One of the questions that I am quite often asked is the following:
Which is better to scan, film negatives or prints?
It is always best to scan the original negatives, provided that they are in good shape and the colors have not faded. The reasons for this are explained below.
To begin with, you have to realize that a photograph is merely a copy of the original, processed negative. In most cases, a copy is never as good as the original. Typically, photographs are printed out at 240-300 dpi when done at your local photo lab. That means that a 4×6 print is, at most, 1200×1800 dpi. This is why prints are typically scanned at 300 dpi as scanning at a higher resolution does not bring out any further detail other than what is on the original print. The only time that scanning a photograph at 600 dpi, or greater, would be if the original was either very small or if it is going to be edited at a later date.
The size of a typical 35mm negative is 24mm x 36mm or, roughly, 1.0in x 1.5in. This means that the film was essentially scanned at 1200 dpi in order to produce the 4×6 print in the above example.
Most 35mm film negatives are capable of being scanned at up to 4000 dpi. This is especially true for the slower speed films (100, 200). When scanning negatives the general rule of thumb is the higher the resolution, the greater the detail.
For example, a negative scanned at a lower resolution of 2000 dpi may not be able to clearly display the time on a clock in the background or the fine print on a paper or sign when the photograph is blown up. By simply rescanning the same image at 4000 dpi you are providing 4x the resolution of the original scan. This type of resolution can display these details much more easily and clearly, especially when a larger print is be made.
Another reason for choosing to scan the film negatives instead of the photographic print is that the original film contains much more contrast and detail as compared to a photographic print. This is because prints tend to fade over time due to exposure to sunlight, etc. Negatives, if they have been stored in a dry place, are much more immune to this behavior.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Storing film negatives can become a hassle quite quickly, and since today’s photography is turning more and more digital in nature, you may want to find a digital storage option for your negatives and slides. Scanning negatives and turning them into a digital file is entirely possible, but you need the right equipment to do so.
Scanning Negatives and Slides at Home with a Flatbed Scanner
If you have a scanner with the right adapter, you can scan negatives and slides at home using a simple flatbed scanner. Keep in mind that simply putting your negatives on a flatbed scanner will not work. Flatbed scanners are designed to scan photos by capturing the reflection of the light shown on them. Because negatives are transparent, this does not work. You need a transparency adapter to scan negatives. The transparency adapter, when used in place of the scanner’s lid, shines light onto the negatives from above, and the sensors can pick up this light and capture a digital image of the print. Without the adapter, a scanned negative or transparency will look like a big black square.
Scanning Negatives at Home with Film Scanners
If you plan on scanning negatives frequently, you may want to purchase a scanner designed to scan film. These scanners give you a better final image, because there is no piece of glass between the negative and the image sensor. Also, the light is more intense with one of these scanners. They also typically have a higher dpi resolution than flatbed scanners.
Another reason film scanners give a better final image has to do with the density of the image. Photographs have a density of approximately 2.0, and negatives have a density of about 3.0. Because flatbed scanners are designed primarily for documents and photographs, they are calibrated closer to the 2.0 range.
High Resolution Is Key
Regardless of whether you use a flatbed scanner or a film scanner, you will want to scan your negatives at the highest resolution possible. This will make the scanning process take a while, but if you intend to make prints off of the resulting digital photos, you will be glad you took the time to scan the picture at a high resolution.
Sometimes you find yourself in a situation when you have to scan paper prints, negatives or slides and store them as digital photos on your computer. Although the reason for doing that can vary there are some common considerations to scanning paper prints. In this article we will go over some of them and try to make your scanning experience easier.
There are three types of prints that you might be scanning:
Paper prints: the most common, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7.
Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which paper prints are made.
Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.
Scanning paper photos prints.
Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100).
There are pros and cons to both scanning at home and using a professional service.
When scanning at home consider the following:
Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.
Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans – for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you’re going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you’re going to use).
Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.
Scanning negatives and slides
If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners although there is one product – the HP slide scanner that does a great job and at a very affordable price. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.
The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you’re going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.