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Archive 2015 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?

  
 
Mpking
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


I'm planning on making this a canvas print to hang in my house. I was thinking 30x40". It was shot on fuji velvia 100 and the resolution of the scan is about 4200x3300 (slight crop) and was scanned by the lab (NCPS). It will be viewed from about 5-8 feet away. Will I notice any problems with printing this on canvas this big? I'm mostly a digital shooter, just dabbling in film a bit so I've never printed any film scans this big before. Thanks in advance!

16020020 by Mpknwa, on Flickr



Apr 06, 2015 at 10:05 PM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


If the image is in fact sharp, and you have the right scan, you can do pretty much as big as you want. I would make an 8000 ppi drum scan and go from there.


Apr 06, 2015 at 11:12 PM
John Webb
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


+1
For canvas that can be viewed within 4-5 ft I like resolution of 200 ppi. So a 40" print would require 8000 ppi drum scan



Apr 07, 2015 at 08:05 AM
John Caldwell
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


Since only the center is in focus, make a representative small print of an in-focus area that, when translated to your 40" canvas, will be sized correctly. View that small print from your 5-8 foot distance. This will give you and idea how much detail will be reprinted in your full-size 40" canvas print. This is a general procedure to be followed when testing how a given print size will translate when stretching a file (or film exposure).

Start with your low-res file, and move up to a drum scan if it's truly warranted. Remember that the drum scan will only pull out additional detail if that detail is actually present in the transparency.

If you are seriously concerned about preserving sharp detail, canvas is an odd choice for your printing medium, in my mind. If detail is not what this is about, and the painterly quality of canvas suits your requirement, I doubt you'll need every last pixel for your print.

John Caldwell



Apr 07, 2015 at 11:01 AM
kdphotography
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


Breathing Color Lyve, which I use when printing on canvas, is a finely toothed canvas and actually does pretty well at showing details. www.carmelfineartprinting.com

There is a bit of subjectivity involved here, and some will depend on the actual quality of the scan that you have and details of the subject matter. As a fine art printer, I love seeing more resolution. I am not one that subscribes to "viewing distances." But I think you might be surprised how well your current file is able to print at larger sizes.

ken



Apr 07, 2015 at 11:48 AM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


I recently re-scanned a piece of transparency 35mm for a well known fine art photographer in the Monterey Bay area, and the difference between 4000 dpi on his Nikon scanner and 4000 dpi on my Howtek was quite visible. The same thing happened a couple of years ago re-scanning a 6x7 Velvia for the Natural History Museum here in L.A. - where they had an 8000 dpi drum scan (Crossfield) done at Crush but were simply not happy with the resulting print. I rescanned it at 8000 on the Howtek and the differences were again, very apparent. All this goes to say that if you have a very sharp original, it does make a difference in how it is scanned, especially if you're going big. The Noritsu (or Fuji) scan you currently have most likely will leave considerable resolution still hiding in your transparency.


Apr 07, 2015 at 02:05 PM
kdphotography
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


The quality of the scan determines the level of output quality. I'd take the pixels from Peter's Howtek any day.

ken



Apr 07, 2015 at 03:15 PM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


Well, so would I but I'm biased. Next time I'm in Monterey/Carmel, which should be soon, I'll drop in and say hi. Grew up there and still have quite a few friends in the area.


Apr 07, 2015 at 03:44 PM
Mpking
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


John Caldwell wrote:
Since only the center is in focus, make a representative small print of an in-focus area that, when translated to your 40" canvas, will be sized correctly. View that small print from your 5-8 foot distance. This will give you and idea how much detail will be reprinted in your full-size 40" canvas print. This is a general procedure to be followed when testing how a given print size will translate when stretching a file (or film exposure).

Start with your low-res file, and move up to a drum scan if it's truly warranted. Remember that the drum scan will
...Show more

I rather like this idea for it's simplicity and quick turn around. I'll give it a try and get a drum scan if it's needed. Thanks!



Apr 07, 2015 at 04:15 PM
Greg Campbell
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


Do you happen to know what sort of scanner they used?
DPI means nothing w/o decent hardware.
How much did you pay for the scan? If it was only a few bucks...

IMO, from that distance a crisp 35mm E6 image should look very good.

I've printed a few E6 scans from my dedicated FS4000 at similar effective resolution (a smaller print, but viewed from closer range) and have been very happy w. the results.



Apr 10, 2015 at 02:57 PM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


The scanners they use at North Coast are either Fuji or Noritsu - both about the same quality - good enough for a lot of stuff and for scanning negs, but not as great when it comes to pulling that last bit of detail out of a very sharp piece of film.

I'm just as surprised at how bad some of my old film images are as how incredibly good other are when scanned at 4000-8000 on the drum scanner. The images that are really sharp are really impressive at any size and in many ways are better than even the latest digital cameras. What I find is that I missed focus by just a very small amount on a lot of old film shots, but only enough to see on a super high res scan or through a microscope but not on a half page magazine illustration. Hell, back in the day, no one every scanned at the maximum res of their drum scanners, so you rarely if ever challenged the entire imaging system. Today, we're just hyper critical, or are trying to make really large prints from small pieces of film.



Apr 10, 2015 at 08:36 PM
Greg Campbell
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


Yea, you need to have a truly crisp image. If there's the slightest hint of camera shake, focus error, etc., anything beyond 2K dpi is wasted. OTOH, combine a fine grain film and sharp image, and 4K won't quite get it all.


Apr 10, 2015 at 11:12 PM
kdphotography
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


Peter Figen wrote:
Well, so would I but I'm biased. Next time I'm in Monterey/Carmel, which should be soon, I'll drop in and say hi. Grew up there and still have quite a few friends in the area.


Come on by, Peter. The Carmel area is a great place to visit!

ken



Apr 11, 2015 at 12:08 AM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · How Big Can I Print a Velvia Scan?


Ken - I will. I lived there for 26 years. We probably have mutual friends.


Apr 11, 2015 at 01:23 AM





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