Scanning Negatives

Hello All.
Let me preface this by saying I know I can probably find what i need
with a google search and a few hours, but I'm hoping to speed it up a little
I'm getting back into photography and I am playing around with a scanner
and PS instead of traditional wet printing.
What resolution do most of you use when scanning neg's into photoshop.
I've got 4 gig of ram on a windows XP machine and 300 gig plus of hard
drive space and PS CS3
I'm using a Mamiya 645 Pro TL
Thank you in advance
Mike Mueller

"mueller" wrote in message
link.net...
Hello All.
Let me preface this by saying I know I can probably find what i need with
a google search and a few hours, but I'm hoping to speed it up a little
I'm getting back into photography and I am playing around with a scanner
and PS instead of traditional wet printing.
What resolution do most of you use when scanning neg's into photoshop.
I've got 4 gig of ram on a windows XP machine and 300 gig plus of hard
drive space and PS CS3
I'm using a Mamiya 645 Pro TL
Thank you in advance
Mike Mueller

resolution and what not won't do you any good without a good "film" quality
scanner. i just recently got an epson 4990 photo, and it is fabulous. i
mainly scan 6x6 and up, but 645 would look great with that scanner too. they
also have a v700 that works really well too, but that was another hundred
more when i got mine. if you are planning on doing a lot, i'd consider the
700. you can find prices all over the net.

it will reinvigorate your film work. i sold a digital camera to get a mamiya
rb67 system last week, due to the quality of scans i can get with the 4990.

and get a usb external 300gb hard drive...you'll need it!

good luck

joe mama wrote:
"mueller" wrote in message
link.net...

Hello All.
Let me preface this by saying I know I can probably find what i need with
a google search and a few hours, but I'm hoping to speed it up a little
I'm getting back into photography and I am playing around with a scanner
and PS instead of traditional wet printing.
What resolution do most of you use when scanning neg's into photoshop.
I've got 4 gig of ram on a windows XP machine and 300 gig plus of hard
drive space and PS CS3
I'm using a Mamiya 645 Pro TL
Thank you in advance
Mike Mueller


resolution and what not won't do you any good without a good "film" quality
scanner. i just recently got an epson 4990 photo, and it is fabulous. i
mainly scan 6x6 and up, but 645 would look great with that scanner too. they
also have a v700 that works really well too, but that was another hundred
more when i got mine. if you are planning on doing a lot, i'd consider the
700. you can find prices all over the net.

it will reinvigorate your film work. i sold a digital camera to get a mamiya
rb67 system last week, due to the quality of scans i can get with the 4990.

and get a usb external 300gb hard drive...you'll need it!

good luck


Thanks Joe
Yes I have an epson 4990. Scans at 192000 take a lot of disk space,time
(25 minutes) and photoshop did not want to enlarge from original neg size.
What resolution do you scan at? 300, 600, 1200,2400, 4800, 9600??
I want to do 11 x 14 max enlarging.
Thanks
Mike Mueller

"mueller" wrote in message
nk.net...


Thanks Joe
Yes I have an epson 4990. Scans at 192000 take a lot of disk space,time
(25 minutes) and photoshop did not want to enlarge from original neg size.
What resolution do you scan at? 300, 600, 1200,2400, 4800, 9600??
I want to do 11 x 14 max enlarging.
Thanks
Mike Mueller

I scan 6x6/7 stuff @ 800, and 1200dpi. The 800 dpi scans take less than a
minute, and the 1200s about a minute. I have not printed anything larger
than 8x8, but would not hesitate to think that 11x14 (or larger) would not
be out of the question. Sampling is all calculations. You can download any
number of excel spreadsheets that do all the math. Make sure also in CS3 to
use the bicubic smoother option when enlarging files to print.

mueller wrote:

Thanks Joe
Yes I have an epson 4990. Scans at 192000 take a lot of disk space,time
(25 minutes) and photoshop did not want to enlarge from original neg size.

