PS vs. scanner software

I am scanning some color negatives for a friend, and unfortunately they come up with a strong color cast as well as being underexposed (my desktop scanner, a Minolta Dimage Elite has a tendency to do that anyway, but not to this extent). When scanning my own stuff, I usually just let it run and then correct in Photoshop but I was wondering whether anyone knows of any advantage/disadvantage in precorrecting an image with scanner software (this one has a crude version of "curves", as well as hue, saturation, brightness and contrast). These pix are important to my friend, so I want to do a good job for him, but they are just not the best quality (and he wants to blow them up, too). Am I loosing crucial image info when correcting with basic software before the scan, or am I helping photoshop to do a better job after? Any input would be appreciated, thanks, Q.

You can you are scanning from a negative... is it a 35mm neg?

Well, the old saying goes:

Garbage in.... Garbage out.

Photoshop can't fix things that the scanner doesn't pick up. A good raw scan is always crucial.

One thing I can tell you from the start, just make the scan of individual images... dont gang them. If there are 6 images on the negative make 6 postage stamp sized scans. I gennerally scan negatives at a minimum of 1200DPI because they always have to be enlarged.

Under exposure: Make sure the light source is ok (click scan with the scanner open so you can see the light in the transparency lid).

Make sure the glass (upper and lower) is clean.

Hope that helps a little...
Oh yeah.... could you post an image? I'll see what it loooks like... then I might can be of more help.

Hi, thanks for your input!
I am using a film scanner, not a flatbed w/ adapter, so glass and light source can't be the problem - I think, the negs are just incorrectly exposed. Correcting them isn't so much the problem, I'm just wondering whether I should pre-correct with the scanner software and then tweak and fine tune in PS, or should I do an uncorrected scan and work the whole thing out in Photoshop. Is there a general rule? It's a good scanner but I'm sure it's imaging software can't compare to PS and I don't want to loose any color info by precorrecting with crude software. Anyway, you can see a downsized example at http://www.geocities.com/cjancke/testscan.html
thanks again, Q.

p.s.: oh yeah - the negs are 35mm and I am scanning them at 2820 dpi because my friend wants me to print them big