Digital BW, The Print

Hi

I read a lot of messageshere, but rarely post. However, the recent 
conversation about scanning and what resolutions are required for 
certain size prints raises a question as to what scanners 
(manufacturer and models) people are using to scan B&W negatives at 
home.

A friend recently asked what he should buy because he wants to scan 
and print negatives. It's been several years sice I looked, so I am 
curious

What arer people using today?

Paulv

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Wells" 
<oaksfield@...> wrote:
>
> I have not got involved in this discussion before, but reading this 
post 
> about a budget (flat bed?) scanner out performing shop scans, made 
me think 
> back to my own similar voyage of discovery (to keep things in the 
Homeric 
> mood! <VBG>) It took me some while to discover that most 
Dip'n'Dunks, over 
> here in the UK now use digital print machines even for their 
ordinary budget 
> D&P services. The scans that I was therefore getting on CD were the 
same  as 
> was used by them to prepare a 6"x4" print at 250 - 300 dpi, i.e. 
1,000-1,200 
> x 1,500-1,800 pixels. Needless to say, even selective (cropped / 
reframed) 
> A4 prints were pretty dire!
> 
> This was not until I checked out the film services from one of the 
major 
> nationaly photo retailers, however, when I found that they had 
several 
> levels of scan service, with different levels of scan resolution. I 
actually 
> mistyped that as "scam" resolution, which was the major problem, 
and why I 
> bought my dedicated film / neg scanner - the prices rose 
exponentially, with 
> an extra £6 or £7 for having a 36-exp 35mm film scanned in at the 
3,000 x 
> 2,000 pixels required for a good A4 print!
> 
> The upshot of the above is that I would ask anyone complaining 
about shop 
> scans to both check the scan resolutions (obviously!) but also 
whether they 
> are asking for what are actually the budget scans used for cheap 
bulk 
> prints, a situation that would be made worse if these scans were 
being 
> merely interpolated to give a higher pixel count.
> 
> Tony Wells.
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "nsams2002" <normsams@...>
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2007 9:06 PM
> Subject: [Digital BW] Scanning Quality
> 
> 
> I unpacked and installed an Epson 200 scanner yesterday, (at a cost 
of
> 100 dollars!!)  Without any adjustments to the image, such as 
levels,
> etc., using the Epson software, I got a scan vastly superior to 
what I
> got from the shop.  I was going to post a "before and after" in the
> Photos file for this list, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do 
it.
> 
> Norm
>