Digital BW, The Print

Phil,

I always scan my 4x5 B&W negs at the highest optical resolution my scanner 
will allow; which, for me, is 1600. This scan density allows me to 
re-purpose the image for any use that I'm likely to make of it. However, due 
to total file size I cannot scan 8x10 at this ppi, even for single channel 
B&W! I tend to scan this size at 800 ppi which will produce a very nice 
16x20 at 360.

Alan Huntley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "pdcorlis" <pdcorlis@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 7:24 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Scan resolution for printing 4x5 negs?




I looked through the archives of the Epson scanner forums but couldn't seem 
to find a
direct answer to my question so here goes...

I use an Epson 3200 to scan B&W negs for printing and have generally scanned 
my 4X5
negatives at their original size and at 1600 dpi - so when the day comes, I 
can print
11x14's at 600 (or so) dpi. I'm new to this brave new world so I'm wondering 
if other large
format photographers in the group have a different take on this. I want to 
scan at a high
enough resolution to preserve detail, but not too high a resolution to aviod 
HUGE
Photoshop files.

Thanks for any help you can offer

Phil C.