Help With Epson Scanner

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

In article <mcv5t0ddc2geektqvusj5dsst25rphcpsr@4ax.com>,
jimsnews@houston.rr.com says...
> Since I got no replies the first time, I'm reposting this with a
> different subject.
>
> I have an Epson1200 scanner and Epson Twain 5.53A.
>
> The Twain doesn't seem to have a histogram, and I can't figure out how
> to set the controls so I get the entire range of luminosity, but
> spread out across the entire range of 0-255. If I understand the
> available controls, they have a way to set the upper and lower (black
> & white) cutoffs, but they're arbitrarily and fixed. That is, if you
> set the lower cutoff to level 8 then if there's data below 8 it's all
> blocked up as black, thus all data below 8 becomes 0 on the image it
> returns. On the other hand if the first value on the low end begins
> at 125 the returned image contains the empty area from 8 to 125. This
> reduces the possible shades of gray it could have returned (the
> luminosity range) by 45%.
>
> My question is:
> How do I get ALL of the tones available in the image, but spread
> across the entire 255 range?
>
> I can set the cutoffs to 0 & 255. Scan the image into PS. Determine
> the lower and upper end points of data. Go back into the scanner, set
> these cutoff and rescan the image, but what a PITA.
>
> jim
>
Epson supplied software does a poor job of capturing the full range of
tones. Download a trial copy of vuescan from hamrick.com and see if
you like it better, it's shareware.
You can also read some of my scanning tips on my web site. Just follow
the tips link on the home page.

--
Robert D Feinman
Landscapes, Cityscapes and Panoramic Photographs
http://robertdfeinman.com
mail: robertdfeinman@netscape.net