Fine Art Archival Printing

[ThrillaMozilla]

We're talking 40 year old negatives, scanned at 300 dpi.

Yeah, your prints are supposed to be 300 pixels per inch, ideally.

 

[The Hat]

I ran some A3+ B&W proofs off today to check the neg scans. (On the 6850 dye printer.) What looks fine at A4 looks like the surface of the moon at A3+. We're talking 40 year old negatives, scanned at 300 dpi.

I fear a new scan(ner) is called for. What, if anything are you guys using for 35mm negs?

Check out the range of Epson Perfection V850 and V800 multi-format film scanners..

 

[Smudger]

Danke Sehr. I have a CanoScan 700f somewhere, which promised marvelous things but I remember it was a swine to use. I'm passing this thread on to Ye Client, given that photogs and their scanners should not be separated.

 

[RogerB]

Danke Sehr. I have a CanoScan 700f somewhere, which promised marvelous things but I remember it was a swine to use. I'm passing this thread on to Ye Client, given that photogs and their scanners should not be separated.

If you're looking at a new scanner like the V850 then you're talking about doubling the investment you've already made in the printer. Ouch!

For many years I used a Canoscan FS4000 to scan B&W negatives for myself and for others - did a very good job with a resolution of 4000ppi. Eventually I ran out of negatives to scan and sold it. The model is long discontinued but used ones come uo from time to time. For example http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-FS4...091?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19fe0598eb might be worth a shot. Don't worry about compatibility with moedrn OS's - Vuescan ($50) is much better than anything Canon ever did and is constantly updated.

 

[Smudger]

'doubling the investment you've already made in the printer.' Ha! Not I. The negs and the photog are in a Far Off Land. I assume that they have an Amazon web site there.

The £150.00 Epson and Canon flatbeds+ film scanners are getting good reviews on Amazon. I've passed those on. Cheers, chaps.

 

[Smudger]

Yeah, your prints are supposed to be 300 pixels per inch, ideally.

Those were the days, eh? What was ever wrong with enprints?

 

[berttheghost]

Bank balance; There is always the danger that between us, VFP and I produce a range of work so delightfully obscure and over-priced that the editions limit themselves to one sale.

There is currently an unseemly fuss in my studio as I try to find a place for this critter to live. The price is high, but as Thrilla points out, I should regard it as investment.

Hi, @Smudger ,
I resorted to using a heavy duty steel shelving unit with the narrow side against a wall so that I have easy access and lots of clearance at the front and rear of my printers. The Pro-1 needs about 20 inches between shelves in order to fully open the top cover. The rear sheet feeder extends past the back of the shelf so that vertical clearance for it isn't an issue (for me).

Lifting the Pro-1 safely is a 2 person job. (If some guy tries to tell you otherwise, be sure to explain to him how much it's going to cost him if/when he drops it. Lots of guys can control that much weight if they can hold it close to their chest, but it's all over when they have to extend the weight to the front or side.)

The first set of Canon head cleaning fluid (read ink) cartridges goes fairly quickly, partially to fill the ink tubes. It uses lots of ink at startup if it hasn't been used for more than a week, so a weekly nozzle check will probably save ink in the long run.

Be sure to test it thoroughly upon receipt. Then, once you are satisfied that it works, enjoy it.

 

[The Hat]

This printer definitely does need a lot of working space around it and the more space it has the better, and one person can manoeuvre the printer without help but it’s easier and safer with four hands, as recommended.

The Pro 1 does not waste any ink at start up but it does fill the CISS tubing which stores 30% of the total ink from the first set of cartridges, and it won’t need any nozzle checks to keep it in perfect condition either it doesn’t suffer from any head clogs like most other printers, well mine hasn’t in over 3 years so far..

 

[fotofreek]

I ran some A3+ B&W proofs off today to check the neg scans. (On the 6850 dye printer.) What looks fine at A4 looks like the surface of the moon at A3+. We're talking 40 year old negatives, scanned at 300 dpi.

I fear a new scan(ner) is called for. What, if anything are you guys using for 35mm negs?

Scanning and printing b/w 35 mm images is akin to stepping into quicksand. There is a lot to learn to get a fine print from a 35mm scan! Step back to film based photo shoots and darkroom days to see the variables from start to finish. First, the camera and lens with which the photo is shot. Next the fine grain quality of the film, and to complicate that issue, the choice of developer and time in developer.

Next you will be fighting the same issue that you do with an enlarger. Dust and scratches on the film are magnified so excellent film cleaning and extremely careful handling is essential. Glassless neg carriers may not keep the film in one plane and the depth of field of the lenses are quite shallow. Flat bed scanners interpose a glass surface that must be absolutely clean and as dust free as possible. Film grain appears to be magnified in scans and needs to be dealt with for art prints.

There is much to read and learn to get the best you can from such scans. Dedicated film and slide scanners range from cheap with poor quallity scans to very expensive but best for this purpose. someone mentioned the Nikon scanners. These were probably the gold standard but a used one would cost more than you would want to spend at this point. The more sophisticated film scanners have "ice" technology that does a separate scan of the film surface to remove dust and scratch artifacts. The Epson V700 flatbed and and similar units also do this. Some scanning software deals with grain better than others and leaves you with less post-scan editing requirements.

I've used two techniques: One is my old but reliable Epson Perfection 3170 photo scanner with optical 3200x6400 optical scanning. Post-scan editing with photoshop was reasonable but could be better with scanning software that deals better with small format film scans. I've set up an x-ray light box and copy stand and used a high quality digital camera to photograph slightly beyond the frame of the image. This works quickly and does a reasonable job, but there is no interposed scanner software that obviates the need for as much post-processing. Consequently, spot healing for dust or scratches and noise reduction to deal with grain degrades image detail somewhat.

I've often thought to buy a nikon film scanner, use it to scan some of my best 35 mm images, and resell it. But now down to reality --- with all the pitfalls I'd say that some hours of googling and reading about the best software to use in conjunction with the right flatbed scanner would be your best compromise without getting into a dedicated, sophisticated film scanner. I've never seriously jumped into this with both feet, but if I did I'd probably first look into silverfast or vuescan software for a bit of a step up with my present scanner and then move up to a more sophisticated flatbed, albeit for more money than I'd like to spend for this project.

And, in closing --- Scanning my roleiflex 2.8f 6 x 6 cm. negs and my father's negs from his old kodak folding bellows camera (dating back to the 1930's) on 620 film with, what I recall, are 6 x 7 cm. frames is a real piece of cake! Great images that I've printed to 11x14 from flatbed scans.

 

[Smudger]

Thank you, good people for all your kind words. The A3+ test dye prints have been framed and shipped off to VFP, with hints that he might acquire a few more ppi in the (flatbed) scanning department. With spot removal. The images are irreplaceable, given that the subjects are now mostly deceased, so we must wring what we can from the negs.

Meantime, the Big Giant Printer is on its way, but won't be commissioned for a few weeks due to work and other annoyances though the somewhat terrific 6850 is getting a hammering.

Now back to our usual programming.