[filmscanners] film vs digital test

["Norm Carver" <nfcarver@iserv.net>]

I am in the midst of doing a basic comparison between my Hasselblad and the
new Kodak SLR Pro (14mb, full frame). I don't need a super accurate test,
just reasonably fair. My work is half color, half b&w with the end product
in books and large exhibition prints 20 to 40".

I invite suggestions and/or critiques of my approach as outlined here:

I gave up the dark room several years ago after too many decades. So I must
compare scanned film against digital RAW. Also, though it may invite scorn
from some purists, I am comparing the actual tools I work with most of the
time, not the ultimate options in lenses. These are:
Hblad 203fe with 60-120 zoom
Kodak SLRpro with Tamron 28-300.

I take the test images from the same position and adjust the Tamron zoom
factor to match the approximate vertical coverage of Hblad zoom. To avoid
any focus hocus pocus I am measuring distances. I care mainly about the
clarity issue --ie details and sharpness and less about color accuracy as
this is more easily adjusted.

The digital raw is 16 bit, 4500x3000 @ 300 rez which equals about 10" ht image.

The 220 films, (CN400) and Ektachrome VS 120 are scanned on a Minolta
MultiPro (a Nikon 8000 is also available). But here is where I need some
advice. I believe I should scan to end up with the same 300 rez but to what
file size?
Here are two I have tried and the thinking behind each:

1. Scan the 2.10 x 2.10 area at maximum of 4800 dpi which gives an image
size of 34" sq and a file size of 604 mb which is simply too unwieldy.

2. Scan at the nearest even dpi to approximately double the image size
since the 220 film is a little over 2x the ht of the Kodak orig of 1" which
means 3200 dpi and image size 22.7, file size 268.

I stand ready for any further ideas. At the end, if any one is interested,
I shall try to post the results on my web site, normancarver.com

Thanks for any help, Norm Carver

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