Vuescan and B&W negs

[Alex Ragen]

I'm new to scanning B&W negs on my Epson 4870 with Vuescan, and
wondering why there is no setting (on the "Color" tab) for the
traditonal B&W films such as Tri-X. If there really is no difference
between these B&W films, then why is there no setting them, something
like B&W vendor="Generic", B&W brand="All", B&W type="All"? I've been
using Generic, Color, Negative for these parameters and it seems to
work OK. But have I missed something?
Thanks.

 

[CSM1]

I'm new to scanning B&W negs on my Epson 4870 with Vuescan, and
wondering why there is no setting (on the "Color" tab) for the
traditonal B&W films such as Tri-X. If there really is no difference
between these B&W films, then why is there no setting them, something
like B&W vendor="Generic", B&W brand="All", B&W type="All"? I've been
using Generic, Color, Negative for these parameters and it seems to
work OK. But have I missed something?
Thanks.

You should have a setting for B&W Negative or Positive.
http://files.support.epson.com/htmldocs/pr48ph/pr48phrf/howto_2.htm

In the Pro Mode:
Film Type drop down.
Select a film type from the Film Type list.

B&W films do not have or need a color correction.

The only difference in different B&W films is the grain and density. Which
you have to adjust for anyway.

 

[Alan Smithee]

I'm new to scanning B&W negs on my Epson 4870 with Vuescan, and
wondering why there is no setting (on the "Color" tab) for the
traditonal B&W films such as Tri-X. If there really is no difference
between these B&W films, then why is there no setting them, something
like B&W vendor="Generic", B&W brand="All", B&W type="All"? I've been
using Generic, Color, Negative for these parameters and it seems to
work OK. But have I missed something?
Thanks.

The color tab is not what you want here. Just make sure your input tab |
media is set to B&W negative and transparency is selected. The only setting
I would bother which in color is the CI (contrast index) setting available
under the Kodak T-Max brand. Scan your negs at the highest dpi setting your
scanner allows then use the tiff or jpeg "file reduction" factor (Output
tab) set to 1, 2, or 3 etc. to obtain optimum results. Scan and save B&W at
16-bit until you've corrected your levels and contrast. Then convert the
file to 8-bit. Some people save everything as a raw file, I don't. Don't use
infrared cleaning function on B&W as rumour has it that the scanner sees the
silver as dust particles, then thus performs poorly. C-41 B&W may be ok.

 

[Mendel Leisk]

You should have a setting for B&W Negative or Positive.
http://files.support.epson.com/htmldocs/pr48ph/pr48phrf/howto_2.htm

In the Pro Mode:
Film Type drop down.
Select a film type from the Film Type list.

B&W films do not have or need a color correction.

The only difference in different B&W films is the grain and density. Which
you have to adjust for anyway.

TMax400 with D76ci:.55 works for me, for most. Equiv. to xp2. All
refer to Vuescan b/w profiles.