Originally posted by jbrowning So i got my zx-5 and am wondering about what type of film to use and how to get these images into my laptop to be editted with photoshop and Paintshoppro. I will be wanting to get high quality prints off these photos to post on my website and sell probably as large at 11x14 prints. I will only be shooting in 35mm film but I will be shooting both black and white and color.
Should I be getting the film for prints or slides?
Should I scan a print or negative or slide?
Which scanner is best for the above techniques?
Thanks
Jim
Jim
I changed over from film in 2003, but even before that, back as far as 2000, I wanted digital images of my shots.
What I did at the time, was to get a Minolta Dimage II Scanner. This is a USB connected device, with 40 bit color depth, and 2880 dpi, creating a 10MP image.
It came with carriers that could take a strip of 6 negatives at a time, or 4 mounted slides.
Over the period of 30 months, this scanned approximately 20,000 images. Durability of the unit amazed me as this is not a production unit.
There are similar scanners from others, and Minolta is sadly no more. But go for a good scanner, dedicated to film. I have not been impressed with flat bed scanners with film attachments, maybe others can comment to this point.
As a second possibility, many processing stores will also scan for you. There is one near me in toronto (that does not help you) that will scan for $1 per strip, plus $6 for the photo CD. Note that $1 per strip is any strip, up to 40 shots. they recommend simply don't cut the negs apart.
Other stores also will provide photo CDs of film, but I got badly burnt in this area once. They use 600 x 480 resolution for printing 4x5 and as a result, that is the resolution I got on the CD. Make sure you can specify the resolution if you are having a store scan them.
Film may be easier to get processed than slide, but you have to decide what you want based on images. Film generally has better exposure lattitude than slides, and you may be able to do more with the images from film