Truer scans calibrations and colour shifts - ideas please

[MicroSF6]

An explanation of what I am doing-

In our business we must scan many photos or magazine prints every day (maybe up to 50 a day). We haven't got time to play with every image by using all the available functions of Silverfast. Instead we aim to calibrate well, set up a standard curve to maximise scans before using photoshop to resize, sharpen and convert to CMYK. Then the images are reproduced on a digital press hopefully with as little fuss as possible and with as little colour shift as possible.

Problem is, it rarely seems to work consistantly. We often need to tweak colours because they do not reproduce accurately.

I would have thought with the IT8 calibration that one would be able to get a very accurate scan but this doesn't sem to be so.

Firstly, the straight scans one achieves does not have a true white or black. For this, one needs to use a curve or the histogram. But if you use the white, grey and black point device in silverfast, it also tries to correct for colour casts. Why is there a colour cast in the first place. We've just calibrated! I don't get this.

Secondly, so why is there not an IT8 target with a whiter white and blacker black so that one only has to calibrate and scan? Surely I don't need to tweak every image. I simply don't have time, and also, how would teach a new employee how to do it anyhow.

So finally, has someone worked out a great way of making the most true (i'm not wanting to improve an image) scan of something, short of drum scanning it?

I'm keen to talk to anyone as determined to get the best scans possible.

Kenneth Beck

[degrub]

you may want to talk with the folks on ScanHi-End@yahoo.com newsgroup as well.

regards,