The 4990 is a decent scanner to get started with. Note that this
scanner has a maximum native resolution of 4800dpi and is reputed
to have a true optical resolution of around 2400-2800dpi; so scans
at 4800dpi and above are a waste of time and disk space. I'd
suggest scanning at 2400dpi, or scanning at 4800 and down-sampling
to 2800 dpi, which might squeeze just a bit more real resolution
out than 2400 dpi (I tried this with my 4490 and think the results
were better).

Also note that the negative carrier in these less-expensive
flat-bed scanners may not always place the film the correct
distance above the glass for optimum focus; Doug Fisher makes
an adjustable negative carrier that may be quite worthwhile:
see http://www.betterscanning.com/ for more information.

You can experiment with increasing the negative carrier
height by using stacks of small Post-It notes to shim the
carrier above the glass. Be sure to keep the glass clean,
of course :-).

The optical density range of the Epson scanners has been
tested, according to one credible report I found on the web
but didn't keep a link to, to something better than 3.8, which
is pretty good.

So, for reasonably-exposed negs and chromes, you can get
very good scans with a little practice. An 11"x14" print
represents about a 6.3x enlargement of a 6x4.5 neg, which
works out to about 440dpi resolution to the printer from
a 2800dpi scan (or 380 dpi from a 2400 dpi scan), which
produces a good continuous-tone print.

In other words, you have plenty to work with. I eventually
upgraded from a 4490 to a Nikon LS-9000ED dedicated film
scanner, which was quite a bit more expensive, but offers
somewhat greater dynamic range *and* the ability to adjust
the analog gain to deal with really dense or thin negs (and
is quite amazing in that respect). True optical resolution
on the LS-9000 seems to be quite near the optical scan resolution
of 4000dpi. Multiple-pass scanning provides a real benefit,
as well. At 11x14, the resolution is over 600dpi, which is
certainly nice and gives more margin to crop/enlarge from
the neg.

However, the 4990 will give you fine results with a little
practice, it's really quite a nice scanner and a relative
bargain at the price.

Dana

"Dana Myers" wrote in message
...

However, the 4990 will give you fine results with a little
practice, it's really quite a nice scanner and a relative
bargain at the price.

Dana

Yes, it does a very credible job. I'd love one of the Nikon's but for now,
will use this until it goes kaput. Which I don't expect any time soon. Most
of my stuff I just scan to post online, but the 6x6 and above size stuff
really makes my day, and I jhave no problems printing to 8x10. It actually
made me keep my Mamiya C330 system, when I had debated getting tid of it!

Dana Myers wrote:
mueller wrote:

Thanks Joe
Yes I have an epson 4990. Scans at 192000 take a lot of disk
space,time (25 minutes) and photoshop did not want to enlarge from
original neg size.


The 4990 is a decent scanner to get started with. Note that this
scanner has a maximum native resolution of 4800dpi and is reputed
to have a true optical resolution of around 2400-2800dpi; so scans
at 4800dpi and above are a waste of time and disk space. I'd
suggest scanning at 2400dpi, or scanning at 4800 and down-sampling
to 2800 dpi, which might squeeze just a bit more real resolution
out than 2400 dpi (I tried this with my 4490 and think the results
were better).

Also note that the negative carrier in these less-expensive
flat-bed scanners may not always place the film the correct
distance above the glass for optimum focus; Doug Fisher makes
an adjustable negative carrier that may be quite worthwhile:
see http://www.betterscanning.com/ for more information.

You can experiment with increasing the negative carrier
height by using stacks of small Post-It notes to shim the
carrier above the glass. Be sure to keep the glass clean,
of course :-).

The optical density range of the Epson scanners has been
tested, according to one credible report I found on the web
but didn't keep a link to, to something better than 3.8, which
is pretty good.

So, for reasonably-exposed negs and chromes, you can get
very good scans with a little practice. An 11"x14" print
represents about a 6.3x enlargement of a 6x4.5 neg, which
works out to about 440dpi resolution to the printer from
a 2800dpi scan (or 380 dpi from a 2400 dpi scan), which
produces a good continuous-tone print.

