Scan Resolution

[gabefredrick]

If I want to enlarge a scanned negative (120) to print 8x10 (or larger), is it better to produce an output file from the scanner at the final print size I want, or scan the neg at a 100% scale and then enlarge to my desired size in photoshop?

Thoughts?

Thanks

[sf]

If you scan the neg at 100% scale, you'll have a very small file...unless you scan at a very high resolution.

Generally, I scan the negative at the highest possible resoution - in case I want to print later at a larger size - and this produces 80MB files for B&W and 200MB+ files for color. Printing to 13x19 is done well at this size. That amounts to 3000dpi over a 645 frame.

I guess, I would tend to scan at the highest true optical resolution your scanner will do, and then resize (using the appropriate algorithm) the image to the printing size (dimensions and pringtin resolution.

If you try to have the scanner produce just what you need for the printing process, determine the DPI you want to print at, the color depth, and the print size, and then input those in the desired output file parameters. Might be 8x10, 16bit per channel RGB, 300dpi.