Scanning B&W

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Tom

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I finally bought myself a film/slide scanner, so I was eager to try it out.

I dug out a box I'd been storing since shortly after my Dad passed away. He was an avid photographer and, when I was a kid, he did quite a bit of semi-pro work. In the box were numerous 2x2" B&W negatives in addition to glass/emulsion B&W plates. I know there are numerous early family photos in addition to historical shots among these gems.

My first attempt to scan one of these was to scan at 4800 DPI (or PPI) and to save as a bitmap fle. The resulting file was approx 350Mb! The scanner has options to change the resolution up or down and to save in various compressed formats. I'm wondering what settings others have used for scanning old B&W film or plates.

TIA
 
2x2 negs?  120 right?  Well 4800 is more for a 35 mm. which is 1x1=1-1/2 square inches vs. 4.0 sq in..  That 120 neg is 2.7 times larger than the 35mm.  Try kicking things down to 1800 and see what happens.
 
Carl Lundquist said:
2x2 negs?

Yes.

120 right?

I haven't heard that term in a very long time Carl. I honestly don't know what they were shot with because I see some that also have 3.5" x 2.25" emulsion coated glass plates. They all seem to have been shot circa 1950-52.

Try kicking things down to 1800 and see what happens.

Will do, thanks.
 
Chet,

I bought the HP 4890. It uses magazines that sit on the glass rather than a slot in the lid. Not an expensive model, but higher resolution than any of my other scanners or MFPs.
 
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