Putting camera shake, camera/lens capability, etc aside.

At what resolution would I need to scan a 35mm neg that would allow me to touch it up in Photoshop, output it TO a 35mm neg, then be able to take that neg into my darkroom and produce a high quality print as if from the original neg.

Would a Kodak Pro Scan fullfill this "need"? Overkill? Recommendations?

Assumptions: 100 speed film and 11x14" print size.

It's an old dull question I'm sure, but thanks everyone for the input!

-- Douglas Turner (dturner@mercuryadvisors.com), July 22, 1999

Answers

In order to make the second 35mm negative extremely close to the first you would need to use an extremely expensive scanner (a $25,000 drum scanner, for example, with 4000-6000 dpi capability) as well as an extremely expensive film recorder for the digital image (I don't even know an brands here).

But the problem is really with getting the image off the film and back on to 35mm film again, not making a print which is nearly identical to an 11 X 14 color print (so called "C-print"). You can scan a negative at the highest resolution of a reasonable desktop negative scanner (I like the Nikon Coolscan 2000) and output it to a six-color inkjet (I use an Epson Photo 1200) and produce an 11 X 14 print which is virtually indistinguishable (to all but trained eyes) from a C-print. There are, of course, even better kinds of printers but they are not as low cost. The solution I mention about costs less than $2000 (plus the cost of a computer and Adobe Photoshop) and truly rivals the output of a darkroom in quality.

- Eric

-- Eric Somers (somers@sandbook.com), July 24, 1999.