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Has scanning replaced contact prints?

miha

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I’ve been using a basic flatbed scanner to preview 35mm negatives. It’s faster than making contact sheets and helps me pick which frames to print in the darkroom.

Has anyone tried this hybrid workflow?
 
Nowadays, I work that way for all my film from 35mm to 8x10.
 
"Has scanning replaced contact prints?"

Not for me. It's too nice having the physical contact print and negative, side by side.
 
I scan & print my contact sheets. That way I have physical pages to file with the negatives as well as a quick reference on my computer.
 
I still print traditional analogue contact sheets for my medium format and 4x5 negatives but since I scan all my 35mm negatives I usually create and print a digital contact sheet for those negatives. I use contact sheets for several different purposes and I hate to start my computer in order to view them. Besides the computer screen with back lighting usually makes them look different so it is harder to evaluate them for future printing or even just to review my development processes.
 
miha said:
I’ve been using a basic flatbed scanner to preview 35mm negatives. It’s faster than making contact sheets and helps me pick which frames to print in the darkroom.

Has anyone tried this hybrid workflow?
Click to expand...
Yeah absolutely. I even make a 'contact sheet' from the scans and file that with the negatives for easy reference. Like you said, it's pretty fast doing it that way and I don't need to set everything up for a darkroom session just to make a single sheet.
 
I think so.
 
With B/W, I still do wet printing contact sheets for every film. With colour negative film, I take a digital photo from the light table and let in print in 20x30cm at a cheap drugstore lab (0.49 Euro per print). For the future, I will look for a suitable flatbed scanner both for colour contact prints and for scanning medium format colour negatives and slides. I prefer to have a hardcopy contact print from all my films and not just a jpg file.
 
Yeah, but I can contact print on the same paper as the final print.
 
I consider contact printing on photo paper a waste of money, in most instances. The only exception is when I use a roll or two of 120 to take portraits and want to see which will make the best enlargement. I don't think a scan or scan+printout gives you that information as well. I'd love to have printed contact sheets for every set of negatives I have, just to be able to look through them. I, unfortunately, am not organized enough to scan my negatives as soon as I develop them - I usually scan in large batches. I should make computer-printed contact sheets as indices. But I probably won't....
 

I find scanning at 600dpi gives me enough resolution to be able to blow up individual frames for inspection. Better than a loupe on a conventional contact sheet.
 
MARTIE said:
Yeah, but I can contact print on the same paper as the final print.
Click to expand...

I'll start by saying i contact print large negatives...but I do not make contact sheets.
If i did, I certainly would not waste expensive fiber-based paper or scarce Azo to make contact sheets.
 
I'd probably do more contact sheets if I shot more 120, but for 35mm I rarely bother. It cost too much time, chemistry and paper to end up with tiny images.

I put the film in my enlarger film holder on top of a white screen from an old phone and "scan" it with a digital camera fitted with an old helios lens and an extension tube. Then I do a quick inversion with an app (snapseed) and then can see the positive on a full-size computer screen and decide if something is worth printing.
 
Next'll be proof prints digitally and final prints digitally....
Hey, why bother using film?

Do what makes you happy.
 
miha said:
I’ve been using a basic flatbed scanner to preview 35mm negatives. It’s faster than making contact sheets and helps me pick which frames to print in the darkroom.

Has anyone tried this hybrid workflow?
Click to expand...

You can put me in your team. I scan at home and print in my darkroom which is 15 minutes away walking. With the scans I decide very comfortably what I want to print.
 
Last edited:
Not so far for me.
But with 8x10 RC paper reaching $2.00 CDN a sheet .....
 
Yes, for me. I scan each negative through the printfile sleeve with my phone at 3kx4k resolution in the same order they appear on the sheet. These are what I would call "aesthetic proofs" for purpose of sorting and learning to select the best for alt printing and learn from the rest. I plan on printing about 1 out of about 30 as a 4x5, then go from there. This is not a hybrid work flow since I do not print anything from these scans. I imagine this is fairly common today for most.
 
I find it a lot easier and more informative to batch-scan the roll than to print a contact sheet. Largish images, exposure reasonably appropriate for each frame rather than a compromise across the roll, no test prints or guessing at enlarger settings, no waiting for the print to dry. And no paper expense.

Someone who was more disciplined about exposure could get rolls that would contact better, and maybe be consistent enough to use a fixed exposure for every contact sheet without prior testing, but that’s definitely not me.

-NT
 
I’m surprised how many don’t do contact sheets. I’ve always done them. They get filed away in binders with the negatives. Much easier to look at the contacts to see images than holding negatives up to light. They also give a good idea of exposure and development staying on track (if wet printing). I could see if you never started doing contact sheets and were 100s or 1000s of rolls in. Then it would be near impossible to catch up.

That said, I scan everything too…
 

You look at enough negatives....it's like the upside image in an LF camera....it becomes normal.
 
GregY said:
You look at enough negatives....it's like the upside image in an LF camera....it becomes normal.
Click to expand...

No I get that. I can tell a good negative too by looking at it. But it’s much easier when flipping through a binder of negatives to look at the contacts than the negatives. I’m sure others probably have a digital archive with a numbering system to locate the negatives. That’s something I kind of wish I had started too.
 
I usually take an iPhone contact sheet and use that for reference. If I had a dedicated Darkroom I probably would do contact sheets.
 
I scan at home and then have the time to preview all the images before going to the darkroom. A copy of those I will work on is kept on my phone as a reference when I do get to the darkroom. I have a back-up of all the scanned negatives on USB keys, plus the ultimate back-up, the negatives themselves.

I have limited access to the club darkroom I use, and not making contact sheets is a better use of that time, for me. I'd rather be working on prints.
 
brian steinberger said:
But it’s much easier when flipping through a binder of negatives to look at the contacts than the negatives.
Click to expand...
I agree. For that reason, I inkjet print an index sheet and file that away with the film. For closer inspection, there's a computer right next to the enlarger so I can pull up the full scan of a negative and see if there's anything (dirt etc.) I need to keep in mind or that may affect my choice to print negatives.
 
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