Now that you can get a medium format film camera and lens at a fraction of the original cost, I was curious about whether it's more trouble than it's worth to digitize that format for post processing work. Is the resolution of the medium format film better than today's DSLR sensors and worth the trouble to retrieve?
If so, what is the best way to go about it. Scan the negative or print? Is a scanner capable of retrieving all that information cost prohibitive and should be an outsourced job, or can they be purchased at your local high-end printer/scanner store?
Just curious and didn't know what other forum to ask...thanks for any info anyone can share. I don't get all the latest photo magazines or books so I'm kinda out of the loop in case this has all been hashed out before..
Shoot slide file and scan from there . With the right scanner you can get 60-80mb 8 bit files which are fine for stock or publication . I shoot 6x4.5 and 6x7 but mostly digital .
Nikon scanner is fine but the Epson leaves a lot to be desired . Epson is ok for small prints but not worthwhile for print or stock usage . Also look at the Imacon scanners but they start around 3K and go up .
I'm still using both a Mamiya RZ67 and a 4x5 when I really need more detail in 30x40 and 40x50 prints than my 5D can provide. At that, it takes drum scanning to make the difference worth the hassle of using film at all--and a drum scan runs me about $80 USD per frame...something I do only when the client is worth it.
And scanning is an entirely separate craft in itself...one I don't have time to learn to do myself.
