Need Suggestions and Settings for BW Scanning...

[johnorzechowski]

Hi,

I am scanning BW photos for archival. I have Silverfast 6.5.5 and an Epson 4990 Photo Scanner, Photoshop CS, MAC OS X. Most BWs are 3 1/2" square.

I would like to optimize the scanning fidelity.

Some suggest 16 bit Grey, others 16bit HDR (I don't have), others suggest 48 bit color and fix in photoshop. Need advice on approach and settings in the **GENERAL and FRAME** tabs, too, that work best.

BTW, I am scanning at a Q-factor of 2.0, Screen = 200 and 400 dpi (for possible upscaling).

Thanks So Much in Advance...

John

[degrub]

If you scan in color at the highest bit density the scanner will support, you can then look at the RGB channels in PS and make a better conversion than the scanner will, plus you have more control. Search the web . There are more than a few web sites that discuss this extensively. For example, the B channel usually contains a lot of the noise signal, so you can moderate that channel only.