PDA

View Full Version : Archiving



400d
23-Jun-2006, 05:06
Is that all of you guys use tif?
At what resolution do you guys usually store your image??

I find that scanning a 4x5" at 1000dpi is gigantic already, let alone using 4990 to scan it at 4000dpi+...

Ralph Barker
23-Jun-2006, 06:12
You may find differences of opinion on whether scanning 4x5 film should be considered "archiving" - considering the relatively short shelf life of most digital storage media.

My suggestion would be to scan at whatever resolution meets the requirements of the intended use of the digital version, and use a non-compressed format that is likely to be supported for a long period. Personally, I store my "master scans" in PSD format, hoping that Adobe will be around a while. But, I consider the film to be the "archive".

BrianShaw
23-Jun-2006, 07:14
You may find differences of opinion on whether scanning 4x5 film should be considered "archiving" - considering the relatively short shelf life of most digital storage media.

My suggestion would be to scan at whatever resolution meets the requirements of the intended use of the digital version, and use a non-compressed format that is likely to be supported for a long period. Personally, I store my "master scans" in PSD format, hoping that Adobe will be around a while. But, I consider the film to be the "archive".

Like Ralph said...

I keep my negs in archival sleeves in a filebox. It's a very nice filebox but probably not archival.

400d
23-Jun-2006, 08:28
Oh true, I will definitely save the film copy. But you know it doesn't hurt to have a digital copy. Do you guys save it at 4000dpi?!

And, why do you choose psd over tif?

Ron Marshall
23-Jun-2006, 08:50
I scan so that at the largest size I intend to print there will be 360 ppi, and I also leave a margin for cropping. For example: an 11x14 is about a three times enlargement from 4x5, so I scan at 3 x 360 = 1080 + crop margin ----> 1200 dpi.

Ralph Barker
23-Jun-2006, 09:10
. . . Do you guys save it at 4000dpi?!

Never. Like Ron, I scan based on the output resolution I want for whatever I might be doing with the image in digital format. That's seldom anything close to 4000 DPI/PPI. I don't have enough organic RAM to remember where to buy that much silicon RAM. ;)


And, why do you choose psd over tif?

No particular reason other than it's one less conversion when I go to do something digital with the file. Plus, I then don't have to worry about the default parameters that might be set for TIFF format.

Bruce Watson
23-Jun-2006, 10:11
I use the scan-once-use-many approach. That is, I scan to the largest file size I think I might ever use, do all my work at that size, then downsample (if needed) from that size to the size print I want to make at printing time.

Since I'm scanning 5x4 film, both color and B&W, my file sizes tend to be huge (some over 1GB). And that's OK - that's what DVDs are for.

And yes, all my files are *.TIF files. TIFs are fairly universal. Lot's of programs read and write TIF files. Not too many read and write PSD files. My RIP, for example, can't read PSD, but does read TIF. So for me, storing as TIF is a no brainer. Clearly though, YMMV.

Oh, yes. I do store my film in archival sleeves in archival storage boxes. I can always re-scan if I have to, as long as I have the original film available.