QUOTE (gi7omy @ Feb 24 2009, 07:27 PM)

I scanned an ancient (50 year old) mono negative in my Epson DX5000 into Paintshop and it worked

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So long as the negative has a white background behind it, there's usually no problam (if the scanner lid is black, put a blank piece of paper over the nagative)
What scan dpi did you use? Slide/negative scanners usually have a top light to get a good output. Have you tried color? (Just for informational purposes; I have a scanner that does slides and negatives.)