Ed, with the deepest of respect, since you cite a quote from me, I feel some
compulsion to respond. I do not believe that I stated or implied that
removal of the orange mask was difficult to do or would make scanning
easier.
Others with whom I was corresponding seemed to feel that the orange mask
presented a problem for scanning ( especially the variation in the nature of
the mask densities and color); I did not weigh in on that topic myself. I
did say that there was no logical reason why said mask could not be removed
from color negative films resulting in a color negative without such a mask.
I also noted that such a removal of the orange mask would quite possibly
result in a film that was truly dedicated exclusively to scanning since its
removal would result in the film not being able to be used for traditional
photographic printing processes which as I understand it require the use of
a mask. By "dedicated," I did not mean to imply that it would make scanning
easier or better- or even that it would be necessary to quality scanning; I
simply meant that such a film would be usable only by persons who would scan
it and would not be utilizable by those who rely on the traditional
photographic processing practices.
I did say that the film manufacturers have not taken the step of removing
the mask for their special scanner films yet for purely practical economic
reasons and not because it was difficult to do. I further suggested that
the steps that they have taken so far are compromises related to film
emulsion properties the would not result in excluding one class or another
of the user base.
If I have misunderstood you arguments, I do apologize and would request
clarification. If I am in error on my part with respect to my
understandings and facts, I also apologize and would appreciate correction.
While informative, I do think your points are better addressed to others
involved in the discussion rather than me.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 5:10 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: filmscanners: orange mask
In a message dated 1/15/2001 5:11:47 PM EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> My understanding is that those sorts of properties are what the film
> manufacturers currently are trying to control and adjust in their new
film
> emulsions such as Supra. But so far they have not taken the step of
> eliminating the orange mask;
Removing the orange mask wouldn't make scanning any easier.
This is by far the least difficult step in scanning negative film.
The four hardest parts of scanning negative film are, from
most difficult to least difficult:
1) White balance
2) Compressing negative film intensity range
3) Color correction for CCD and film dyes
4) Sensitometric curves for film dyes
When printing film on paper, steps 3&4 are
done automatically by the characteristics of
the paper and the filters used, and steps 1&2
are done slightly differently by each minilab
manufacturer.
Whether the film has an orange mask or
not doesn't make any of these four things
any easier or harder.
Regards,
Ed Hamrick
