Printing Film Scans

Steven001

Steven001

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Steven
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Hi,

I'm new to film photography and I have a few rolls which were developed by Film Dev a while back. I'm sure I opted for medium scans which are 3091x2048 @ 72DPI. I am only looking to make 6x4 prints but I expected DPI to be higher than 72. Is 72 DPI normal for negative scans and should it produce decent quality 6x4 images?


Regards,
Steven
 
the DPI set in the jpg file doesn't matter one iota for these purposes, same as with digital.

You've 3091 x 2048 dots - around 6 mega-pixels in dijikal terms - and when printed on a standard inkjet you get around 300 dots per inch on the print - so call it 10" x 6.8".

the 72dpi resolution is set for screen display purposes.

6mp is definitely good enough for 10x8 prints, probably fine for 16x10's (as long as the viewing distance is going to be more than a couple of feet away - it MAY not stand up to pixel peeping or examination with a jewellers loupe :) )
 
just to add - if you're scans were taken from 35mm film, they've probably been been scanned at 2000-2400dpi - frame size is 36x24mm or 1.417"x0.944" - which comes out at 2181dpi horizontal and 2169dpi vertical - or, probably more accurately 2000dpi each way, and a degree of "overscan" of the 35mm frame.
 
Just a couple of small things... it should be PPI not DPI (DPI is a printing term).

It is correct that PPI makes not one iota of difference to screen display and 72PPI is actually a myth, it is the pixel dimensions that count... PPI can and does make a difference to the size an image will print. The OP's 3091 x 2048 at 72PPI will physically print at around 42in x 28in... Change the PPI to 300 without resampling and the physical print size then becomes 10in x 6.5in roughly so yes the files will produce good 6in x 4in prints no problem...
 
If you have Photoshop, go to image-size and do as Phil said. Another way that's handy is to use the crop tool after typing in the dimensions and ppi you want, and you can thereby output the exact print-required dimensions for 6x4, ie 1800 px x 1200 px @ 300ppi. Draw out the crop boundary, press enter and you're done.

Having said that, most printers seem to ask for 300 dpi, but not all.

Whilst the image is open, check the tones etc, but this true whatever the image source has been - however your images originated, after being scanned they are digital anyway. And convert to sRGB if they're not already.
 
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If you are printing at home and you are using Lightroom there is no need to export, just go to the print module, select a 6 x 4 template and set the output ppi to 300 for Canon printers or 360 for Epson.

If you are sending them out then the lab will specify what sort and size of file to send them, this is usually 300ppi and in the sRGB colour space...
 
Steven001 said:
Thanks Phil. I am just sending them to Photobox as they're only small prints. I have over 100 photos that I'd like printed, so I'll just export them all at 300ppi from Lightroom and upload them again.
Click to expand...
Check with Photobox what they require ... may be an idea to send just a few in the first place in case you need to make any corrections.
 
Steven001 said:
export them all at 300ppi from Lightroom
Click to expand...
That would be 6" x 4" @ 300 ppi to be meaningful, is that what you meant? That means that the file is exactly right and minimises upload time. That's what I always do. Or at the cost of an upload hit, you could just upload the files at the size they are from the scans, ignoring the ppi but making sure at the print dialogue stage on the website that you are fitting the images to the chosen paper size. Note that your 3091x2048 scans aren't exactly the 3 : 2 proportion of the paper though, so someething would have to give (slightly) ...
 
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