What is the best way to get a nice quality scan from 35mm

[10speeduk]

Hi Guys

I notice that some 35mm scans look 'glossy' with 'depth' and some can look quite 'brittle' and 'thin'.

Eg: All sizes | Kate T. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

looks nice eh?

Is it just a case of scanning at high DPI? I have found that when scanning on my epson V500 (linux software Image Scan) it helps to scan on a higher DPI even if I later reduce size for web.

Does the scale make a difference. EG if I scanned a neg at say 6400 dpi but at 50% scale, would this image have a better look than 6400dpi at 100%.

Would love to know how you maximise your 35mm neg quality!

 

[Lamar]

I've tried different workflows but the one seems to get the best quality for me is to scan at the highest dpi without applying any sharpening in your scan software and reduce your output size in post with a bit of sharpening to taste. I use a Nikon Coolscan 5 ED so I do 4000 dpi on the scan for a little under a 6000 x 4000 image uncropped. My reduced size final image is typically never over 2000 pixels on the wide side. I've also used both TIFFs and jpg's as the output for the original scan and in most cases there is no visible difference in the final image so I just use jpg's because the smaller file size is so much easier to work with. The only time I save to TIFF now is when I'm using the "Save To RAW" option in VueScan. This is good for when I think I will rescan the images several times to try different settings.

You can see samples in the film section of my website: LamarLamb.com - Photography : On Film

 

[philipus]

It really depends on what you intend to use the image for. For web display you need not use maximum resolution. To print really large you will. My workflow is to use Vuescan's Edit size at 300 dpi which I have found to be a good enough compromise for both web use and for the occasional print up to A4 size. Don't forget that image quality depends on many other factors, such as having a properly exposed negative, post-processing (and your pp skills) etc.