properly scanning MF negatives

[shecky]

i know this sounds like something that has been asked before on here, but hear me out:

i am trying desperately to find the "proper" way to scan 6x6 color and bw negatives. i do not need advice on the scanner, as i already have one (Epson 4990) and i know i will get better results with prints from my negs using a darkroom (which i plan on doing in the future) but i find that when i scan negs using the epson software, or even silverfast se, i end up with really narrow histograms and scans that really get very grainy no matter how high a DPI i scan them at. i end up doing a lot of levels in PS CS2 and i cannot help but feel like i am doing something tottally wrong. can anyone here give me some specific advice, or point me to a specific tutorial that can help me? i have googled like crazy and i still cannot find what i am looking for. these are specifically for an experimental book i am doing using a bunch of these scans.

fyi: some scanned images i have done previously can be seen here: http://www.mitchgoldstein.com/chaos/photo/ these are purely experimental images using the holga and scanning more than one 6x6 frame at one time, so you are not looking at crops, but looking at 2 to 3 6x6 frames next to each other in one scan. i am using OS X and the CS2 Suite, tho i am not opposed to buying something else if you think its going to help. i should also mention that i am scanning just C-41, mostly 400 ISO XP2, kodak 400UC, and Fuji Pro 400H, tho i do have some 100 ISO and some 800 ISO stuff in there too.

thanks!!!!!

[darr]

Visit Scan Tips and look for help there. I have his book and the Silverfast book, and I like the Scan Tips book better than the Silverfast one. Go figure.

[moose10101]

Here's a basic tutorial:

http://nelsonfoto.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1981