I used the calibration target and followed the site's instruction to build a film scanner profile, and have a question. Why is it important to shoot the calibration target with *out of focus*? This may create a problem when scanning the shot.
When scanning a regular image, I choose a location in the image and direct the scanner to focus on it with either auto or manual focusing. Typically, the chosen location is where the details are most important or have the highest contrast (e.g. eye lashes). The scans focused this way will show grain or noise structures. But if the calibration target is shot out of focus, there is no such location for the scanner to focus on. If the grain or noise structures are not accurately captured in the target scan, the generated profile may not be handling them correctly.
If there is a good reason to shoot the calibration target out of focus, I wonder if I can introduce a focus point on the film to assist the scanner focusing. By that I mean scribing a small sharp cross hair on the film before scanning it.
Film scanner profiling question
Please note that shooting out-of-focus and scanning out-of-focus is not the same thing.
The instruction suggests to shoot the target out-of-focus to produce a frame with an out-of-focus image of the target. This image will still show the film grain but will not capture any paper texture visible in the hardcopy of the calibration target. Neat Image only needs to analyze the film grain so shooting out-of-focus ensures that the paper texture is not a part of analyzed image.
Then, when you scan the frame, there is no need to scan it ouf-of-focus, because you indeed want to scan the grain and let Neat Image analyze it.
Hope this helps.
Vlad
The instruction suggests to shoot the target out-of-focus to produce a frame with an out-of-focus image of the target. This image will still show the film grain but will not capture any paper texture visible in the hardcopy of the calibration target. Neat Image only needs to analyze the film grain so shooting out-of-focus ensures that the paper texture is not a part of analyzed image.
Then, when you scan the frame, there is no need to scan it ouf-of-focus, because you indeed want to scan the grain and let Neat Image analyze it.
Hope this helps.
Vlad
Clarification
I do understand the difference between shooting out of focus and scanning out of focus. As I suspected, shooting out of focus is to avoid capturing the paper grain and texture. What I try to do is to follow the instruction to shoot out out focus and scan in focus.
As explained in my original post, my scanner's focusing mechanism relies on a high contrast area to adjust its positioning for the best focus. When the calibration target is shot out of focus, the frame provides no high contrast area for the scanner's focusing mechanism to position itself for the best focus. The scan of the target will therefore miss the grain and noise seen on a regular scan that is critically focused.
Hope that clarifies my question.
As explained in my original post, my scanner's focusing mechanism relies on a high contrast area to adjust its positioning for the best focus. When the calibration target is shot out of focus, the frame provides no high contrast area for the scanner's focusing mechanism to position itself for the best focus. The scan of the target will therefore miss the grain and noise seen on a regular scan that is critically focused.
Hope that clarifies my question.