We normally leave our Noritsu scanner on standard settings - which means the scans have the film's default character.
In the case of films like Ilford XP2 or Kentmere 400, they inherently give in a flatter image - which is sometimes perfect for the subject, for example in a portrait.
If we were to increase contrast, we`d make it harder to revert to the low contrast image, and there could be loss of detail in shadows and highlights. Our job is to preserve the film's own character, leaving creative decisions to the customer!
The above is a scan of low contrast film.
But, it's always possible to increase contrast later - in any image editing app. In this case, the contrast has been tweaked in Lightroom...
Films that have higher default contrast include Kodak Tri-X and Ilford HP5, so if you wanted a punchier image straight from the scanner, those would be ideal.
Ilford XP2 has high sharpness, very low grain and low contrast, which may be your preference.
The above scans where at 3025 x 2005 resolution in JPEG format, which are ideal for most purposes. But we can also scan to 6744 x 4492 pixels, and supply 16-bit TIFF files.
Our best selling film is Ilford HP5... We'll post more about HP5, including how it performs when pushed to 1600 ASA...