I'm new here & to MF film - need some help on scanning negatives

[Greg Turner]

Hi all, as indicated, this is my first post here and I'm new to shooting with MF film but I have to say that I'm smitten with it. I haven't my Sony A7rII as anything other than a very expensive light meter for a few weeks now!

I need some advice - what sort of resolution is it worth getting your negatives scanned to as a matter of default. The service I am using (Peak Imaging) offer three levels, starting at around 7mb, then 24mb and up to 35mb for a TIFF file.

I will print large at some point and have a good printer at home that can print up to A3+ but I would be happy sending the negs off for a high res scan when I want to do that. In the shorter term i want to post to my website and other social media where the images may be presented on a screen at roughly 10x10cm,

So what size do you get them scanned to? Does the larger file size give you more lattitude for small adjustments in post production. I've been slightly adjusting the contrast on the scans I've had back so far but I don't know if using PP on film is the done thing?

Many thanks for your help and I look forward to reading more on the forum.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

You can do the same things to a scan of a negative or slide that you would do in the darkroom, like dodging and burning, adjusting contrast, and color. Just as most films printed in the darkroom need some dodging and burning, so do scans. I would scan at the highest resolution because if you do any adjustments and you scanned at too low a resolution for a print you decide to make in the future, then you need to redo all of that work after rescanning the film.

 

[MattKing]

Welcome to APUG.

You will soon learn that APUG's rules discourage scanning discussions. There are sites that handle scanning questions well, including APUG's relatively quiet sister site, DPUG.ORG.

There is also a "Group" link on APUG where scanning questions are permitted, but it too is quiet.

There are changes coming that will allow better integration between APUG and DPUG, but in the meantime I hope you will enjoy and participate in APUG, to the extent that its non-digital focus permits.

Many of us here do use scanning for some purposes, but are accepting of/supportive of its strict non-digital discussion rules.

 

[Prest_400]

Matt gives that newcomers guidance about scanning matters in the forum.

Having said that, I may give my opinion about the topic:
The mb rating given by many traditional labs is rather confusing to me. IIRC 18mb TIFF equals a 2000x3000 file (35mm) which is adequate for all-round usage. For MF, and being 6x9 I chose to get an Epson V550 flatbed which is decent. Fairly good results but requires extensive adjustments on some negative scans and good up to 12x16" (haven't tried bigger yet).

Many of the new gen labs do give nice files (you will identify them in instagram, by the airy tendency and lots of customers with Contax 645's) and I think that (for 35mm) a 3600px width is decent.
MF I do the hybrid myself (oftentimes it is a bit frustrating) because lab services have high rates (cumulative adds up to quite a bit), I wanted control, and small files do not do Medium Format that much justice. I do not have an easy hybrid workflow for 135 at home so the labs do a nice job and so be it.