steadman_uhlich1

First off, I have just purchased a 1160 with Piezography (to arrive

in a few days. Also, I have read hundreds of postings at this site

in order to see if the archives had answers to my question. I have

zero experience with this (Yes I am a newbie) so bear with my first

request. I do appreciate the archive posts as I have already learned

a great deal in the 20+ hours spent reading them. Thanks for sharing

your knowledge and experience..all of you.

I have an upcoming art project (lasting 4 months)which involves

producing 100+ 11x14 (minimum size) B&W archival portraits (close up

headshots) of 100 different 80 year old men.

By archival, I mean that the final result will be going to museum and

state archive (they will prefer archival materials) I have just

purchased a Epson 1160 with

Piezography quad black inks BPS and will use Sommerset Velvet paper

or others for archival prints.

The tough question for me now is what

direction to take on the "capture" of the portrait. My esthetic goal:

I want the details of fine wrinkles and hairs to show in the final

print for sharp detail in B&W.

My first question is: Should I use 35mm or 6x7 format films to

capture the image? My gut tells me to go 6x7 for the "additional

details" which would be useful if I want to enlarge to 13x19" (with

the Piezography set up above I hope to do 100% of printing on the

1160 to keep costs lower) or 16x20" (standard photo prints at a

high priced custom B&W lab.

However, I don't have the budget to do drum scans on all 100

portraits (this is a low budget "art project" for exhibition). So my

concern is that if I take all the photos using 6x7 Medium Format

cameras/film...I will wind up with poor scan quality (and hence final

print quality)using a flat bed scanner (I would purchase one with

1600 DPI 3.2Dmax Epson 1640SU Photo) and use Vuescan (if compatible

with 1640).

If I go with the 35mm route, I would scan on my HP Photosmart S20,

but I am afraid that the ultimate goal of having an archival and

presentable (and possibly "sellable")portrait in 13x19 or 16x20 would

be eliminated as a realistic option because of the limits of scanning

a 35mm film and subsequently enlarging to such a large size. (BTW I

have not yet printed to this size with any scans or this new printer)

I currently have 35mm cameras and a HP Photosmart S20 film scanner. I

will purchase Photoshop 6.O (I have gotten by without it till now)

The real issue for me is that going the 35mm route may be less

expensive up front (as I own the cameras and HP Photosmart) but may

not lead to a good final print at 11x14, 13x19 or 16x20 for

exhibition and sale. The ultimate goal is a "fine art print" quality

archival portrait...and one where reprints can be sold to offset the

costs of the project.

On the other hand, if I go the 6x7 route, I may have a great

negative, but lose all of that detail when scanning on an affordable

$400 1600dpi flatbed scanner. Also, to go 6x7 I would have to spend

about $4,000 to get the desired medium format camera kit.

Please remember, I can not afford to go Drum scan and I have

purchased the Piezography system to eliminate the local B&W custom

lab (in my small town, you are stuck with higher costs on B&W work

and few choices).

I hope to do this "digital darkroom" as much as

possible. Pro PhotoCD at the local proshop is about $10 per scan so

100 subjects x $10 = $1,000. For that amount I would rather buy a

scanner.

Finally, Does anybody scan 6x7 and if so is the file size manageable

in Photoshop (I have been told I will need more than 500mb or RAM on

computer. Is this a "killer"...this large file size? I have a Compaq

600mhz

PIII with CD-RW, DVD, Zip250 and 19" KDS monitor about 128Mb RAM.

P.S. Recommendations on best film (color/BW, trans or neg) for the

scanning? (I know this has been asked before...just asking :)

Any opinion or advice is most welcome. Thanks in advance.

Feel free to reply to my email steadmanuhlich@knology.net if you

prefer.