Best settings for scanning negs-canon 8400f

[jewels]

Hi, I am using a canon 8400f flatbed scanner. If I want to reproduce my color negatives to a 8x10 size, what is my optimal settings? I see under output for 'simple mode' (printing)i s 300 dpi, on advanced it allows up to 2400dpi at 8x10 output size or 3200 dpi on 5x7 size. The file sizes are huge and is this overkill? Can anyone tell me about how big these files sizes should be for having them printed at a photo lab? Thanks for your help!

[ken1953]

I'd be real interested in this also...I have a Microtek Scanmaker 4900. I tried scanning in a b/w photo that was about 1 1/2" x 2" and I wanted to be able to print it out to a nice 8x10...but the file size when set above 300dpi was ridiculous. I'd be interested in knowing how to get a quality 8x10 from a small photo without the oppressive sizes.
Ken

[jewels]

I have read that you multiply size x 300 dpi. So a 4x6 should be scanned at 1200 x 1800 resolution. Well, for a 8 x 10 scanned at 3200 dpi, that's like a 1gb+ file. Am I overlooking something obvious? BTW, I have scanned at 1200 dpi and printed at 8x10 at costco, I think it looks pretty good to my novice eye. (the color was off, but resolution seemed fine) I am just curious as to what other people do and see if there is a general rule of thumb for high res. file sizes. Thanks.

[another view]

The "standard" is to have a printing resolution of 300dpi - so for an 8x10 you will need a 2400dpi scan because a 35mm negative is just about 1" x 1-1/2". You could probably get by just fine at 240dpi which would be a scan of about 1920dpi depending on the image - worth a try. Save them as a jpeg with a little compression (say 10 in Photoshop) and you'll reduce the file size without seeing any real loss of detail. The problem with jpeg compression happens when you keep re-saving the file; this is when you'll start losing too much data. Save it once or twice and you'll be fine. BTW, moving the file to another folder or burning it to a disk has no affect on this, only editing and re-saving in a program like photoshop. The edit can be as simple as rotating the image - you're still re-saving.

Ken, scanning a 1-1/2" x 2" print in hopes of making an 8x10 won't work very well. A print can't hold anywhere near as much detail as a negative. In this case, you wouldn't gain anything to use such a high resolution because there isn't that amount of detail to start with (especially if it's matte paper). I'll bet that you won't see much real difference between a 600dpi scan and a 2400dpi scan with this.

[freygr]

Hi, I am using a canon 8400f flatbed scanner. If I want to reproduce my color negatives to a 8x10 size, what is my optimal settings? I see under output for 'simple mode' (printing)i s 300 dpi, on advanced it allows up to 2400dpi at 8x10 output size or 3200 dpi on 5x7 size. The file sizes are huge and is this overkill? Can anyone tell me about how big these files sizes should be for having them printed at a photo lab? Thanks for your help!

If you are scanning a Color Negative, Scan Just the Negative NOT the whole scanning area. My Nikon film scan scans I believe at 2700 DPI (it's not the highend one) and the files are only about 32 meg, 8 bit per color TIFF, JPG are 1/20th the size for 35mm negatives. I would not use a flatbed scanner for 35mm negatives if I had a choice. I have had good results with 120/620 film with my old Epson 1200U photo but the 35mm sucked big time.