Scanning BW negatives

[jtzordon]

I've been scanning my BW negatives on a Minolta Scan Dual IV.  The results look great when viewed small.  When viewed a little larger, I see what I would call smearing of the detail in certain areas.



Looks OK.
Looks bad.

This example you can see in in the small version as well.  What's going on?  I've seen this in both HP5+ and Ultra.edu 200 (aka Foma 200) dipped in Rodinal.

[Aaron D.]

Looks like either grain/aliasing or perhaps an underdeveloped negative? Also, have you focused the scanner? Usually it isn't a problem with the SD IV, but maybe the film is curly.

[Kin Lau]

One problem with scanning b&w negs is that highlights are quite dense, since it's actual silver that your scanner is trying to penetrate, not a dye cloud.

I find that slight underexposure with B&W negs tends to be easier. I've had some very thin negs that scanned beautifully, but were very hard to print in the darkroom.

[jake]

If you are using ICE with B&W, don't. It doesn't work with silver negatives and will produce similar effects as you have here.

There are flecks on the negative which might be dust(?) or undeveloped silver (is that right? or just gunk in the developer.) Are you using an acid stop or a water stop? Might use a water stop.

Temperature? Is everything 20C, including final wash water? Too warm or too cold can increase grain or create really ugly grain patterns.

The negatives seem over-exposed but with very low contrast. That would seem to indicate that perhaps the film was under-developed, which would further suggest those flecks are undeveloped silver and perhaps you have a hyperactive stop bath and/or very cold rinse in between developer and fix. Or you just need to do an extra stop of development on this shot. Or use Diafine.

So I'd say under-developed negative.

[sandeha]

What everyone else has already said ... but also ...

HP5 dev'd in Rodinal is not to everyone's taste.  I've found it produces porridge grain even when downrated to ISO 200.  Perhaps that's part of the issue.

[jtzordon]

Looking back over some of my negs it looks like underdevelopment is likely the culprit.  I haven't been developing myself very long, but when compared to some lab developed negs from the past, I definitely notice less contrast.

My temperatures are pretty consistent, though I am a little lax in maintaining precisely 20C.  That should help a bit.

I've got another roll that I developed last night and it looks a lot better just looking at the negs.  I'll have to scan those up when I get a chance and take a look.

Thanks guys!

[Jordan]

Sometimes certain film-developer combinations just don't "play nice" with the scanner and result in exaggerated grain and loss of detail. For me (I use a Scan Dual II) those film-developer combinations include just about everything with Rodinal (except the really slow films like Efke 25). Try using a more solventy developer -- D76, HC-110, Xtol, even Diafine -- and see if your scans improve.