Help ! I can't get sharp scans

[craign]

Hi everyone, I can't seem to get sharp scans at all. I used both Silverfast 5 and Nikon scan 3.12. I think I may have to adjust the levels and curves. But this seems like a real pain if I have to do this with EVERY photo..that is assuming I can figgure out how to use the levels and curves features. If anyone can help or point me in the right direction I sure appreciate it.. I shoot landscape photography and have some really nice images that I want to enlarge to 16x20 but want to make sure the digital file is as sharp as the original slide. Thanks again for your help.
Craig

[degrub]

There may be several issues to attack. First, the flatness of the neg/transp in the Nikon scanner. The Nikons seem to have a narrow depth of field, so flatness of the neg or transparency is important. You can test this by trying different focus points. Second, most images require some manual work to make them "pop" when printed. This may include the adjustments you mention. Also, you should not sharpen until you are ready to output and know the printer you are working with as different devices will need slightly different sharpening (unsharp mask) setting. Nik makes a good product if you want to try something more automatic. i have always just used photoshop with reasonable success. There are several good reference sites around: Ian Lyon's tutorials ( www.computer-darkroom.com ), Wayne Fulton's scantips site ( www.scantips.com - i think), www.digitaldog.net , to name a few that can give you guidance. For learning how to color correct images and make them snap, the book that worked for me was Margulis: Professional Photoshop X. i have found that the best output comes from manual adjustments and seldom from automatic adjustments, although many of the programs are getting pretty good at it (Silverfast included).

Frank