wrote:
> I am confused as to the best options to choose when having slides
> scanned by a professional scanning firm in Tiff format
>
Thats the bulkiest but loss less.
> Firstly, there is a choice of resolutions - 1350, 2700 or 4000 dpi.
> Secondly, the choice is either 8-bit or 16 bit.
>
1350 is a waste of time no quality at all - good for web pages.
2700 is good and a minimum figure to aim for.
4000 is the best but may start to show grain in the film where 2700
smoothes out the grain.
I had a 2700dpi scanner this gave top results to do most anything now
have a 4800dpi scanner and still think the 2700dpi better in some respects.
Most printers only print in 8 bit so 16 bit becomes pointless. Image
manipulation is mainly 8 bit.
> I am aiming to have prints made from the scans after they have been
> edited - mostly 5"x7" - possibly some larger, up to 8"x10".
>
Printing nowadays with digital prints either inkjet or chemical - 2700
would be sufficient. Still look at the opportunity to crop images when
editing and leave yourself some pixels to play with.
> It has been suggested to me that for 5x7" prints there is no point in
> going higher than 1350 dpi/8bit as the quality will be very good at
> this level
>
Translated makes sense for a 5x7 - But NO you will miss lots of
information at 1350dpi and the scans look crook - so will the prints.
Most printers only print in 8 bit so its not much point in going to 16 bit
> I will be grateful if I could have an explanation as to the size of
> print for which each of the different scanning quality combinations
> would be most suitable.
>
The standard quotation is 300dpi for the size which to print to - but
this is not strictly true for a digitised file its about half that. But
digital camera image will print better than a scanned film image.
> Denis Boisclair
> Cheshire, England
>