Slide -> Print

[bordeaux78]

Hi all,

Beginner question

I shot some slides and I fall in love with the colors and shaprness, it's really unbelievable. However, it is difficult to share the joy if one does not have them printed. The question is:

Will print retain the rich color and sharpness of the original slide? Will negative print outperform that of slides? Am I better off staying with negative then if it's indeed better?

I know that books, magazines use slide instead of negative for some reasons. How can they retain very good reproduction?

Thanks

Christoph

[munfai]

negatives work best for prints, and slides for projection. though you can make prints out of slides, it would be costly.

i'm no experienced slide shooter myself, and like you i got my first roll of slide film back today. and also like you, i'm impressed. so much so that i'm considering shooting slide most of the time.

since i don't have a projector, i sent my roll for scanning. if the results of the scan are good, then slides to digital format might be the best possible way for me.

[ckiang]

Quote: Originally posted by bordeaux78 Hi all, Beginner question I shot some slides and I fall in love with the colors and shaprness, it's really unbelievable. However, it is difficult to share the joy if one does not have them printed. The question is: Will print retain the rich color and sharpness of the original slide? Will negative print outperform that of slides? Am I better off staying with negative then if it's indeed better? I know that books, magazines use slide instead of negative for some reasons. How can they retain very good reproduction? Thanks Christoph

Slide to print is comparitively expensive. I have not tried them myself, so I don't know how it actually turns out. Prints, being a medium that is viewed with reflected light, will never have the same kind of colour saturation etc as a slide viewed on a lightbox and a good loupe (transmitted light). But it should still be good when properly done. Negatives has a larger dynamic range, but when you print them, this advantage is lost as prints have a very small dynamic range as well.

Magazines use high end drum scanners for slides, so results are very good. What I've tried myself is to have my slides scanned by a lab at 3072x2048 (16-base) resolution, then printed on my Epson Photo Stylus 890. The results are pretty amazing. Total cost per 8x10" print done this way is about $4-5. ($1.80 for the scanning of 1 mounted slide, the rest are media costs). This is about half of what you pay for a "real" slide to print at the same size.

Regards
CK

[munfai]

slide to print is SGD$1 for 4R size at Adelphi

[Adam Goi]

Quote: Originally posted by munfai slide to print is SGD$1 for 4R size at Adelphi

I know it's more expensive but I didn't expect it's this much!

[bordeaux78]

Wow, I guess the best way is to have the slide scanned with very good scanner, and then print out using a good printer like Canon S800.

But still, scanning cost is quite high. Where is the best place to scan slide (price should be reasonable)? RGB? Again, do I have to give them any storage device like CD-R or Zip disk?

Thanks guys

Christoph

[munfai]

Quote: Originally posted by bordeaux78 Wow, I guess the best way is to have the slide scanned with very good scanner, and then print out using a good printer like Canon S800. But still, scanning cost is quite high. Where is the best place to scan slide (price should be reasonable)? RGB? Again, do I have to give them any storage device like CD-R or Zip disk? Thanks guys Christoph

i tried Colour Lab at Adelphi. Cost me $25 just to scan, but if you let them develop and scan it's only $13.90.

Unfortunately results don't seem too good.

Try this thread:
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthrea...&threadid=5432

[ckiang]

Quote: Originally posted by munfai i tried Colour Lab at Adelphi. Cost me $25 just to scan, but if you let them develop and scan it's only $13.90. Unfortunately results don't seem too good. Try this thread: http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthrea...&threadid=5432

Try Photo Friend at Penisula Plaza, next to the DBS ATMs. For 3072 x 2048 (16-Base) scans, it's $18 per unmounted roll (slides or negs regardless), $1.80 per mounted slide. Results are pretty good.

Regards
CK

[Lennier]

Quote: Originally posted by ckiang Try Photo Friend at Penisula Plaza, next to the DBS ATMs. For 3072 x 2048 (16-Base) scans, it's $18 per unmounted roll (slides or negs regardless), $1.80 per mounted slide. Results are pretty good. Regards CK

I've tried their scanning services with some of my slides, but wasn't satisified at all with the results. Then again, I've not tried any other shop's service, so I can't really give a comparison how good/bad they are.

Even at their 18MB resolution, I can see the dotty pixels when printed at 4R. Can't be a problem with the slide since it was taken on Provia 100 in well exposed conditions.

You guys can check this shop -> InfoMagic Systems. It's a professional place that caters to just about everyone. They do low res as well as super high res scans. The latter is $5 per slide, but the result is a 220 MB+ TIFF file, or so I was told (Note: beyond 5000 dpi, you can't resolve much more detail from a slide. In this case, I'm sure it's beyond 5,000 dpi already) Check online yellowpages for address or go to www.infomagic.com.sg. They may recommend you to their dealers, since they don't deal direct to customer.

