Scanning 8x10

[Peter De Smidt]

Keep output size the same as the film size. That's how most people refer to scanner resolution. "Output size" is a remnant from 1990s pre-press work. Today, most scans are done at the best resolution for the film, which includes film size, type ...., and then resized as needed in Photoshop to make prints. Scanning takes time, and so it's usually most efficient to scan once instead of making many scans for different sizes. Always archive the original scan. In other words, treat it like a negative. If you overwrite it at a lower res, you'd have to re-scan.

Consumer flatbeds, such as yours, do best with bigger film. As long as you keep the enlargement size down to about 4x, and your workflow, especially how you sharpen the file, is up to snuff, you can get good results, especially if your film doesn't get too dense. The specs put out by consumer scanner companies are bogus, especially the dmax and max resolution numbers.

With a flatbed, I've found that finding the proper height for the negative is very important. I'm not sure if your scanner is auto or set focus, but with Epsons the best result is often with the film raised a bit. It also needs to be kept flat.

[tenderobject]

ha! This digital workflow is now confusing! lol

It's interesting about the line reducing the resolution and interpolation, I find that I can scan 120 at 3200 but 35mm doesn't seem much better past 2400 and 4x5 does best at 2400 again, maybe it's the film base thickness? I don't know lol

Edit: with my V750

[enneffe]

Around 2400 for 8x10 is my standard for creating a master file. I'd suggest avoiding scanning above the optical resolution max of your scanner. If making prints that require 2000+ resolution, I'd suggest outsourcing the work to a shop with a drum scanner like the Tango or Aztek Premier - costs more but will save you in the end as you'll have a much sharper (across the entire plane of focus) and cleaner scan...unless of course you are skilled in the art:-)

[tenderobject]

Thanks peter for the all the info!

Keep output size the same as the film size. That's how most people refer to scanner resolution. "Output size" is a remnant from 1990s pre-press work. Today, most scans are done at the best resolution for the film, which includes film size, type ...., and then resized as needed in Photoshop to make prints. Scanning takes time, and so it's usually most efficient to scan once instead of making many scans for different sizes. Always archive the original scan. In other words, treat it like a negative. If you overwrite it at a lower res, you'd have to re-scan.

Consumer flatbeds, such as yours, do best with bigger film. As long as you keep the enlargement size down to about 4x, and your workflow, especially how you sharpen the file, is up to snuff, you can get good results, especially if your film doesn't get too dense. The specs put out by consumer scanner companies are bogus, especially the dmax and max resolution numbers.

With a flatbed, I've found that finding the proper height for the negative is very important. I'm not sure if your scanner is auto or set focus, but with Epsons the best result is often with the film raised a bit. It also needs to be kept flat.

[tenderobject]

Thanks enneffe. I'm not sure about the optical res max of my scanner (Microtek i800+). The info in their website says 4800 x 9600 dpi. I only scan at 2400dpi max. Would this be better enough to create master file? I'm still new with digital workflow. My main purpose for scanning negs are for printing bigger positive and negative. I hope that scanning my negs at 2400 won't make my master files worst.

Around 2400 for 8x10 is my standard for creating a master file. I'd suggest avoiding scanning above the optical resolution max of your scanner. If making prints that require 2000+ resolution, I'd suggest outsourcing the work to a shop with a drum scanner like the Tango or Aztek Premier - costs more but will save you in the end as you'll have a much sharper (across the entire plane of focus) and cleaner scan...unless of course you are skilled in the art:-)

[Peter De Smidt]

Testing on similar scanners shows a max res of about 2400 dpi using a resolution target. That would be for scanning 35mm film. As you go up in size, that number will drop, as mentioned before.

[tenderobject]

Thanks again Peter. I'll try to make some test scans and have it printed here to see whats in there. This digital workflow is a bit complicated for me.

Testing on similar scanners shows a max res of about 2400 dpi using a resolution target. That would be for scanning 35mm film. As you go up in size, that number will drop, as mentioned before.

[Peter De Smidt]

...This digital workflow is a bit complicated for me.

Don't worry, it's complicated for everyone!

[Jordan]

If you're scanning 8x10" negatives you can make 32x40" prints easily and have them look sweet. I've done it and have seen it done numerous times on just an Epson V700 (not even the higher end 750). I've also compared fluid mounting and and just using painters tape (or whatever less adhesive type of tape) to keep the negative flat and haven't noticed much of a difference between the two outside of dust reduction. Anyhow, I find it pretty straight forward and once you get the hang of it I'm sure you will as well.

[StoneNYC]

If you're scanning 8x10" negatives you can make 32x40" prints easily and have them look sweet. I've done it and have seen it done numerous times on just an Epson V700 (not even the higher end 750). I've also compared fluid mounting and and just using painters tape (or whatever less adhesive type of tape) to keep the negative flat and haven't noticed much of a difference between the two outside of dust reduction. Anyhow, I find it pretty straight forward and once you get the hang of it I'm sure you will as well.

With fluid mounting the negative, since the negative is already wet before you dry it, is it possible to fluid mount it right after processing and then dry it after? Or is there some reason to wait and mount it after because of some kind of emulsion swelling that doesn't happen after the initial drying time?