Has scanning replaced contact prints?

[miha]

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?

 

[Alan9940]

Nowadays, I work that way for all my film from 35mm to 8x10.

 

[MARTIE]

"Has scanning replaced contact prints?"

Not for me. It's too nice having the physical contact print and negative, side by side.

 

[Pieter12]

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.

 

[Pioneer]

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.

 

[koraks]

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?

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.

 

[cliveh]

I think so.

 

[Sanug]

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.

 

[MARTIE]

Yeah, but I can contact print on the same paper as the final print.

 

[Pieter12]

Yeah, but I can contact print on the same paper as the final print.

When I did make contact sheets, I would print them on RC paper. Final prints are on fiber.

 

[Don_ih]

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....

 

[Pieter12]

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.

 

[GregY]

Yeah, but I can contact print on the same paper as the final print.

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.

 

[npl]

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.

 

[MARTIE]

Next'll be proof prints digitally and final prints digitally....
Hey, why bother using film?

Do what makes you happy.

 

[halfaman]

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?

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 comfortly what I want to print.

 

[MattKing]

Not so far for me.
But with 8x10 RC paper reaching $2.00 CDN a sheet .....