E6 process and scan 120

[ojwk]

Hello,

I recently got a cheap agfa isolette from eBay and have been thinking about how to get the film processed and scanned.

After a bit of googling the best I could find was a company called Spectrum who do a process and scan for £9.60 (ex. VAT).
Great value, but I think the scan is only 300dpi which isn't ideal as I think this would result in a 900x900 file (not sure though).

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a lab (preferably in London) that isn't too expensive but would scan at a higher resolution than 300dpi.

Many thanks,


ojwk

 

[freecom2]

Tried Genie Online Images? They are based in South London. It's £8.90 for Dev+Scan 120 E6, although I believe that's excluding VAT.

300dpi will be larger then that.

 

[ojwk]

Thanks a lot. What kind of resolution would a 12MB /300dpi jpg be do you reckon?

The jpgs from my 10MP dslr are usually around 3MB but I expect this is because of a lot of clever compression.

Still it does seem strange that a 300dpi scan should be 12MB and only 900x900 pixels large?

 

[freecom2]

Is it this Spectrum? http://www.spectrumphotolabs.co.uk/content/col_film_proc_cont.htm

If so, where does it say about dpi of the scans?

I'm not really too hot on the whole dpi/pixels business, I'm sure someone else more knowledgeable can step in.

For the record, the scans I got from Fuji Digital Imaging in Burnley were 3000x2000, 400dpi and came to less than 2MB for each jpg.

 

[ojwk]

Wow, thats ideal.

For spectrum http://www.spectrumphotolabs.co.uk/content/dig_scan.htm

Just says 'reproduction quality 300dpi'. As you rightly point out, under 'Film Scanned at Time of Processing' they don't give a dpi number though. I'm only assuming that they scan at the same dpi for film scanned at time of processing and afterward.

 

[freecom2]

Just email them and ask what resolution they scan to - most labs are quite good with communication.

 

[s162216]

Forget about the DPI value and look the resolution of the scans.

The 300 dpi value is meaning that when the images are printed at 300 dpi (which is the standard resolution of most modern photo printers) from the scans then they will be of equal quality to the negative. Because of the 300 dpi printing resolution, you only need about a 6 megapixel file to print to 10" x 8". It actually sort of says this on Spectrum's site if you look under "Colour Film Processing & Contact Prints" (Not "Digital Scanning" where I think you must have got the 300 dpi figure). It says that the files are suitable for prints up to 10" x 8".

With your 6x6 cm negatives then 6 megapixels is equal to about 2449 x 2449 pixels (this is a very rough estimate o.k) which is the same as scanning at about 1020 dpi. Remember that because medium format is bigger you have to scan at a lower DPI to get the same resolution file.

If you look here at another labs information on scanning then this will give you a better idea. Pretty much everywhere uses Noritsu scanning equipment so about the same information should apply to nearly anywhere.

http://www.the-darkroom.co.uk/frames/Areference2011.html

BTW, £9.95 is quite a good price for 120 E6 dev and scan at that resolution even when excluding VAT.