ilford RC papers.

Any advice will be gratefully received

Cheers

MZ

thazooo · 08-04-2009, 10:10 AM

When I scan I try to capture as much info as I can, this means I use the highest native resolution of the scanner, such as 3600 ppi. I never use the higher 'Interpolated' resolutions, they just create pixels and not very accurately. With film if noise is to much, I'll drop the resolution down to 2400ppi and this solves some of the noise.

While scanning I set the White Point and Black Point in the scanner software after
the PreScan. I've found this gives a better scan better tones, and a bit more contrast. I'll save as a tiff or in VueScan a raw.

Now scanning prints is a bit different, I don't do it much but if you scan at 3200ppi you'll end up with a Monster File, HUGE. I'd suggest that you decide how large you may print the image in the future and scan at 300 to 600 ppi. It'll give you a good capture without picking up any of the texture of the print paper.

Here's an interesting site

Scanning Basics 101 - All about digital images

Good Luck.

vlo · 08-04-2009, 10:25 AM

Hello
I mostly scan negatives and slides but hope this is some help. Yes, I would use tiff. Also I would scan in color and settle the colors later. 4800 resolution in overkill and propably will not give You any more information. I would try 300 and 600 and look at the result, propably 600 will be quite good. Be sure to scan in 16 bit mode, not 8 bit. After prescan crop before other adjustments. See that You get all the tunes; set black point and white point, adjust gamma if necessary. Consider using light sharpening when scanning. Have fun and show us Your results.

Yours

vlo

*graphicgr8s* · 08-04-2009, 12:32 PM

I generally scan in B&W at 300-400 dpi. If you intend to print them larger than the original let the scanner enlarge for you. It comes out better than trying to enlarge in Photoshop. I've never had a complaint from any of my clients that's for sure. I never scan it in color as it usually adds a touch of noise to it. As an aside I am also not using one of those $99 scanners either.

Picking up the texture of the paper is more a balance of contrast/color/brightness control not resolution.

And it always goes to a tiff. Then a jpeg after editing.

ManixZero · 08-12-2009, 05:23 PM

I will be borrowing a decent scanner for about a week during my summer holiday from work so I will get as much done during that time.

Thanks for the advice,

from a digital learner!

Cheers MZ

photog · 08-12-2009, 11:05 PM

ManixZero you ask, "I have a huge collection of B&W prints from my old film and darkroom days and I would like to digitise them." Why would you want to scan in colour? Scan in Greyscale in 600 dpi if your machine configuration and software will permit. If possible use 16 bit. Be aware that the file size will not be small!

*graphicgr8s* · 08-13-2009, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by photog

ManixZero you ask, "I have a huge collection of B&W prints from my old film and darkroom days and I would like to digitise them." Why would you want to scan in colour? Scan in Greyscale in 600 dpi if your machine configuration and software will permit. If possible use 16 bit. Be aware that the file size will not be small!

Isn't much of a gain in 16 bit with b&w. Also on screen you probably won't notice much difference between 300 and 600. Truthfully unless he enlarges it more than about 50% 300 should be fine for printing and way more than enough for web or onscreen.

LKeithR · 08-16-2009, 11:33 AM

I haven't seen any mention of what you actually plan to do with the images once they're scanned. Scanning for indexing purposes is very different from scanning with the intention of printing for sale or other use. This can make a big difference in how you approach your project.

I have a large collection of slides and colour and B &W prints going back to the 30s when my Grandfather had his own photo studio and after much deliberation a couple years ago I bought an Epson V750 flatbed to deal with them. After plunging in with great enthusiasm I soon discovered that scanning a large number of images is a huge undertaking. I will never have enough time to get everything scanned--just ain't gonna happen.

Fortunately the images I have are "reasonably" well organized and I have figured out that the most efficient way to do this is to spend some of my available time organizing them further. I've created a simple indexing system which allows me to find most stuff pretty quickly and I can now "cherry-pick" those shots which are special in some way and put the necessary time and effort into adjusting and scanning them properly.

I would definitely recommend scanning in grayscale at 8 bits--use 16 bit if you want a "bit" (sorry for the pun) more detail--and, for most usages, at 600-800 dpi. I actually find that I don't need more than 300 dpi if I'm scanning a nice clean 8 x 10 and I still get a pretty large file.

For slides I'll go to 2400 dpi at 16 bit but another word of advice: Have a close look at your slides before you scan. If there's any fading or degradation (especially colour shift) you're probably wasting your time scanning them at very high resolution. Once a slide has deteriorated beyond a certain point it's very time-consuming (if not impossible) to save it as a colour image.

Clean slides can produce some stunning results and are worth the effort but don't waste a slot of scanning time on images that will never work. I've had pretty good luck scanning "bad" slides in B & W at lower resolutions. You can save the image if not the colour.

So my suggestion is to a) determine what you'll be doing with your scanned images, b) experiment to determine what minimal parameters you need to achieve your desired results, and c) forge ahead and enjoy yourself, knowing that you're working in the most efficient way you can...

photog · 08-17-2009, 01:08 AM

I don't know whether 16 bit produces more detail than 8 or not. The main reason that I use it is that if I need to adjust the image I can change gamma or other parameters and not cause an image with banding (also referred to as combine) due to gaps in the histogram. Once this happens the lost information is not recoverable.