What to do with old negatives???

Groucho said:
That was me and I'll repeat here what I said (since the earlier message) here to keep it on-topic. I did a little more research again today and hopefully will get an Epson 4490 one of these days. It's pretty cheap ($175 at Beach) and has hardware scratch/dust removal, which apparently makes a huge difference, much better than software tools.

Hey Groucho! Buydig.com has the Epson 4490 for $175.49 plus free 8-10 day shipping. I noticed that Beach's shipping was around $16. I am really hoping Santa will leave this under the tree this year. I have been a very good girl. :rolleyes:
 
Good deal and good luck with Santa - he can be a little unpredictable sometimes! You'll have to post some of your older photos if everything turns out as you hope...
 
If possible, scan negatives at 2000 dpi or more. You will need a scanner designed to scan negatives and slides. You will need software that handles negatives either from the scanner manufacturer or from the editing program (such as Photoshop) manufacturer. With some of the slower (ISO 100 and below) films you may find that you can use up to 5000 dpi (if available) to get the maximum picture detail.

Scanning a 35mm negative at 1200 dpi is roughly equivalent to scanning a 4x6 inch print at 300 dpi. However a negative usually has more picture detail than a print 4x6 in size.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm
 
Groucho said:
That sounds like an amazing deal. What resolution are the photos at?

If only it were someone other than Wal-Mart... :rolleyes1

Yeah, I know, if only. . .

I don't know what the resolution is. Is there a way to tell by the photographs?
 

The JPG should give you the resolution - for example, the first one you posted is 501x600. There are many ways to get that info, the easiest might be to just right-click it and go into Properties.

I have to tell this story - I was trying to decide where to get a couple rolls of film developed today and decided to try one of the "true" photo places rather than the usual one-hour minishop in a larger store. That way, I could also ask about drum scanning, cost, resolution, etc.

First place I called was somewhere that bills themself as the best color lab in town. I asked how much to have a negative scanned - the woman said $5. I knew I was out already but just for reference, I asked the DPI. She said 300.

300! We're talking here about scanning them ourselves at 3200dpi, and the top place says they scan at 300dpi? I said that can't be right, are you sure, you won't get much out of a negative at 300dpi. She said (rather snippily) "best quality in town, you can come down at look" and after I inquired again, she said, "look, I don't have time to argue about this, the guy that does it isn't here today." OK, fine, cross THEM off the list!

I decide to drop off my film at another place that I haven't tried before, but is at least more consumer-oriented rather than primarily doing business work. I asked them, they say there are three different quality levels, the top was $2/picture. I think the cheapest was 50c. I asked about DPI - again, was told 300dpi. The first guy I talked to didn't want to discuss it but a woman nearby joined in and fortunately had a better idea. Apparently the print shots measure it by the print you'll get from it - ie, all the different scan qualities are 300dpi, but the top one is 300dpi at 8x12, or something like that. She wasn't sure what the actual resolution was but said that the medium ones usually ended up as around 9 meg JPGs and the top was maybe 25 megs, and took probably 20 minutes or so for each scan. She also threw out a digital ICE reference, so at least she knew something, unlike the other people that I talked to!

Moral of the story is... photo labs speak a different language than computer people, and while I have no doubt that the quality of a drum scan is unbeatable, it would take only three rolls of 36-exposure film before you're spent more than it would cost to pick up the Epson 4490.
 














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