Yahoo Groups archive

Digital BW, The Print

Index last updated: 2026-04-28 22:56 UTC

Thread

Scanner/Conversion question

Scanner/Conversion question

2002-09-16 by MARK MAIO

Being new to this list and digital printing, this might be a basic
question, so I apologize in advance if it is.

I am using a quad tone B&W printing system and having my B&W negatives
drum scanned. For the purpose of this question, I ask for the scan to be
for output at (X) dpi @ (X) size, which, for examples sake, gives me a
75 meg RGB file. When I open the file in PhotoShop and convert it to
gray scale, I end up with a 25 meg file, which now limits me to a
smaller size/resolution print.

So, I paid for a 75 meg scan but I can only use 25 megs of it. I could
pay for a 225 meg scan to get the 75 megs I need to use or I could find
a lab that would do custom gray scale drum scans, but I had another idea
I wanted to run by the group. Would it be possible to open the B&W image
as a RGB file and then convert/save each of the three color layers as a
separate gray scale layer of 25 megs each and somehow merge them
together to end up with a 75 meg gray scale file?

Thanks in advance,

Mark Maio

RE: [Digital BW] Scanner/Conversion question

2002-09-16 by Gus J Grubba

I'm sure a lot of people will chime in here with answers. However, your
questions are so basic that my suggestion is for you to pick up a book
and learn this first. Try "Photoshop 6 Artistry" by Haynes Crumpler.
Even though it is a bit beyond what you need at the moment, it has the
best chapter explaining these basics I've seen. Don't feel alone. This
is the most common point of confusion for people entering the digital
domain. The problem is that invariably you get more bogus answers than
good ones. In order to avoid even more confusion, take a look at that
book.

g
Show quoted textHide quoted text
-----Original Message-----
From: MARK MAIO [mailto:markmaio@...] 
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 2:44 PM
To: Digital B&W Group
Subject: [Digital BW] Scanner/Conversion question

Being new to this list and digital printing, this might be a basic
question, so I apologize in advance if it is.

I am using a quad tone B&W printing system and having my B&W negatives
drum scanned. For the purpose of this question, I ask for the scan to be
for output at (X) dpi @ (X) size, which, for examples sake, gives me a
75 meg RGB file. When I open the file in PhotoShop and convert it to
gray scale, I end up with a 25 meg file, which now limits me to a
smaller size/resolution print.

So, I paid for a 75 meg scan but I can only use 25 megs of it. I could
pay for a 225 meg scan to get the 75 megs I need to use or I could find
a lab that would do custom gray scale drum scans, but I had another idea
I wanted to run by the group. Would it be possible to open the B&W image
as a RGB file and then convert/save each of the three color layers as a
separate gray scale layer of 25 megs each and somehow merge them
together to end up with a 75 meg gray scale file?

Thanks in advance,

Mark Maio



Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and
other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint

If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to
unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this
same page.

Please follow these basic guidelines:
- Include your full name with your message.
- Include the address of your website, if you have one.
- As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to
keep them short.
- As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject
header.
- Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or
"flames."
- Complete your Yahoo profile.
- Before posting a question, search the message archives and the various
resources on the homepage. 


 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Re: Scanner/Conversion question

2002-09-16 by Shilesh Jani

Mark,

When you convert RGB to grayscale, you do indeed reduce the file 
size. But your resolution and the print size will be the same as 
before.  All that has happened is instead of having 3 channels x 25MB 
(=75 MB)you have a single 25 MB channel.  If the original was a b&W 
negative, you have lost nothing at all.

Good luck.