Have not tried it since I've got access to a Coolscan FOC.

[ninelives]

I have try printing 8R from slide, result was very bad. The color is not vibrant no more.

[ckiang]

Quote: Originally posted by Lennier I've tried their scanning services with some of my slides, but wasn't satisified at all with the results. Then again, I've not tried any other shop's service, so I can't really give a comparison how good/bad they are. Even at their 18MB resolution, I can see the dotty pixels when printed at 4R. Can't be a problem with the slide since it was taken on Provia 100 in well exposed conditions. You guys can check this shop -> InfoMagic Systems. It's a professional place that caters to just about everyone. They do low res as well as super high res scans. The latter is $5 per slide, but the result is a 220 MB+ TIFF file, or so I was told (Note: beyond 5000 dpi, you can't resolve much more detail from a slide. In this case, I'm sure it's beyond 5,000 dpi already) Check online yellowpages for address or go to www.infomagic.com.sg. They may recommend you to their dealers, since they don't deal direct to customer. Have not tried it since I've got access to a Coolscan FOC.

The grain is visible on screen. On your screen, you're probably looking at the equivalent of 42" wide print! I printed the scans myself on an Epson 890, to full A4 size and they looked brilliant. The scans I've printed are shot on Provia 400F and Velvia.

Regards
CK

[rochkoh]

Strange. Now with all this rather negative feedback of scanning slides to print, why would most companies (advertising, fashion, wildlife magazines etc.) prefer to accept slides over negatives?

Do they have any special means of processing them?

[ckiang]

Quote: Originally posted by rochkoh Strange. Now with all this rather negative feedback of scanning slides to print, why would most companies (advertising, fashion, wildlife magazines etc.) prefer to accept slides over negatives? Do they have any special means of processing them?

They have something called a drum scanner. Very, very, very expensive.

Regards
CK

[bordeaux78]

Hi rochkoh,

I think the reason is this quoted from ckiang

"Magazines use high end drum scanners for slides, so results are very good."

I visit national geography online, and there they mention that most of their photographer uses slide as the medium.
Check it here

[nuts]

at 16Base and can see pixels at 4R print? I think its either the operator doing the scanning screwed up, or the operator doing the printing in the lab screwed up.... .. thats more than 300dpi!
well, to share an experience, I've submitted a roll of unmounted slides to Nets Imaging (at Ikea building) for scanning. They too charge $18 for base16 and they use the Noritsu minilab machine which I believe PhotoFriend uses too (the resulting CD includes a Noritsu viewer...). The results were great! So I went again to scan another roll. The lady at the counter appears unsure and after consulting with the boss accepted the order. When I got my scans, they were pretty "grainy"! I complained to the boss who agreed to redo the scans. Later I saw the boss teaching/explaining something to the lady on the Noritsu machine ... gee, lucky me, got a newbie...

..NuTs..

Quote: Originally posted by Lennier I've tried their scanning services with some of my slides, but wasn't satisified at all with the results. Then again, I've not tried any other shop's service, so I can't really give a comparison how good/bad they are. Even at their 18MB resolution, I can see the dotty pixels when printed at 4R. Can't be a problem with the slide since it was taken on Provia 100 in well exposed conditions.

[Lennier]

Quote: Originally posted by rochkoh Strange. Now with all this rather negative feedback of scanning slides to print, why would most companies (advertising, fashion, wildlife magazines etc.) prefer to accept slides over negatives? Do they have any special means of processing them?

Don't think it's because they have a drum scanner. I'm sure those can scan negatives too. They take trannies because of their superior color rendition, density and saturation.

[Lennier]

Quote: Originally posted by nuts at 16Base and can see pixels at 4R print? I think its either the operator doing the scanning screwed up, or the operator doing the printing in the lab screwed up.... .. thats more than 300dpi!

cruds, I didn't think of getting it redone. Ah well, at least some were salvageable

[bordeaux78]

Excuse me, but what is "Base16"??

[ckiang]

Quote: Originally posted by Lennier Don't think it's because they have a drum scanner. I'm sure those can scan negatives too. They take trannies because of their superior color rendition, density and saturation.

Partly. And the other reason being that you generally need to print negs to see it in it's correct colours. With slides, you just put them onto a light table. See all at once. And you have a good reference when you do the scan.

Regards
CK

[ckiang]

Quote: Originally posted by bordeaux78 Excuse me, but what is "Base16"??

It's 16-Base. It is Kodak's way of expressing image resolution way back in the PhotoCD (not to be confused with PictureCD, which is nothing more than a CD of low res JPGs) days.

16-Base describes a resolution of 3072 x 2048.
4-Base is 1536 x 1024.

There's also 64-Base, at a much higher resolution, the exact number which I forgot.

Regards
CK