First 645N hi-res scans came back today from North Coast Photo in Carlsbad, California. Here's a comparison test with similar hi-res scans from a Nikon FM3a, and with an original 10 MB JPG from a digital Olympus XZ-1. The viewing angle of all three images was roughly the same -- 28mm-35mm equivalent in 35mm camera terms.
My take -- the scan from the larger Pentax negative is much better than the scan from the Nikon... although, if I'd used ISO 100 film in the Nikon, the results would have been closer. The XZ-1 delivers a nice image (sharpened in-camera), but from a far smaller 'negative' size. The crops below are at 100% from the originals -- no sharpening, contrast-editing, or color enhancement. As to Photoshop, the large Pentax scan is PERFECT for digital enhancement, cropping, and high-pass sharpening. It's a Happy New Year!
Last edited by jon404; 01-03-2013 at 05:20 PM.