scanner for b&w photos

[Elia Freddi]

Hi All,

I'm scanning some b&w print on my old Canon N640P and I see that the black
are very noisy (kind of randomly distributed lines), no way to reduce the
noise playing with the option of the software. For this reason I'm
evaluating to buy a new flatbed scanner, possibly not too expensive but
with good performance on b&w prints. Any suggestion?
Thanks a lot


Elia Freddi
················································
"Sii tecnico spietato con il mezzo e poeta con la mente" - il ratto
"In ogni fotografia c'è sempre qualcosa di troppo, tranne quand'è riuscita"
- Edouard Boubat

MypagE at http://efreddi.altervista.org/

 

[Bruce Graham]

Hi All,

I'm scanning some b&w print on my old Canon N640P and I see that the black
are very noisy (kind of randomly distributed lines), no way to reduce the
noise playing with the option of the software. For this reason I'm
evaluating to buy a new flatbed scanner, possibly not too expensive but
with good performance on b&w prints. Any suggestion?
Thanks a lot


Elia Freddi
················································
"Sii tecnico spietato con il mezzo e poeta con la mente" - il ratto
"In ogni fotografia c'è sempre qualcosa di troppo, tranne quand'è riuscita"
- Edouard Boubat

MypagE at http://efreddi.altervista.org/

Have you calibrated your scanner recently?

 

[Elia Freddi]

I'm scanning some b&w print on my old Canon N640P and I see that the black
[...]

Have you calibrated your scanner recently?

Hello Bruce,
yes, of course. But the calibration is not affecting this noise. It's a
kind of horizontal lines in the deep black. My idea is that the
resolution of the scanner is not enough.
Thanks


Elia Freddi
················································
"Sii tecnico spietato con il mezzo e poeta con la mente" - il ratto
"In ogni fotografia c'è sempre qualcosa di troppo, tranne quand'è riuscita"
- Edouard Boubat

MypagE at http://efreddi.altervista.org/

 

[Elia Freddi]

Have you calibrated your scanner recently?

Here an example of a dark picture. I increased brightness and contrast to
make the noise and horizontal lines more visible:

http://efreddi.altervista.org/varie/detail.jpg

Soma data: paper Agfa MCC 312, 150 dpi grey level.



Elia Freddi
················································
"Sii tecnico spietato con il mezzo e poeta con la mente" - il ratto
"In ogni fotografia c'è sempre qualcosa di troppo, tranne quand'è riuscita"
- Edouard Boubat

MypagE at http://efreddi.altervista.org/

 

[CSM1]

Here an example of a dark picture. I increased brightness and contrast to
make the noise and horizontal lines more visible:

http://efreddi.altervista.org/varie/detail.jpg

Soma data: paper Agfa MCC 312, 150 dpi grey level.

Try scanning at 300 dpi instead. By doubling the resolution, you make the
stepper motor step one half as much distance each step.

Paper photographs have about 300 dpi of resolution.

It looks to me that it is digital or CCD noise more that any thing else. You
have the whites flattened out and you shot the black point completely. Set
the black and white points more accurately in the Histogram and most of the
lines will disappear.

Try rotating the photo 90 degrees on the glass and make the lines fall
vertically in the black region instead.

 

[Dan M]

Hi Elia,

It really looks to me like streaks on the scanner glass or maybe even
on the film base. I have seen this sort of thing before and was able to
fix it with a careful cleaning before making the scan.

Some old, glossy prints also have a faint haze across the surface that
you should be able to remove. I use a photographic emulsion cleaner
(comes in a spray bottle) with some extra soft cleaning cloths.

Dan