Hi all,

I want to keep shooting B&W but I like the dust removal feature of my Nikon Coolscan IV. Too bad it doesn't work on non-chromogenic films. I was thinking, that some of the recently developed chromogenic films that are B&W (processed C41) aren't like traditional B&W. They're substrates are more like color negative. Has anyone tried scanning these films with the dust removal feature turned on? Has it worked out for you?

Thanks,

-- John Chan (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), January 13, 2002

Answers

John, I cannot answer your answer difectly. have no such experience. I work with the nikon 4000. one point- I would not over use the ice sofrware. It was my wife (and my main photo model...) to realize, as she puts it "it might not do any harm to the picture, but it definitelly doesn't do it any good". in other, less diplomatic words, it does some harm. it does "kill" some of the fine details. I use it only when I really need, and when I need large prints, and high quality, I scan twice, and I crop and past the parts that need correction, so I don't lose the grate quality of the scanner. (that is a headache photoshop work, as you guess, but I find it worth the effort on some occasions)

-- rami (rg272@columbia.edu), January 13, 2002.

I mean I scan it once with ice, another without.

-- rami (rg272@columbia.edu), January 13, 2002.

To answer your question, yes, the ICE software works on chromogenic B&W films although it does not work on traditional B&W negative films or Kodachrome.

-- Rolfe Tessem (rolfe@ldp.com), January 13, 2002.

ICE certainly does work on the C41 films, I've used it a fair bit on XP2. It does cost you some sharpness, so when scanning for a big print you might want to turn it off and clean the neg carefully.

If you're only going to be scanning it, you might also consider shooting colour neg film. This gives you the option of applying any colour filtration in photoshop, which I find very handy. It can also dirt cheap, if that matters to you.

-- Michael Abbott (web@mabot.com), January 14, 2002.