what's best setting for scanning black / white negs?

[harry shin]

Hi:

1. It seemed obvious to me when scanning black / white negatives (inorder to create HDR files) to use the setting "16 Bit HDR Grayscale".

2. However, I recently read something in NAPP Photoshop user which recommended scanning black and white negs in color, d/t greater tonality etc...

3. Thus, when specifically creating HDR files of black / white negatives, should I scan with "48 bit HDR color" or "16 bit HDR Grayscale"?


Thanks. Harry Shin

[Helpful Corn]

Hi Harry,

Even though it seems unnecessary when dealing with black and white images, you should always opt to scan in color. Scanning in color gives you more image data to work with and that's always a good thing.

Here is something you might find interesting:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/1800F-bw.html

[RAG]

Hi Harry,

Helpful Corn is absolutely correct. Scanning in color basically gives you three times the data to work with, not to mention multiple choices for creating the best possible B&W image. In general you will find that the green channel carries the best image quality of the three channels (not always) as shown in the examples on http://www.largeformatphotography.info/1800F-bw.html