Best way to scan 11x14 prints?

[ROL]

How about microtek 900? Anyone has experience with that?

Or the Epson 836 or such older model large format scanners

Thanks for providing links (not). These appear to very old scanners with archaic connectors. At least in the case of the Microtek, the flatbed appears to be 8.5x14, not getting us very far.

[Kirk Gittings]

OK. It works very simply. I just did it. Took about 5 minutes in no particular hurry. Far simpler for me than setting up lights and camera. The scanner is always ready to go.

[Darin Boville]

If it is for the web the scanner/stitch is by far the easiest way. Copying with lights and camera works too but usually better reserved for larger works. Just aim the lights at the far side of the painting for evenness. Open shade does a good job, too for non-gloss prints/paintings.

You don't want to scan the negs, my god. As you point out, you'll have to redo all your work, with different tools (photoshop vs darkroom). Sounds like a nightmare.

For high-resolution copies things get trickier but the same basic ideas apply.

--Darin

[tgtaylor]

I usually (but not always) start off with an 8x10 work print to determine the paper grade, filter pack and general printing flow to produce a print that I'm satisfied with. Then I live with a for a day or so and if it survives that test, I'll print it larger if a bigger print is what I want. Going that route I will always have an 8x10 to scan on my ancient Epson 3200 scanner.

Thomas

[Larry Kellogg]

Thanks for all the help. I don't have any angst, I just want a relatively easy way to capture some of the quality of silver gelatin prints. Hopefully, ICP has an A3 scanner.

If not, would those bar type scanners do a good enough job on an 11x14 print?

Larry

[enneffe]

Another vote for the 10000xl; just make sure to get the photo version in case you ever wish to scan film.

[Ashly85]

I should have been clearer, my prints are made in the darkroom. I hate inkjet prints and think they pale in comparison to silver gelatin prints. There, I said it.

[djdister]

For posting on the web, shooting a picture of the photo with any digital camera of 10MP or higher is more than adequate. Buying a flatbed scanner or even an oversize flatbed scanner (if you don't already have one) would be foolish for your stated purpose.

[mdarnton]

Do you have ANY digital camera? It seems like you need to treat this the way I treat old family pix: put them outside on the windowsill and shoot a digital photo of them. No fuss with lights, slow shutter speeds or anything. On one-offs, I line things up visually, no tripod, and it works fine. If you use a LF camera, you know how to get things parallel and straight, by eye. It's easy enough to try, and you should try. I've even done this with my phone, with surprisingly good results.

A digital camera is just a small scanner that doesn't handle the alignment problems automatically. Otherwise, they're functionally the same.