Re: filmscanners: brandnew user queries

[SKID Photography <skid@bway.net>]

> We have one competent pro lab (both film & digital) here on Maui, run by a
> chap who was a high-end advertising illustrator on the East Coast for
> decades. He says his scanner actually removes scratches and other defects,
> and it's capable of doing 16K dpi --

But is that 'optical' resolution or 'interpolated' resolution?  There is a big 
difference between the two.

> but he refuses to tell me which scanner
> it is! Last time we discussed this, a few months back, he offered to do 16K
> dpi scans for $30 each, but said that in his opinion 2K or 4K dpi was
> perfectly adequate! Rob at the Lightroom in Berkeley has a commercial
> scanner which is only 4K dpi, but his giclee (sp?) prints look great. My
> main problem with Rob is one of economics, he wants $75 per scan including
> an 11" x 14" proof. He includes any necessary retouching of surface defects
> in that price, so it's not really horrendous, just more than I can afford
> right now.

The size of the scan really depends on how large a print you want to make...I 
am assuming (always a scary
concept), that you are talking about tiff files, not compressed ones, when you 
are referring to the size of
files...comparing apples to apples, not applest o oranges.

That said, the most common dpi used in high quality inkjet output is 300 dpi, 
at reproduction size.  So....a
3000 dpi scan can produce a print from a 35 mm piece of film at approximately 
(I know, I'm rounding a bit
here) a short dimension of 10 inches.  A 6000 dpi will produce a print of 20 
inches...So the dpi you need, is
relative to the size output you want.  There are, of course limits to 
resolution in scans, and problems with
'noise', etc., but you get the general idea.

Harvey Ferdschneider
partner, SKID Photography, NYC