Scanning my negatives

jsbn · 19th October 2004

Got a Canon D660U Flatbed film/document scanner that can do negative scans at 1200dpi.

Now the biggie... Assuming I'm planning to print out my stuff in 4R, what scanning resolution must I set in order to:
- Able to print out nice 4R prints on my printer
- Do proper cropping and editing in Photoshop (some of my negatives yellowed liao. So die-die must do it now. I dun want to drag liao)

Think there are like a couple of hundred negatives at home screaming for help. Planning to start tonight if not I'll never be able to finish it forever. Help!

CY_OH · 19th October 2004

I you are scaning negatives/slides, scan at highest resolution of 1200dpi. Scan at 600dpi for 4R photos and 300dpi or below for A4 documents/photos.

jsbn · 19th October 2004

Thanks!

ericp · 21st October 2004

May I suggest scanning at the highest resolution possible ? You may want to do other things to the image in the future, and having more bits will help. You can always reduce the sizes, but you cannot increase without extrapolating new data.

And try to keep it in a loss-less format if possible, eg. PSD.

jsbn · 25th October 2004

Originally Posted by ericp

May I suggest scanning at the highest resolution possible ? You may want to do other things to the image in the future, and having more bits will help. You can always reduce the sizes, but you cannot increase without extrapolating new data.

And try to keep it in a loss-less format if possible, eg. PSD.

Using Vuescan since there ain't any negative scanning support in OSX for my D660U.

And I was absolutely shocked after going thru like 10 or 20 pieces a week ago. Even though its only 7yrs ago, the negatives degraded to such an extent that it was all yellowed and all the facial features cannot be distinguished from the skin colour anymore!

Stopped my scanning, wonder if I shld go on to see more heartbreaks or shld I send my negs in to scanning labs to do the dirty job for me... Got like about 100 more to go...

ericp · 25th October 2004

Perhaps the cheapest way to find out is to just get a few prints done at a mini-lab to see how bad it is ... perhaps it's the scanning that's washing out the details. Vuescan is not infallible ... as I've mentioned in another thread, I alternate between that and my scanner's packaged software ... if one doesn't work out too well, I try the other, and if both scans are bad, I attribute it to my ham-fistedness and lack of knowledge

Seriously, check out your negatives to see if they're ok, and if not, bring them to a pro lab to see if they can do anything to help.

You can skip the mini-lab step, but prints at a pro lab are normally more expensive. But at least you get them involved in the beginning of the recovery process (if needed). I'd suggest a place like RGB on Beach Rd.

jsbn · 25th October 2004

I guess so. Maybe tomorow pop over to a shop get 1 print to see how badly stuff turned. Really hoped its my scanner. Changing it ain't big deal, but some photos can't be taken twice. One chance, gone and it's forever bye-bye thing.

19th October 2004	#1
jsbn Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Planet Eropagnis Posts: 2,977	Scanning my negatives Got a Canon D660U Flatbed film/document scanner that can do negative scans at 1200dpi. Now the biggie... Assuming I'm planning to print out my stuff in 4R, what scanning resolution must I set in order to: - Able to print out nice 4R prints on my printer - Do proper cropping and editing in Photoshop (some of my negatives yellowed liao. So die-die must do it now. I dun want to drag liao) Think there are like a couple of hundred negatives at home screaming for help. Planning to start tonight if not I'll never be able to finish it forever. Help!

19th October 2004	#2
CY_OH Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Ang Mo Kio Posts: 1,098	I you are scaning negatives/slides, scan at highest resolution of 1200dpi. Scan at 600dpi for 4R photos and 300dpi or below for A4 documents/photos.

21st October 2004	#4
ericp Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 577	May I suggest scanning at the highest resolution possible ? You may want to do other things to the image in the future, and having more bits will help. You can always reduce the sizes, but you cannot increase without extrapolating new data. And try to keep it in a loss-less format if possible, eg. PSD.

25th October 2004	#6
ericp Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 577	Perhaps the cheapest way to find out is to just get a few prints done at a mini-lab to see how bad it is ... perhaps it's the scanning that's washing out the details. Vuescan is not infallible ... as I've mentioned in another thread, I alternate between that and my scanner's packaged software ... if one doesn't work out too well, I try the other, and if both scans are bad, I attribute it to my ham-fistedness and lack of knowledge Seriously, check out your negatives to see if they're ok, and if not, bring them to a pro lab to see if they can do anything to help. You can skip the mini-lab step, but prints at a pro lab are normally more expensive. But at least you get them involved in the beginning of the recovery process (if needed). I'd suggest a place like RGB on Beach Rd.