Hi Folks,

I'm new to LF photography and scanning and all that that involves. My driver for trying out LF photography is the potential for detail rich images that print at good size (to A3 for now) and exploiting movements. For the moment I am sending out some negatives/slides for scanning to a commercial outfit using an Epson V750. The cost is moderate (£2 per negative/slide) and the purpose is for me to get something that will allow for digital printing.

So, I requested a TIFF scan at 2000 ppi. For a 5x4 negative thats 10000x8000 pixels, so 80MP. Maths right? When I look in photoshop, the native size of this scan is something like 8.87x 11.34 cm. So, if I want an A4 scan I need to upsize, right? Wont that result in detail loss? I regularly print at 300 dpi, so I could thereby in theory enlarge 6.66 times on each dimension (2000/300). Right? So, an image of just over 30 x 24 inches?

Well when I enlarge the scanned image to even A4, loss in resolution is noticeable if I use 300 dpi. Should I keep it at 2000 ppi and have a huge file instead?

Any clear help would be really appreciated...as I'm quite liking playing with my wooden camera!

I know a drum scan would provide huge images. Maybe for exceptional images, but surely something like an Epson V700/V750 would be good enough for A4?

Thanks

Graham