Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Joe, I too scan in RGB and do all the work in Photoshop in RGB. I actually never convert the image to any other mode. If the print has a cast I do not like, I just correct it in Photoshop. Yesterday I had the opportunity to compare a B&W print of one of my negatives, done by a professional B&W lab with one of my Epson Photo prints. The reason I had the lab print the negative is that I needed a big print (30x40cm) and my Epson only does A4 (plus, this is a present for someone and I wanted to make sure it lasts). Looking at the big print from the lab and my own A4 print from the image, I have to say that the scanner/inkjet/Photoshop combination certainly provides photo-quality results. Of course I do not know what an inkjet print of 30x40 would look like but I suspect it would be no worse than the lab print. The other thing this lab print shows me is the quality of the 35mm Summicron ASPH that I used to take the picture. It is one of the shots on my Belgian markets web page (the one with the three angels lying on a table). The rendition of the detail in the big print, the raindrops on the table--all fantastic. Nathan Joe Berenbaum wrote: > I don't know what scanner is being used here, but if you scan a B&W image > as greyscale then you lose data at the scanning stage that cannot be > recaptured by converting later on to RGB. What I do, using a LS2000, is to > scan the negative in RGB (millions of colours rather than 255 levels of > grey) at the highest resolution and keep the image as RGB for any > adjustment in Photoshop before converting to greyscale as the last thing I > do, if I do that at all (I usually don't). Doing it this way round I have > to deal with large file sizes but I get extremely good b&w prints from an > Epson Photo 700 on Epson Photo paper. If the file that I'm printing is > still RGB and I want a black and white print rather than a brown one, I > simply tell the printer immediately before printing to print in black > rather than in colour. Quality is apparently not affected by doing this. I > like to see my friends' jaws drop when I hand them a computer print that is > better than most conventional prints they have seen... > > Joe Berenbaum - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium General photo page: http://members.tripod.com/belgiangator/index.html Belgium photo page: http://member.xoom.com/wajsman/index.htm Motorcycle page: http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/1704/index.html