I just discovered that we have this local magazine and bought the current issue. So happy to find a local community I can ask questions :Grin:

I have a number of developed rolls of films - negatives - that I would like to scan / digitize. From the services commercially available, e.g., Floroforto branches, FujiFilm brnaches, others, that do scan negatives, which one has the equipment / scanner that produces high resolution scanned images?

I'm a neophyte and my objective is to have the best possible resolution for my archive files. What is a good resolution if I would like to be able to later print size A4 to 60in x 40in 9if such is possible)?

Instead of buying a personal scanner which I may not use that much, I am consdiring just having my negatives scanned to preserve them. I am reseraching the photolab equipment of Kodak and FujiFilm on their websites to get information on what resolution they produce. If I know what the store is using, I might understand the resolution it can produce. For example, the FujiFilm shop in 3rd Floor Glorietta uses a Frontier 340. Hay, too much technical detail for me.

If there is a resource (book, website, whatever) that will help me understand these things and make the choices appropriate to my objectives, that would really be helpful.

Thanks.

Hi Maricar,

To get enough resolution to make 8x10/A4 prints from your scans, any of the one-hour photo stores you mentioned should be able to give you hi-res scans with enough data. Trouble is, you'd have to make sure that they understand you need Hi-res scans. Most Noritsu machine operators will default to the lower-res "Base 8" scan, since the "Base 16" will take 2x as long, or worse.

One Hour Photo Stores use the film scanner that is part of the Digital Minilab Machine, and these work horses are integral to the equipment. In fact, these are the same scanners they will use if you enter a film job for developing & printing. After processing your neg, they scan the un-cut roll onto the control computer and do density and minor color corrections before making prints.

Another option is to go to a Pro Lab that has an dedicated film scanner. Usually this is offline, and not used for daily production. One of the fastest in the market is the Kodak HR500 which will scan 35mm, 120/220 negs and slides. Here are some labs that have this equipment:

General Photo Express, G/F Glorietta (towards Landmark)

DPI Photo Center, 2/F Astoria Plaza, Escriva Drive, Ortigas Center
Pasig

Professional Image Works / Pro Lab, 3/F Fox Square Bldg.,
Connecticut St, Greenhills, San Juan (Building with Conti's resto at
the ground floor).

Other Pro Labs also have offline Hi Res scanners, more often than not, a Nikon Coolscan which allows for 135, 120 neg & positive films.

Pro Labs that have this equpment include:

Studio 58 Lab 10, Unit C, Karrivin Plaza, Pasong Tamo Ext. (near Prestige Cars BMW), Makati City

JT Photoworld, Worldaire Bldg., Chino Roces Ave (near Phil Daily Inquired) Brgy Tinajeros, Makati City

Fans Digital Imaging, G/F Atlanta Center, Annapolis St., Greenhills San Juan

Hope this helps!

Cheers!

Edwin

Hi Maricar and welcome to our forum.

FYI, Edwin Hermoso is one of the best guys from Kodak so you are getting rock solid advice. He always kindly shares information with the members of this forum.

To give you another idea idea about resolution, you should think about this:
Many consider 300 ppi (pixels per inch) as the optimal resoulution for prints. Some photo labs can work lower than this, but 300 ppi is a very safe number for most digital applications.resolution. So lets say that you want a print that is 8 inches across and 10 inches down, 8x10. That means you need to scan your negative so that you end up with 2400 pixels across and 3,000 pixels down.

Hope this helps.

Minilab scans only at 72 dpi for CD archiving, I guess the pro labs like DPI and Studio 58 can do it for you at 300 dpi or better yet for those that you need to blow up to large prints have it drum scanned by studio 58 400.00 + 150.00 cleaning.

Studio 58! :) Give them two thumbs up! (Three if i had an extra one)

They can give you 8x10 resolution scans, just had some 120 film scanned the past week and another set earlier today :)

how much to have a 36 exposures b/w scanned at studio 58?

But what about the print dimensions? :D

A file that is 8"x10" at 300dpi is the same as a file 33.33"x41.66" at 72dpi.

Minilab scans only at 72 dpi for CD archiving, I guess the pro labs like DPI and Studio 58 can do it for you at 300 dpi or better yet for those that you need to blow up to large prints have it drum scanned by studio 58 400.00 + 150.00 cleaning.

Almost similar question: Is it always a rule to have all pictures or album layout printed in 300dpi? What happens when all the layout output to be printed is only in 72dpi? Will there be a huge difference compared to 300dpi?

Thanks for this newbie inquiry. :D

Nope. Actually, as Nick likes to point out, ppi and dpi aren't one and the same.

Anyway, an image will appear to have poor image quality when printed if it only has a resolution of 72ppi. However, this also depends on the application. Images for billboards aren't at 300dpi. Their resolution is a lot lower. But how close can you get to a billboard anyway?

I am currently working on an album layout at 200ppi (although I could probably bring it down as low as 150ppi).

Oh.. ok. Thanks a lot Jo, for the assistance. I think I will also experiment on different output of each possible resolution.

@ Jeruel

No problem. Check out the link below for more info:

http://www.tildefrugal.net/photo/dpi.php