I just don’t get scanning 35mm negs

DH
Posted By
Donna_Hanken
Aug 17, 2004
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427
Replies
12
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Closed
I’m back…I posted last week on this very topic…
Thanks for all the replies and links. The scantips sight is awesome but there is A LOT of info and I’ve only scratched the surface.

However, and sorry for my thickheadedness, I’m still a little lost when iit comes to scanning 35mm negs. I usually scan prints but thought negs would ultimately result in a better image.

Basically I want to scan a 35mm negative into like a 4×6 or 5×7. I did this and ended up w/ a 105M file, that’s just a single layer, and I haven’t even started working on it yet.
I think I’m doing something wrong…

I scanned the neg at 1600ppi…do I increase the size at this point or scale at 100% and increase it in PS?

Will I get the same results by scanning at 300ppi and scaling up as I would scanning at 1600ppi at 100% and scalling in PS? In other words when enlarging, do I scale up and scan high at the same time or do one or the other (when scanning)???

Whew…
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TL
Tim_Lookingbill
Aug 18, 2004
Remember resolution is tied to size.

Scan at the highest OPTICAL resolution your scanner has. 35mm should get at least 1500ppi optical for as tiny an area your scanning approx. 1X1.3in.

So at 1 inch at 1500ppi enlarged to 5in., you’ld divide 1500 by 5 equals 300ppi without interpolating or upsampling-sufficient resolution for a 5X7 print.

If your scanner has a larger optical rez, say at 3200ppi, always scan at that rez for anything as small as 35mm. Divide by 300ppi for the max size which you can always reduce down to yield much higher quality prints later on.

The bigger at optical rez the better on scanning 35mm.
DH
Donna_Hanken
Aug 18, 2004
My scanner says 1600×3200 dpi resolution, so, is my optical resolution 1600 ppi? I have an Epson Photo scanner w/ transparency adaptor. Don’t negatives result in better scans than prints?

And at what point I do the enlarging to 5 in., when scanning or later on in PS? So basically what I’m trying to determine is before I hit that scan button, do I need to scale up to 5×7 and enter 1600 ppi? Or, do I not scale, enter 1600 ppi, hit scan and then print the 5×7 from PS???

Does that make sense?

Thanks
TL
Tim_Lookingbill
Aug 18, 2004
Yes, your scanner’s optical rez is 1600ppi. Your 35mm dimensions should read 1600X2133 inches depending how close you crop at capture. Scan and save at this size. You can later change size dimensions and ppi in PS.

It’s the PIXELS PER INCH=ppi that confuses many with total pixels in the image=1600X2133 for 35mm optical capture. In ppi terms that’s 1600ppi but some scanner settings will give a low ppi like maybe in your case 60ppi but give a huge dimension size 26in.X35in. My local Walgreen’s Fuji Frontier minilab does this. They’re the same size in MB regardless.
DH
Donna_Hanken
Aug 18, 2004
Scan I scan higher than my optical resolution??? The reason I ask is because my says under recommended settings to scan negatives from 300 to 3200 dpi.
PB
Paul_B._Cutler
Aug 18, 2004
Just scan at your highest optical resolution. If you have to enlarge, better to let Photoshop take care of that.
peace
R
Ram
Aug 18, 2004
Donna,

Once again: <http://www.scantips.com>

For negatives, get a dedicated film scanner, then you can scan at the film scanner’s max resolution. It doesn’t help to scan at higher than 1600ppi on your flatbed scanner because that is its maximum optical resolution.
DH
Donna_Hanken
Aug 18, 2004
I was just wondering because the instructions w/ my scanner gives me a recommended range of 300-3200 ppi for scanning negs w/ the transparency adaptor.

The scantips website is excellent…Thank you. I just haven’t gotten a chance to get through it yet but I will…

Thanks again
R
Ram
Aug 18, 2004
Donna,

I’m pretty sure that recommendation in the instructions has been adopted across a whole line of scanners, rather than just your particular model. It happens a lot when they just go in and modify last year’s manual to ship with a different model.
AW
Allen_Wicks
Aug 18, 2004
Donna-

Also note that transparency adapters on flatbed scanners typically do a low quality job of scanning, so don’t set your expectations too high. Quality 35 mm film scanning usually costs a lot more.
CC
Conrad_Chavez
Aug 18, 2004
To follow up to what Allen said:

If you have a sharp photo print that already looks perfect, it’s a lot easier to scan the print. If you don’t have a good print, using the right techniques you can potentially produce a superior scan and print from the original negative, because more information exists on the film that on a print.

The problem is that negatives are harder to scan in the first place. Not sure if you’re working with color, but color negatives are trickier to scan than slides or prints (that orange film color, the unusual tonal curve…).

Negative scanning is easier when your scanning software has film presets for common film types to minimize the amount of correction you have to do. Also, on the resolution question, the scanning software might have a place for you to enter the final resolution and final size you want. If it does, then it should be able to calculate the correct scanning resolution needed get you there.
H
Hexebah
Aug 18, 2004
Donna – You may want to try it this way this way…

Scan at 1600ppi
Select the crop tool and enter the crop dimensions (E.g. 5×7). Leave resolution empty. Crop the image

if you look at the image size you should see that the print dimensions have changed as has the resolution. It should be close to 300ppi for a full 5×7 crop.

Remember there’s a difference between re-sizing and re-sampling.

Chip
GB
g_ballard
Aug 18, 2004
In my experience with 2450 Epson Photo Scanner, it does a beautiful job scanning negatives.

How easy it is for you will depend a lot on the original exposure and film type…then there is the craft, but you should be good (try resetting the scanner’s app and watch your pre (and post) scan Histograms…[I hope you are not stuck in Auto mode, or try Auto if you are stuck in Manual].

Scanning 35mm, try setting resolution to the scanner’s Optical (1600) and scan at 100%.

Save that file as a MASTER .psd in the full resolution.

RE PURPOSE:

Image> Image Size> set
Document Size> Resolution to 300ppi
and Document Size> Width to the correct inches

After you get one side to the correct size, Crop the other side down to the final size).

Watch the very top line there (in Image> Image Size): Pixel Dimensions: # MB

You won’t want to increase the MB very much, if avoidable, but you can downsize more safely…

<http://www.gballard.net/psd/16bitworkflow.html>
<http://www.gballard.net/psd/sharpening.html>

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