Shilesh

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., MARK MAIO <markmaio@m...> 
wrote:
> Being new to this list and digital printing, this might be a basic
> question, so I apologize in advance if it is.
> 
> I am using a quad tone B&W printing system and having my B&W 
negatives
> drum scanned. For the purpose of this question, I ask for the scan 
to be
> for output at (X) dpi @ (X) size, which, for examples sake, gives 
me a
> 75 meg RGB file. When I open the file in PhotoShop and convert it to
> gray scale, I end up with a 25 meg file, which now limits me to a
> smaller size/resolution print.
> 
> So, I paid for a 75 meg scan but I can only use 25 megs of it. I 
could
> pay for a 225 meg scan to get the 75 megs I need to use or I could 
find
> a lab that would do custom gray scale drum scans, but I had another 
idea
> I wanted to run by the group. Would it be possible to open the B&W 
image
> as a RGB file and then convert/save each of the three color layers 
as a
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> separate gray scale layer of 25 megs each and somehow merge them
> together to end up with a 75 meg gray scale file?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Mark Maio

Re:Scanner/Conversion question

2002-09-17 by André Vallejo

Mark,you're making a hell of a confusion...what happens is that they are
scanning your film in RGB mode. Using a drum,probably in multipass
mode(guess a drum does it,I never came close to one) ,it\ufffds a waste of
time,maybe it's default to them. But you only need a third of the
information really,so forget about the 75megs,and work with the 25.
Actually,a 16 bits 8x10 file at 360 dpi is abou 16 megs,so I guess you are
getting very good scans,or your negatives are larger then 35mm...
[ ],Andr\ufffd




Message: 11
   Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 17:44:02 -0400
Show quoted textHide quoted text
   From: MARK MAIO <markmaio@...>
Subject: Scanner/Conversion question

Being new to this list and digital printing, this might be a basic
question, so I apologize in advance if it is.

I am using a quad tone B&W printing system and having my B&W negatives
drum scanned. For the purpose of this question, I ask for the scan to be
for output at (X) dpi @ (X) size, which, for examples sake, gives me a
75 meg RGB file. When I open the file in PhotoShop and convert it to
gray scale, I end up with a 25 meg file, which now limits me to a
smaller size/resolution print.

So, I paid for a 75 meg scan but I can only use 25 megs of it. I could
pay for a 225 meg scan to get the 75 megs I need to use or I could find
a lab that would do custom gray scale drum scans, but I had another idea
I wanted to run by the group. Would it be possible to open the B&W image
as a RGB file and then convert/save each of the three color layers as a
separate gray scale layer of 25 megs each and somehow merge them
together to end up with a 75 meg gray scale file?

Thanks in advance,

Mark Maio

Re: [Digital BW] Scanner/Conversion question

2002-09-17 by Jerry Olson

Mark,

The quality of your black and white print will be identical to the RGB 
print at any size.


Jerry







MARK MAIO wrote:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> Being new to this list and digital printing, this might be a basic
> question, so I apologize in advance if it is.
> 
> I am using a quad tone B&W printing system and having my B&W negatives
> drum scanned. For the purpose of this question, I ask for the scan to be
> for output at (X) dpi @ (X) size, which, for examples sake, gives me a
> 75 meg RGB file. When I open the file in PhotoShop and convert it to
> gray scale, I end up with a 25 meg file, which now limits me to a
> smaller size/resolution print.
> 
> So, I paid for a 75 meg scan but I can only use 25 megs of it. I could
> pay for a 225 meg scan to get the 75 megs I need to use or I could find
> a lab that would do custom gray scale drum scans, but I had another idea
> I wanted to run by the group. Would it be possible to open the B&W image
> as a RGB file and then convert/save each of the three color layers as a
> separate gray scale layer of 25 megs each and somehow merge them
> together to end up with a 75 meg gray scale file?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Mark Maio
> 
> 
> 
> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
> 
> If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this same page.
> 
> Please follow these basic guidelines:
> - Include your full name with your message.
> - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
> - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep them short.
> - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject header.
> - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or &amp;amp;quot;flames.&amp;amp;quot;
> - Complete your Yahoo profile.
> - Before posting a question, search the message archives and the various resources on the homepage. 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 
>

Move to quarantaine

This moves the raw source file on disk only. The archive index is not changed automatically, so you still need to run a manual refresh afterward.