General Workflow Question

[dbernstein]

I am just about to send in my first batch of LF film in 25 years into Praus Productions and I am hoping to get some hints about workflow. Do color people get a cheap scan done (or scan it themselves) first to assess whether they want to get a better scan done (or get it color printed)? In other words, what is the equivalent of a contact sheet for LF color photography? What is the most cost effective way to know if you have an image that is worth doing more with?
Thanks in advance,
David

[bob carnie]

hI David

Absolutely a cheap scan on a flatbed scanner ( you could do this yourself) would be the way to go, for every thousand images there may be a limited few worth putting expensive scans into.
We use a few different scanners for this... Fuji Frontier 2500 for roll film, Eversmart Supreme for contact sheets, and sometimes low low rez Imocan scans .


Bob

[Andrew O'Neill]

If it's just to get an idea of whether or not a good candidate for printing, you could just take a photo of the film with your phone (invert it if it's colour negative). I do this a lot with my 8x10 B/W negatives... yes, I know it's not colour...

[Mark Darragh]

David Hello,
A light box and a good quality loupe is an excellent starting point for transparencies (are you shooting transparency or neg?) . As Bob has mentioned, scanning with a cheap flatbed will also give you pretty good overall idea of whether an image is worthy of consideration for a drumscan etc.

[jp]

I just do a scan on my epson v700 and don't worry about newton rings on 8x10 for a quick scan. 4x5 scans well enough on the epson that it's the finished product for my uses after cleanup and color adjustment in PS.

[Willie]

If it is color negative film why not just get a contact print of it?