VERBOTEN? Anyone here use a scanner for their contact sheets?

[Sparky]

Okay - sensitive issue maybe? Don't worry - I won't discuss digi-stuff. Just wondering if others use a scanner to make their contact sheets... seems like a great time-saving measure. Anyone know where I can find some good discussions of the intricacies of this?

Or is the very mention of it a faux-pas?

[David A. Goldfarb]

Well, some people might make proof sheets that way, but they wouldn't be contact sheets.

[roteague]

No, but you can use Adobe Lightroom to produce contact type sheets from multiple images.

[jovo]

I think it's likely that many people use scans to 'proof' their negatives, perhaps even to the extent of avoiding making contact sheets altogether. The trick is to make a scan that you know from experience will allow you to make a similar print. Even a minimal adjustment in levels or curves is a departure from the direct link from negative to print that you would experience in the darkroom. It's all too easy to PS a negative scan in ways that, though it can be done, you don't have the skill to reproduce traditionally A contact sheet has the distinct value of being made on the paper you will use to make a print, which will allow you to make some assumptions about what to expect in printing that a negative scan simply won't. At least make both, but don't bypass the contact print.

[bdial]

I've done it to get what I thought might be a quick positive view of a roll, but it actually took longer than just making a contact sheet the normal way, not including drying time. I didn't find the exercise terribly useful.

[David Brown]

I've done it to get what I thought might be a quick positive view of a roll, but it actually took longer than just making a contact sheet the normal way, not including drying time. I didn't find the exercise terribly useful.

This was my experience, too.

[Sparky]

I've done it to get what I thought might be a quick positive view of a roll, but it actually took longer than just making a contact sheet the normal way, not including drying time. I didn't find the exercise terribly useful.

yes - well - this is sort of what I'm in the middle of grappling with - and I'm finding myself having to so some fairly wild photoshop acrobatics to get a reasonable match - and, if I switch papers - god help me. I was just wondering if someone had a handy system down for this, or if it was just an exercise in futility. But I find making contact sheets by hand at least as fast, and lots more fun than on the comp.

[Ole]

Contact sheets are now just about my only use for RC paper.

A full sheet of 35mm or 120 film fits perfectly on a 24x30cm sheet, with a little room for notes. So does six 9x12cm or four 4x5", but 5x7" doesn't fit quite as well. And it's a lot faster than my scanner, too.

[Sparky]

Yes - that's the way to do it... with RC I mean. I use RC to proof larger images too. It's great for cutting up to figure out the aspect ratio, etc of a final print you want to make - when you're just in the planning stages of it. I got lucky and got 10 boxes of new MGIV RC glossy for $5 each...! Woo hoo!!

[phaedrus]

Nein, es ist nicht verboten!
Actually, it's a viable method for me, because I get into my chemical darkrooom only every few months. Scans are a way of exploring one's negatives. As Jovo said, you shouldn't later try to replicate in the darkroom what you did with the scan digitally. On the other hand, the digital print's materiality will be mediocre compared to a good FB chemical print. But we were talking contact sheets, I digress.
No 135 filing sheet fits into the scanning area of my 8x10 scanner, though.