Film to digital workflow

<p>I am exploring how best to get back into film photography after 6 years of digital. My main motivation is that I find the handling characteristics of digital cameras far inferior to those of 'modern' film cameras. Topics like the viewfinder, speed of focusing, bulk, etc come to mind.<br>

So, if I take rolls of 35mm color negative film (probably what I am most likely to use) do I mail them to a service that scans them and sends me a CD? That seems best to me, because I do not want to explore the intricacies of scanning my own negatives at this point, not to mention the equipment investment. What do I look for in a service like that? Are their scanners capable of making good files with sufficient dynamic range and sharpness? Can someone recommend a good service , price not too important.<br>

Now, I don't want to get into drum scans. I infer that those are obtained for the one or two really wonderful negatives that one might get from a roll, but not the routine scan in a normal workflow.<br>

I am confident that once I have decent digital files in hand, I can use my digital experience to carry things the rest of the way. But, a question that is suggested by my decisions about RAW versus JPEG from my digital cameras, is: is there anything such as a RAW scan file? Or how is the color profile, etc of a scan done by a service, on a particular type of film negative, determined?</p>

<p>Check with the services to see what resolution of scan they provide. The default is usually only good enough for a 4 x 6 print. Most of them will scan at a higher resolution if requested - for a higher fee, of course. Some services will provide a 16 bit TIFF, others only do 8 bit JPEG.</p>

<p>You don't need a 16 bit TIFF unless they are black and white scans. But I would insist to get at least a 32mb RGB TIFF of your color negatives. 50mb if possible. I used to get Kodak Photo CD's made in the late 1990s when I found a local company that offered them for $1 each. They were OK scans, as good as I could get as I had no access to a Nikon film scanner. And back then storage was a real issue. I remember I had 100mb Zip disks that could only fit a few Nikon film scanner scans on them at a time. And carrying an external hard drive to school wasn't the most convenient thing to do.</p>

<p>I'd try to find a local company to scan your negs that way you can talk with them over the counter and ask questions if needed, and avoid having to ship off your work hoping it won't get lost in the mail.</p>

<p>I think a place like Walmart would be able to process, scan, and print photos quite cheaply. The scans would probably then be available online for download. I use them for 120 size C-41 development, but not for scanning. They send just send the film to a Fuji Lab for 120 size, possibly also for 35 mm.</p>

<p>North Coast Photographic Services, of Ken rockwell fame is what you seek. Check his site for sample scans. I would suggest slide film, as it scans cleaner, sharper, with less grain and higher resolution, but either way, they should be able to get you the scans you need.<br>

http://www.northcoastphoto.com/</p>

<p> http://www.northcoastphoto.com/Ken_Rockwell_Scans.pdf</p>

<p>Richard Photo Lab is where many pros, including myself, send their C41 for processing and scanning.</p>

<p>I'll second the Richard Photo Lab recommendation. They are a notch above the others mentioned here!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>You don't need a 16 bit TIFF unless they are black and white scans</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Just to debate the above: I would stick to 16 bit per channel, red, green and blue channel tiff (sometimes called 48 bit tiff) for <em>everything</em> you get scanned. Preferably unsharpened and with histogram "untweaked".</p>

<p>I've heard good things about ScanCafe.</p>

ScanCafe is excellent, but there are scanning film archives. Turnaround too slow for shooters.

<p>Many thanks for all the answers and comments. The consensus seems to be that scans done by a lab in 'high resolution' (whatever they offer that's better than standard) might be good enough for printing to make the whole thing worthwhile. I will try a couple of places, and try to find a local service who help by answering questions,etc. I think a total of something like $20 for a scanned and developed roll of 36mm slide film might be sustainable.<br>

Is this what many film users do? Or does one want to migrate soon to doing the scanning at home?</p>