In other words, you have plenty to work with. I eventually
upgraded from a 4490 to a Nikon LS-9000ED dedicated film
scanner, which was quite a bit more expensive, but offers
somewhat greater dynamic range *and* the ability to adjust
the analog gain to deal with really dense or thin negs (and
is quite amazing in that respect). True optical resolution
on the LS-9000 seems to be quite near the optical scan resolution
of 4000dpi. Multiple-pass scanning provides a real benefit,
as well. At 11x14, the resolution is over 600dpi, which is
certainly nice and gives more margin to crop/enlarge from
the neg.

However, the 4990 will give you fine results with a little
practice, it's really quite a nice scanner and a relative
bargain at the price.

Dana

Thank you Dana
I have tried a few scans already at the very high DPI and was impressed
with the clairity and sharpnes that it produced. Focus of the 4490
seems to be ok right now. Since it's not a glass carrier , I assume
that temperature will effect the neg just like a traditional enlarger
will cause distortion if the neg gets too warm.
AS for a bargin. I bought it on line from Staples. I had a $50.00 off
coupon as well as a rewards check. The 4490 was only $100.00 and
shipping was free.
I'm really enjoying getting back into this hobby
Thank you
Mike Mueller

mueller wrote:

Thank you Dana
I have tried a few scans already at the very high DPI and was impressed
with the clairity and sharpnes that it produced. Focus of the 4490
seems to be ok right now.

My experience with the 4490 was similar, though I did go ahead
and get one of Doug Fisher's adjustable negative carriers to
experiment with. If you get curious, you can always try using
stacks of Post-It notes to experiment :-).

Since it's not a glass carrier , I assume
that temperature will effect the neg just like a traditional enlarger
will cause distortion if the neg gets too warm.

Perhaps, but I wouldn't expect too much distortion of the
negative since the scanner's light source doesn't generate
much heat. I certainly never experienced a problem with
negative "pop" on the 4490. It *was* a challenge dealing
with curled/bowed negs, though. At least one or two people
have made glass carriers for the Epson flatbeds, and I know
I use a glass carrier in my LS-9000 (the results are quite
obvious in terms of edge-to-edge sharpness).

AS for a bargin. I bought it on line from Staples. I had a $50.00 off
coupon as well as a rewards check. The 4490 was only $100.00 and
shipping was free.

Now, *that's* a bargain. For me, the combination of a 4490
and an Epson R2400 was better than most enlargers I've ever used
in terms of image quality, and the LS-9000+R2400 is even better.

I'm really enjoying getting back into this hobby
Thank you
Mike Mueller

Glad to hear it!

Dana

joe mama wrote:
"Dana Myers" wrote in message
...
However, the 4990 will give you fine results with a little
practice, it's really quite a nice scanner and a relative
bargain at the price.

Dana

Yes, it does a very credible job. I'd love one of the Nikon's but for now,
will use this until it goes kaput. Which I don't expect any time soon. Most
of my stuff I just scan to post online, but the 6x6 and above size stuff
really makes my day, and I jhave no problems printing to 8x10. It actually
made me keep my Mamiya C330 system, when I had debated getting tid of it!

It's ironic you mention this. I'd never made a big investment
in MF gear, I just have a couple of inexpensive TLRs, but setting-up
a decent MF scanning solution totally re-invigorated my interest
in MF B&W capture. I keep thinking a GW690 is in my future.

Dana

mueller wrote:
Hello All.
Let me preface this by saying I know I can probably find what i need
with a google search and a few hours, but I'm hoping to speed it up a
little
I'm getting back into photography and I am playing around with a scanner
and PS instead of traditional wet printing.
What resolution do most of you use when scanning neg's into photoshop.
I've got 4 gig of ram on a windows XP machine and 300 gig plus of hard
drive space and PS CS3
I'm using a Mamiya 645 Pro TL
Thank you in advance
Mike Mueller
Thank you to all for helping me out with this question. Now If I can
only get PS to stop freezing.
Mike Mueller