Scanning negatives v enlarged prints from negatives

[andya700]

I recently came across some old Cibachrome prints (10 x 8), taken from Kodachrome 64 and 25 over thirty years ago. The quality is very good indeed, and colours have so much saturation.
Am I correct in thinking that scanning negatives in order to produce images for printing will not beat the quality of prints made from enlarged negatives?
What is the best route to take for making largish prints from film?

 

[Fixedwheelnut]

I had loads of my family's old slides and negatives and prints to scan so invested in an Epson V500 very pleased with it and the quality of scans, some of the colour slides were faded orange and the colour restoration software did a brilliant job at getting them back.
A bit pricey but for me a worthwhile investment.

I still use a 35mm film Canon AE-1 camera nad the quality of negative scans is much better than the quality of CD's you get from the processors, also I can scan and get the full negative, a pet hate of mine is where processors crop off the edge of the negative when printing.

Epson V500 on e-buyer

edit to add, examples in this thread here http://talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=261008

 

[EdMoss]

Depends on how large you want to go, and how much you want to spend.

I scan my 5x4 negs on a V700 just to get a contact or put it on the web.
If I want a print done I get it drum scanned which is unbeatable for quality and clarity. You also then have the option then of putting the file through Photoshop if you want to make a few final corrections.

 

[Thmaga]

I recently came across some old Cibachrome prints (10 x 8), taken from Kodachrome 64 and 25 over thirty years ago. The quality is very good indeed, and colours have so much saturation.
Am I correct in thinking that scanning negatives in order to produce images for printing will not beat the quality of prints made from enlarged negatives?
What is the best route to take for making largish prints from film?

That's the general opinion of most people, though if I remember correctly, the last place in the UK to do Ciba prints has or is about to replace the service with a Digital process involving scanning the slides instead, which they claim to be of equal or better quality.
Thinking about it now, I might go see if I can get some Ciba prints done of a few of my K64 slides.

 

[s162216]

There are other services doing ciba prints, but the one from BDP Imaging is unfortunately going shortly although its still around at the moment. Their prices were certainly cheaper than the other few services remaining that I found:

http://www.owenboyd.com/Prices.htm

This does however include dodging, burning etc for free in the cost as their hand printed, I don't think BDP Imaging includes that but having used their service its certainly good.

You can actually still get Ciba paper and chemicals but its expensive, about £50 for the chemistry and another £50 for 25 10"x8" sheets of paper.

The reason that your cibia prints would have had so much saturation is because its works by using pure azo dyes by the dye destruct process so there can be greater luminosity compared to a standard ra-4 negative print, plus this gives them an excellent archival life.