Good Afternoon,
I'm not at my computer now so it wont be later until I post some samples of the problem I'm describing.
Revisiting film, I've developed two rolls of Delta 100 using Illford chemicals to box specs. When I scan the negs using my Plustek 8200 and view on screen at 100%, the images are soft, lack contrast and grain, and difficult to determine where the focus point is. I enjoy the process and images alot, but am missing a alot in terms of sharpness. I have had decent results printing (digital) up to 8 x 11 inches but am not confident in going any further.
The negs. are moderately physically flat and I scan the images at 3600 dpi with everything in Sivlerfast 8 turned off. The TIFF image is then imported into LR5 where sharpness can be improved very slightly. I have noticed I am able to bring a decent amount out of the shadows. My thoughts are...
1. Camera Shake- The travel on my M6 shutter release is a little further than what I'm used to
2. Underdevelopment- Its winter in Sydney and I think the temp might be dropping during development
3. Water is hard in Sydney and I will have to use Distilled water
4. Plustek is sitting on a soft coffee table and shake is causing the problem
5. Plustek is out of focus... I really hope not
6. Leica M6 isnt focusing on anything... I really really hope not
I will have to revisit my work with trial and error, eliminating each of the above, but am sure there are some areas I am unaware of which you may be able to point out.
Many thanks in advance!!