Digital BW, The Print

From what i understand, the actual optical resolution of your 4180 is
probably around 1800, not 4800 as epson touts (someone please correct
me if I'm wrong). Many believe that the scanner is actually upsampling
when you use settings higher than this. The 3170 i use is rated at
3200 spi, but i usually don't scan any higher than 1800, as there are
many better solutions to increasing image size than the scanner's
software. i haven't heard what the true resolution of this scanner is
supposed to be, btw. 

Since I started scanning at this lower resolution, the frustration
factor has gone WAY down. I have a P4/2.4G and a meager 512m of ram,
and rarely have to wait at all when working on 16 bit greyscale images
made from medium format negs (RGB is a different story, however). 

Btw, there are advantages to working on images of greater resolution
than the final output size of 300 ppi (which equals say a 600spi 4x5
scan for an 8x10 image).  For one, larger files hold up far better to
higher levels of sharpening, which is why it is recomended that it be
your final step BEFORE "rezzing down" to your final print dimentions.
And of cousre working with a larger file of say 1800 ppi would allow
you to print the same 4x5 scan on say an Epson 7600, a 1280, or c86
without upsampling or rescanning/reworking an image.

For a thorough explanation of scanning, spi, ppi, dpi, and other
things related try this site: http://www.scantips.com/

Hope this helps, and hope this is acurate;)
john


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Matthew Wensing
<wensing@s...> wrote:
> Ah.  Thanks.  
> 
> I really do need to do more reading to really get a
> grasp on dpi in relation to ppi in relation to pixels
> etc.  I have done so once before (but never really
> understood it thoroughly), but now that I have the
> scanner I plan to go back to it again.
> 
> So you're saying that 4800 isn't really giving you
> more detail than 1200 for say an 8x10 print? (Not to
> ask a dumb question or start a war here...).
> 
> If anyone has any recommended articles for figuring
> these things out, I'm all ears.
> 
> Matt
>