is there some tips you can leave me for scanning too?
I am not an expert in scanning... infact, scanning takes more skill and art than taking pictures.
I will do my best to give a tip or 2. If anyones sees my tip misleading, please correct me for the benefit of everyone...
1. Scan at the possible highest resolution if time permits. If you have lots of time and patience and harddisk space, scan at the highest resolution, then resize to the desired resolution for web uploads. Reason being that you can touch up, correct the exposure, patch up, crop as you like. Normally for web, if I have the time, I will scan at 2400dpi. For prints, I will scan at 3600dpi or 4800dpi. If I am in a hurry, at 1600dpi for web.
2. After scanning, you need to correct the levels. I either do an auto-level (for colour) or manual level for B&W. I find that for B&W, adjusting the level myself allows me more control on the mode I want for the pics. For colour, as I am not an expert yet, I normally do auto-level & sometime auto-colour to correct the tone.
3. If you scan at 4800dpi, your USM will probably the amount be more than 100% and the radius will probably be sometimes up to 2px or more. Scanning at lower resolution (2400dpi) will probably be around 1px and 75%~100%. Scanning at 1200dpi, 50% amount & 0.7px should be sufficient without overly sharpening the image and make it look artificial.
4. Final stage, you can adjust the contrast a little to give the image more crisp look. Don't apply too much contrast as you will lose details on the shadow areas if contrast is too high.
5. Normally, people would advise that after resizing, you need to apply USM again. For myself, when I upload to flickr at 1280px, the flickr resizing to 550px is good enough for general viewing. If you need to apply USM for resized pics, do so at a much lesser amount and smaller pixel.
As advise by one of my sifu... Ansel [Daniel] over here: "it's OK to manipulate your scanned images. As the transfer of medium from one form to another, images that are not touch up, will not be presentable at all. Even for prints at the labs, they adjust the contrast and level at the machines too.
Personally, for amatures like me, a flat bed scanner, like the Canoscan 4400F or 8800F is good enough for general use, not too expensive & versatile. If 8800F allows scanning of medium format as well. The scan technology improves over time like the sensor technology (There's sensor in the scanner too). At 4800dpi scan, it beats the 12MP or more DSLR camera in terms of resolution. If you go for higher series dedicated film scanners, then your skill level in image processing must also match up to the scanner. I used to own a Nikon Coolscan IV ED, somehow, my skill & knowledge at that time did not exploit the scanner to the fullest potential. Hence the images that I scan looks like *s h i t* even with an expensive scanner. I'm now better off with a simplier easier to use flatbed scanner. The Coolscan is better off in the hands of a skilled master.
Hope that helps. With trial & error you will learn more. And you find any good tips, please post and share with us.
I like the 028 and 019
