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This site is dedicated to people who want to produce quality images. The natural result of this goal is the realization that they need to upgrade their equipment. Our reviews are dedicated to help you find the best new equipment for your job. If you read very much of the FLAAR sites you should realize that budget-consciousness is not a strong point here. If a product does a good job this is what is the best to acquire. You get what you pay for (normally, except for overpriced scanners two years ago).
Being a unique web site devoted to professional level scanning (introductory professional, intermediate, into introductory high end), lots of questions come in. Since every one question echoes the similar questions of another hundred people, we have decided to select pertinent questions and post them.
It helps if your questions are relative to 35mm slide scanners, film scanners, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, cm 2 1/4 inch medium format, 4x5 large format product comparisons. We will do our best to provide information and reviews of what is best for the task.
Please do not send an attachment, or worse, a photo. These will not be opened. Please do not ask for help in improving your scans... plenty of books and videos cover this topic adequately. In Germany Internet access is priced out of reach even of companies, so that is another consideration in not being able to answer questions that require responding with a complete course. Your local community college is a far better source of information in any event.
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Question:
"I have considerable experience scanning and printing 35mm negs. However, I also have beautiful 6x7cm photo negs I would like to work with. I am unable to find a reasonably priced method to scan these negs so that I can produce images far superior to that obtainable from the 35mm negs.
1. What is the minimum dpi to scan 6x7 cm negs (2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inch) to get A4 or A3 prints that are far superior to the 35mm (like they would be with conventional darkroom methods) ?
2. What are the best readily available scanners in the less than $2000 range to do this ?
3. If there is no solution, is there a scanning bureau that offers something other than Kodak Photo CD's or drum scans ?
Thanks for your excellent site, S.L."
Answer
Professional photographers use 120-size and 220-size film (2 1/4 inch film) to achieve more detail and better enlargements. Yet in the current digital era all the economical scanners are in the 35mm range. You can get 2700 dpi (Nikon CoolScan) or 4000 dpi (Polaroid SprintScan 4000). Yet for medium format (6x6 cm, 6x7 cm, 6x9 cm, the film is 6 cm high) virtually no dedicated scanners exist (other than the Minolta Dimage which may not be much better than a flatbed).
The result is that you have to use a flatbed, where dpi is limited to about 1200 dpi for mid-range. 1200 dpi for 6x6 cm is about the same as you get from 35mm slides at 2700 dpi. In other words, there is no longer an advantage in using larger film unless you have 4x5 transparencies.
Scanner makers presume that anyone using medium format is a pro and hence can (or should) pay professional prices. Also, the market for medium format/large format scanners is only about 10% that of 35mm. Besides, most full time pro photographers have already bought a high-end scanner (4000 dpi flatbed, 5000+dpi vertical Imacon, or a drum scanner). That reduces the market even further for an economical medium format scanner.
If you just have a few medium format slides then you are stuck going for a commercial Kodak Pro PhotoCD (the medium format skewers you again with a higher price, again presuming you are commercially engaged). But you need to read the Peachpit Press book on what a Kodak PhotoCD does to your image before you decide to possibly gut your image in this manner (cameras-scanners-flaar.org, book review section, or in digital-photography.org or other FLAAR book reviews). If this book is out of print get a copy in your library.
Solution, cover your eyes and go for the Kodak scan and hope you can rescue it with SilverFast. LaserSoft Imaging makes a special scanner software to open Kodak Photo CD scans. You can screw up what Kodak has already screwed up if you attempt to open a Kodak Photo CD scan intuitively. Kodak has thoroughly messed up the entire color situation since the Photo CD was made for the low-end, entry-level, consumer. It only became "professional" after the common person refused to use Kodak Photo CD's to watch their images on a TV set! Even Kodak admits it in their official Kodak Photo CD book.
2nd solution, do the best you can with 1200 dpi from a flatbed. Most large format printers (such as Encad 300 dpi ) only require about 150 dpi to print. You would be surprised how little dpi you can get away with. The dpi of the printer is not what controls how many dpi you need to feed the printer; it is the lines per inch in most cases (explained in most good books on scanning, on printing, or on digital imaging).
3rd solution, which is what I have done, mothball your Hasselblads and Rolleiflexes and use 35mm film. Be sure to use slide film and not color negative film. Scanners do not like color negative film. If you are stuck with color negative film from use before you realized this, then get Silver Fast scanner software. Their booklet explains how to handle negative film. I have enlarged 35mm scans on the Encad wide format printer to 24 inches (300 dpi). A scan from the Polaroid should reach larger size at 300 dpi or 24 inches at 600 dpi. Problem is that SilverFast software is not yet available for any Polaroid scanner, but is available for the Nikon CoolScan. SilverFast software, on its own, is probably worth more than the scanner (hardware) itself. Actually, three years ago software such as what SilverFast offers today would probably have sold for about $2,500. With a superior scanner such as the Fuji C-550 Lanovia scanner you can enlarge 35mm color slides to 36 x 42 inches and get professional results.
4th solution, use a medium format digital camera, but don't get skewered again with a small 31x31 mm sensor hidden within a 60x60 mm camera.
5th solution, use a large format digital camera such as Better Light, PhaseOne, or Dicomed.
To return to details of the original question, 1: dpi per print depends entirely on the printer. Dye sub may want perhaps 300 dpi, Encad does wonderful results for less, and so on. The best printer will be dye sub (Kodak makes a great one) or a Pictography from Fuji. I personally like the new generation of color laser. Ink jet prints fade rapidly (such as from some models of Epson).
Original question 2: no such creature under $2000 exists.