Anyone care to let me have a sample scan from 8x10?

[Darin Boville]

I wonder if someone might do me a favor.

I'm toying with getting back into view cameras and I'm thinking 8x10. I have a 4x5 now but no access to an 8x10.

My plan is to scan on an Epson v700 and print on Epson printers. Perhaps contact prints will figure into the plan but that is a separate issue.

I've done about as much web searching on quality issues as I can...now what I need is simply a sample so I can see the actual results, printed on my printer.

Would anyone mind putting a sample image up at full resolution (with copyright stamps as big you wish) that I might download and print? I'm interested in color or B&W but the image must be from an 8x10 pos/neg and scanned on one of the recent flatbed Epsons (4990, 700, 750). Unsharpened is best (I'll sharpen on my end).

My thinking is that having this will sort of cut through all the theory, doubt, and debate and will let me *see* what sort of quality I can expect--and if this is really worth doing.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

--Darin

[Vaughn]

My computer gags on the thought of dealing with a file size that big! I scan 8x10's using the 700 and even at a dpi of 300 the files are BIG.

Vaughn

[Darin Boville]

My computer gags on the thought of dealing with a file size that big! I scan 8x10's using the 700 and even at a dpi of 300 the files are BIG.

Vaughn

How big are we talking?

I have an ftp space that folks can upload to if they like.

--Darin

[Vaughn]

I don't have the file on my computer at home, and I don't remember the size (other than big). I might be going up to the university tomorrow night and can scan a negative on the 700. What resolution do you want me to do it at?

Actually, I don't see why you can't do this with your own 4x5 negs. Just scan four 4x5 negs at one time and treat the file as one 8x10. That way scanning errors, different scanners, different ways of scanning, et al will not come into play. That is, if you have the scanner and some 4x5 negs handy. Shoot, you could even scan a 36 exp roll of 35mm film and treat that as an 8x10.

But let me know if I can be of any help. I am a neophyte when it comes to all this and don't even know what a ftp space is.

Vaughn

[Darin Boville]

Hey there,

I thought of doing the 4 4x5 thing but I think what I need is to see a real image, printed as big as I can here.

I really don't know what resolution, etc. I'm newer than you at this. The ideal is for someone who has it figured out and is getting good results to just do it whatever way is right for them--that way I avoid all the problems introduced by my lack of scanning experience.

That's my thinking, at least.

--Darin

[Vaughn]

Well, perhaps we shopuld wait to see if someone who know what they are doing chimes in!;)

Otherwise, I'll see what I can do tomorrow night -- I would use an neg I would not otherwise work with, rather than worry about watermarking an image.

Vaughn

[KenBrown]

Not that I really know what I'm doing when scanning 8x10's, give me some time and I might be able to get you one next week. I'm with Vaughn, though. A 300 dpi scan of an 8x10 transparency I did on my 700 is a 120 meg tif. Something with decent dpi is going to be quite large.

Ever hear of Pando (http://www.pando.com/)? Might be the way to go for transferring the resulting huge file.

[Darin Boville]

Hey Ken, Hey Vaughn,

I just ordered a 4x5 (due in Tuesday) so, at least for me, the question is largely decided. But I'd still be curious! I do online video, too, so I guess 120 mb downloads don't sound so large :)

--Darin

[KenBrown]

Well then here's just a 300 dpi scan of an 8x10: http://kenbrownart.com/chrysler8x10.tif

I'll take it down in a few days.

[Sheldon N]

Full resolution 4x5 film scans are usually made at around 2400 dpi on the Epson scanners.

My 4x5 scans weigh in at around 550MB (16 bit TIF) so a good 8x10 scan is going to be around a 2GB file size.

A good 4x5 transparency can easily be printed to 40x50. Do you really need to go bigger? :)

[benrains]

If you've access to one of the V700/V750 scanners, just scan one of your 4x5 at a variety of dpi settings and you'll see what's possible. The only difference is that the 8x10 version is four times the size. So whatever you determine to be the optimal size for your 4x5 work, just multiply both the length and width by a factor of 2 and you'll know what 8x10 will give you.

Depending on the film and how it's proccesed, there'll be some variation. For the Ilford HP5+ I shoot, I find that 1200 dpi is reasonable for my scans. That's around where I can start to make out the individual grain in the film. At that resolution, if you do some quick math you can figure out the equivalent in megapixels:

(8" * 1200 dpi) * (10" * 1200 dpi) / 1000000 = 115.2 million pixels

With finer grained films you should be able to scan at 2400 dpi before the grain becomes noticeable, which would give you 460.8 million pixels of information. If you're going with 16-bit w/ 3 color channels (48-bits per pixel), that results in 2.7GB worth of uncompressed data for a single image.

(FWIW, I find contact printing a hell of lot more satisfying. And on a practical level, the equipment you need to turn a negative into a print is a few orders of a magnitude less expensive.)

[Darin Boville]

Hey Ken,

Thank yo very much--I just downloaded it.

Very useful.

--Darin


Well then here's just a 300 dpi scan of an 8x10: http://kenbrownart.com/chrysler8x10.tif

I'll take it down in a few days.

[KenBrown]

Sure thing, Darin.


Full resolution 4x5 film scans are usually made at around 2400 dpi on the Epson scanners.

My 4x5 scans weigh in at around 550MB (16 bit TIF) so a good 8x10 scan is going to be around a 2GB file size.

A good 4x5 transparency can easily be printed to 40x50. Do you really need to go bigger? :)

Thanks for that info. I've really only scanned for the web so I'm not keen on scanning for print. I'll have to scan some stuff at that DPI and really see what I've been missing out on.

[Vertex Ninja]

...A 300 dpi scan of an 8x10 transparency I did on my 700 is a 120 meg tif. Something with decent dpi is going to be quite large...

Not to nitpick, but isn't that image ~720dpi. I ask because 7200 pixels wide/10"= 720. Regardless, thanks for posting it. BTW, you've got some amazing shots on your site! I would love to be that close to some of those cars!

[KenBrown]

Thanks.

As for the dpi, I was just going off of what I set it to scan at, which was 300 dpi with 24 inches on the long side. Checking it in PS, it says it's 300 ppi, but yes, at 7200 pixels wide. I'm new to scanning film so I might be fudging everything up, though.

-Ken

[Vertex Ninja]

I hope it didn't come across sounding like I thought you did something wrong. I was just trying to clarify the scanning DPI. The original was 10" on the long side and you set it to 24" at scan time. Thats a 2.4x enlargement. 2.4 x 300dpi = 720 dpi. The scanning software calculated the scanning DPI for you. 8x10"@720DPI is the same as 19.2x 24" @300DPI... same amount of total "dots", if you follow. :)

[KenBrown]

Oh, I didn't think you were. And "Ah!" ok, I follow :). Thanks, that clears up some confusion I was having with what settings to use in the software. Time to rescan my 4x5's properly...

- Ken

[chase canadé]

Mr. Brown -
- i was searching the web related to scanners for 8x10 and ran into a link for this post
- so after reading the post and seeing your link, I downed your image to take look...

It brought a smile to my face, just seeing this scan of a good shot from a 8x10 is inspirational - at least to me it is.

Not just from the scan aspect but the picture its self - it has a certain quality about it, different feel from digital
- you know what i mean?
anyway, just wanted to say thanx for posting it, and hope you don't mind i got curious about what it looked like as a full scan, especially coming from a Pro LF shooter. Not sorry i downloaded it - but hope you don't mind i did to take a look.

again thanx for the inspiration
chase