Old BW negatives - how to handle?

[ccuny]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, new to Silverfasy AI (installed just now) and new to the EPSOn PERFECTIOM V750 PRO which I received today. Call me a newbie.

I have a whole bunch of black & white film negatives from the 1910s. I want to scan them and I would like your advice on where to start. I have worked out how to do it using Epson Scan. My first question is: should I scan the negatives with the Epson SCan Utility, acquire them in Photoshop or use Silverfast AI?

My second question, if, as I believe, you recommend Silverfast, is what settings I should be using - ndeed what functionality - in Silverfast AI. There are loads of different functions and settings and I am a bit lost. Remember, these are very old negatives, on film, not glass, but old nonetheless. I hardly know where to start and would value your tips and guidance.

Please let me know if I should post this in another forum (I realise this is general imaging).

Thank you all

Chris

[LSI_Morales]

Dear Chris,

SilverFast is a very complete program with detailed control options which can be seen also as a complex application (specially by beginners). So the first place to start with is obviously the user manual and our video tutorials, you can find that information at:

http://www.silverfast.com/knowledge/

You can also start with this two external tutorials:

http://www.scantips.com/ and http://www.computer-darkroom.com/sf5-negafix/sf5_negafix.htm

Cheers

[ccuny]

Thank you for your suggestions but I did read as much of teh manual as I could and visited the web site (I also looked at some tutorials. Let me explain why those recommendations did not work for me so far:

1) Negafix: a film type is required. We're talking about negatives from 1910 and I have no idea what film type woul have been used then, nor do I think it would be on the Silverfast list! So I can;t used Negafix for that particular session.

2) Silverfast does not seem to cope well with the Film Guides supports that come with the Epson scanners and which I use to hold the negative in place while scanning. I will try it without the guides today.

[LSI_Morales]

Dear Chris

1) Negafix: a film type is required. We're talking about negatives from 1910 and I have no idea what film type woul have been used then, nor do I think it would be on the Silverfast list! So I can;t used Negafix for that particular session.

Your right! But, fortunately black and white negs have the same curve on all three channels (unless you have a b&W film developped with c-41 but they appear towards the end of the 90's)

In that respect you can try the curves of the existing black and white profiles to see if one of them fit your negatives or as a starting point for creating your own curves.

Another possibility is to scan in 16 bit HDR greyscale raw files and make corrections later with your editing application.

2) Silverfast does not seem to cope well with the Film Guides supports that come with the Epson scanners and which I use to hold the negative in place while scanning. I will try it without the guides today.

Strange, SilverFast was programmed to work with the film holders of the scanner.

Cheers

[ccuny]

Thanks a lot. I will just keep trying.

[degrub]

consider in investing in a wet mount scanning setup on your epson. There are kits available. Reduces the need to dust and scratch remove on old silver process film.

http://www.historicphotoarchive.com/stuff/wet.htm

search wet mount epson . THere are several suppliers.

regards,

Frank

[ccuny]

Thanks a lot. I will look into that.

[kanga]

Hello ccuny
I have read your posts as I try to do with all about old B&W negative scanning.
I have a Microtek F1 scanner with SulverFast Ai Studio. My old B&W negatives are from the 30's to the 9O's.
A lot are in a bad condition and not recoverable, at least with a skills and finances.
What tips have you learned? I know the Epson V750 Pro is a good flat bed scanner.
I also have no idea of what negativges they are, although the packets they are stored in have hardly any helpful information on them, I did see the word TriX on one packet. Some of those negatives scan quite well on this Kodak TiX setting but others don't. I suspect they are a variety of film types.
I HAVE READ MANY RE4COMMENDATIONS ABOUT OLD B&W NEGATIVES BUT THEY OFTEN RECOMMENT DIFFERENY APPROACHES.
Experiment is a good way. Every single negative is a new mistery. What resolution are you scanning at?
Kanga