[ChipB]

I've recently spent quite a bit of time taking digital photos of old family slides and have a question about printing the resulting images.

*Assuming* (and don't we love to assume things!) the following things:
-- the original slide is 45-60 years old
-- the original slide was properly exposed
-- the digital image is properly exposed
-- the digital image is a jpeg at highest quality level
-- the digital image is about 85-90% of the original
-- photos are taken with a K200D

I'd like to get an idea of how large a good quality print could be before using a bunch of expensive ink and paper. Do you think an 8x10 would be doable?

Thanks for any opinions.

[Confused]

Hi Chip

....whilst not forgetting to ask if....

-- the original transparency is/was sharply focussed ????

On the rare occasions I actually need to scan slides or negatives nowadays, I personally use a high quality Minolta Scanner when capturing 35mm transparencies. The model I use fortunately takes a 6 x 35mm slide adaptor mechanism to speed up batch processing. However, the resulting files are generally pretty large, by comparison with the size produced from a standard K10D Jpeg etc.

As you may be aware, there are also some excellent flatbed scanners on the market from Epson, Canon and others etc which can handle film sizes up to and including 5" x 4", but the better quality ones are not what can exactly be described as cheap !
A less costly method might simply be to use a reasonable film projector to throw your slides onto a smooth white non-reflective surface (keeping the image perfectly parallel to that surface) and then to photograph the resulting enlarged image with your camera mounted on a solid tripod ?

I suspect that in order to maintain colour consistency between all your various transparencies, you will need to establish some kind of de facto standard with which you are are satisfied. I assume you must presently be illuminating these slides with a light source of some description and so the issue of colour temperature then enters into the equation. This is more easily discussed than achieved, so maybe others more knowledgeable than I can help you in this respect.

Therefore it might help other forum members to assist you a little more if you explained which technique you are using to digitally photograph your transparencies ?

Best regards
Richard

[Big Dave]

Chip,
Since they were most likeky taken with a slide copier on a K200D, You would treat them just like any other JPG image taken with your camera. 8x10 should be fine.

Dave

I've recently spent quite a bit of time taking digital photos of old family slides and have a question about printing the resulting images.

*Assuming* (and don't we love to assume things!) the following things:
-- the original slide is 45-60 years old
-- the original slide was properly exposed
-- the digital image is properly exposed
-- the digital image is a jpeg at highest quality level
-- the digital image is about 85-90% of the original
-- photos are taken with a K200D

I'd like to get an idea of how large a good quality print could be before using a bunch of expensive ink and paper. Do you think an 8x10 would be doable?

Thanks for any opinions.

[ChipB]

Richard, thanks for the info on the scanners - in my case, however, that's like locking the door after the horse is gone. As I stated, I've already photographed the slides. Good idea about explaining how I did it.......

I'd originally used the Pentax Bellows II with a 50mm f2.0 (at f8.0) Pentax Super Takumar lens and the Pentax Slide Copier to actually hold the slide. Unfortuanately, this set-up didn't give me the results I wanted - because of the FOV factor on my DSLR (*ist DS) I was unable to get a picture of the whole slide. On a side note - I actually first tried using the Spiratone Slide Duplicator I've owned for decades but had the same FOV problem.

So, after a LOT of experimentation, I ended up using an SMC Pentax 28mm f2.8 lens (at f8.0) with a 20mm extension tube (by this time I'd upgraded to a K200D - same FOV though) and still used the Pentax Slide Copier to actually hold the slide. Worked out pretty good - final image was just slightly larger than the slide. For lighting, I used a desk lamp with a "cone" style head positioned behind the slide copier and set the camera for tungston lighting.

One of the limiting factors with all this was the slide copier - it only connects (without modifications I didn't want to do) to a lens with a 49mm filter size - I only had 3 lenses I could test with.

Anyway, interesting project - once I got all the bits and pieces figured out, I was pretty much a piece of cake. Except, of course, for the slides that weren't properly exposed or that had faded because of age.

Bid Dave, thanks for the input, I'll give the 8x10 setting a try.

[HGMonaro]

Check the cropped (I imagine you are going to crop any extra stuff around the edges first!) images pixel dimensions. Divide by 300 and that's about what it will print to. For example, if the cropped image ends up being 3000 pixels wide, dividing by 300 gives 10". You might be able to make a bit bigger, just depends on file quality and your viewing standards.

Cheers, Nige

[ChipB]

Thanks Nige, appreciate the info.