New to digital negative - am I asking for the moon?

[RobertEM]

I'm completing re-machining/modifications to a 1950's era 35mm 'stereo' camera. It will produce a 35mm film negative 24x96mm. It would be nice to wind up with some 5x prints. A local lab can process color film, generate digital negative, and then produce up to 10x enlargements/prints.

I would be after a print, say, of around 5" x 19" - and I'm brand-new to digital.

Assuming my image is sharply focused and made with an adequately sharp lens, what might I expect from a 5x print generated from a 24x96mm camera negative?

In strictly analog we always talked about a certain size negative being able to "stand up" to ONLY a certain size print enlargement.

What things are exploitable from my (relatively small) camera negative considering I am printing via digitally-produced negative? To what extent, if any, can digital negative/scanning technology overcome the inherent problem of the fact of an enlargement's essentially magnifying its corresponding negative's grain? Am I asking for the moon?

Thanks in advance for comments and feedback!!

 

[gmikol]

Robert--

5x enlargement for a standard 35mm frame yields a print of ~5x7.5 inches. Most would agree that even relatively simple optics should be able produce a negative that will yield a "good" print at a 5x enlargement. Regardless of how big your negative is, it's still a 5x enlargement, and this is a reasonable value.

The question is, what does your lab mean by "digital negative". Some people use that term to refer to a negative image produced on inkjet transparency film and used for contact printing. Others may use that term to refer to scanning the image and then outputting it back to film, usually after Photoshop-type adjustments are made. My question is, why bother to do either? If you have access to a flatbed scanner of modern vintage (like an Epson 4990 or V500/V700/V750), why not just scan the film strip yourself and output a print to the lab of your choice. Enough dots for a 5x enlargement (about 1500 DPI) is well within the capability of these scanners.

It's unlikely that your lab's processing machine can automatically scan the 24x96 frame...they're probably scanning it as a secondary operation anyway, possibly on a flatbed.

Regardless, there's no reason to go through a second film generation to get to the print you're talking about. Costco stores in the US can output up to 18 inches long (12"x18") for something like $4 or $5, just a little smaller than what you're looking for. Some labs can do up to 12x36 (for anywhere between $10 and $20)

If your lab can go right from scan to print, then it's just a matter of whether you want to pay them to do the work, or do it yourself.

Hope this helps--

Greg

 

[RobertEM]

Thanks, Greg! Just the kind of feedback I was looking for! I'll call the local lab guy and see what he says about what he does. It's just that he's very convenient to me. I'll post the results and would look forward to your further comments.

Why not scan myself? After nearly being at the point of needing to be medicated for my obsessive-compulsivity related to big film camera negatives and all associated paraphrenalia (whew!) - I'm now in recovery. I want to press a shutter, drop off a roll of film, pick up a print, hang it on my wall, have a drink.

OTOH, it wouldn't be bad to investigate/exploit options as you suggest, save a buck, maximize quality, etc. Ha, ha!

Best,
Robert