Film to digital images - help!!

[chocolic]

I still use film and have my negatives scanned to digital images. Not the most efficent way to do things but I cant rationalize buying a digital camera until I can afford a good slr. Anyway, I usually mail my film off to have this done since there are no decent labs around here. I was late taking my family photo for christmas however so I took my roll to the local shop. the files are really small compared to what i am used to. 11115 x 1630 and 1072 x 1759 are two file sizes in pixels for example. Isnt this really low resolution? If I know how it works that is less than 300 dpi scanning, right? I am used to my files being 1.5 - 2 mb in size and the largest one on here is 255kb!

Also there are some weird spots on the images - almost look like waterspots but i see nothing on the negatives themselves. Unfortunately they are right across our faces on the best pictures and I am having a hard time photoshopping it out. You can see them across the boys' faces below. I printed some of these out and even the wallet sized images are grainy looking. I used 800 speed film since i didnt want to use a flash, so I expected some grain. Also since I knew these would be small prints, i figured it wouldnt be such a problem. I printed out 7 different variations - sharpened, softened, lightened, b&w, & sepia to try to get a good print but nothing looks good.

For those of you that know how neg scanning works, do you think there is a way to correct the weird blotches? If I ask them to rescan, what kind of resolution should I ask for? THANKS!

[Photo-John]

Those marks on the kids' faces are called newton rings. They are nearly impossible to remove digitally. But they are a very good reason to ask for all the scans to be redone. They are an error on the part of the lab. Ask them what the maximum scanning resolution they offer is. I would want them scanned at about 3500 pixels on the long dimension. I was just looking at some of my old slide scans and that's about how bif I used to do them.

[chocolic]

Thank you. I just called the lab and they offered to rescan. I explained what Newton rings were and she had no clue what they were. She said she could rescan them but couldnt guarantee them to be any better unless they were sent out instead of doing them onsite. Why offer a service if you cant do it right? ggrr. Thanks again!!!

[Photo-John]

Newton rings are really hard to eliminate, too. If you have a problem with them, it's very, very hard to get keep them from happening. I used to work at a lab and sometimes they'd happen when we printed film with a glass carrier. We had all kinds of tricks to get rid of them. But sometimes it was best to just give up and wait for a less humid day.

[mwfanelli]

Thank you. I just called the lab and they offered to rescan. I explained what Newton rings were and she had no clue what they were. She said she could rescan them but couldnt guarantee them to be any better unless they were sent out instead of doing them onsite. Why offer a service if you cant do it right? ggrr. Thanks again!!!

Newton's rings are caused by the difference in position between the film and the glass mounts holding it. Light gets bounced off the glass and the film surfaces slightly out of phase causing interference. You can use glassless mounts (eliminate the multiple surfaces) or use "anti-Newton" glass that sometimes works (diffuse reflection).

[chocolic]

Thanks everyone. I took my negs back and showed them my prints. They said they had never seen them before so hopefully that means they usually dont have them and my new scan will be better.