Sean Esopenko

Comparison of Film Scan and Silver Print

May 23, 2011

Theoretically a silver print should be much sharper with more detail than a film scan.  Here are two scans, one directly from the negative with my LS-2000 dedicated film scanner at 2700 dpi.  The other is from a silver print enlarged in the darkroom with a Nikkor 2.8 50mm lens on to Ilford Multigrade RC paper.  The print was scanned with an Epson V700 and downsized from 1200 dpi to about 600 dpi (half the resolution).  The LS-2000 scan wasn’t resolving the shadow detail like the Multigrade RC so I gave it a handicap and boosted up the contrast of the film scan to make it more comparable with the print.

The print still resolves more detail, especially if you look at the spokes of the circular structure.  You can make out almost every spoke while the film scan softens it down due to grain aliasing.  I didn’t want to completely write off 35mm film, despite having such a tough time working with it on the computer.  There is a lot of sharpness to be had by enlarging a 35mm negative in the darkroom.  Mind you, I find 35mm film much more labour intensive to get good prints out of compared to 6×7 and 4×5 film.

Finally, here’s the finished print.  It’s an 8×10 enlargement.

Comments (0) | More: Calgary, My Process, Photography