Film and paper negative

Jon Allen · May 11, 2017

This may seem a daft question but is there as much detail in a paper negative compared to a film negative. What I'm trying to ask is that if you scan a 6x6 film neg (using a good scanner) you have a load of detail within the digital copy of that neg that will beat most digital cameras with high pixels, well so I'm led to believe. If that's true does that apply to paper negs if you wanted a load of pixels to play with once scanned. Or is it just down to the scanner or a mixture of both scanner and negative size.

Hope I'm making sense.

ransel · May 11, 2017

I guess it would depend on what you want as the end result. I am pretty confident that if you want to scan a 4X5 inch paper negative and are going to make an 8X10 inch inkjet positive from that scan, as long as your scan is at a rather high ppi setting, you will not be disappointed.

grussmir · May 11, 2017

Paper negs have much less contrast range, like 5-6 stops (film has 10+) Look at some images from paper negs and you'll see what I mean. Plus paper is orthochromatic at best or even only blue sensitive, so colors a weird. Give it a try and prepare for an image of its own language
The image is taken on paper with a pinhole on a sunny evening. Paper should be a Foma Softgrade RC I think

removed account4 · May 11, 2017

hi jon

paper negatives can have high amounts of detail, like their film counterparts.

if you are worried about contrast ...
there are ways of working with paper to tame its contrast range. you can use a #2 enlarger filter in front of
your camera (yellow filter), you can "flash" your paper ( before or after exposure )
or you can use a low contrast developer. personally, i would rather expose paper negatives more than anything else
paper loves blue light, but there are different amounts of blue light during the day so you have to pay closer attention to the type of light and time of day &c
unlike film when you can just point and shoot

have fun !
john

NedL · May 11, 2017

grussmir said:
... Give it a try and prepare for an image of its own language

I really like what you wrote.

bvy · May 11, 2017

The OP's question is about the resolution of photo paper versus film, not contrast and how to control it. I did some reading on this a while back and concluded nothing useful. The resolution specs (in lp/mm) are readily available from manufacturers for film, but not so much for paper. And even so, those specs seem to be hotly debated. What information I did find suggested that the resolving power between the two are comparable, but that other factors come into play (like the texture of the paper). In practice, I don't know that it matters much. Paper should produce sufficient detail.

Cholentpot · May 14, 2017

I scanned some paper negs with a DSLR and got rather nice results.

The image was limited only by the camera I was using. A Lubitel 2 TLR.

Jon Allen · May 15, 2017

Thank you for all your replies and additional information including the two images added

I will try both flashing and filters. It sounds like I will be taking a lot of images and experimenting before I get it right and the look I want. But hopefully I will find it fun.

Thanks for your help bvy. As you said not much info on the net about the resolution, well not what I can find and understand. I thought it might be that there's a few things that come into quality of the scan. Thanks again.

Film and paper negative

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency