HAPPY

hopefully someone can help me here!!!

if i take pictures with my 35mm slr and then get the films developed by kodak and order a cd rom of my pics, what size and quality will the pics be? ( in relation to megapixal quality of a digi )

the reason i am asking is that i really like my 5 megapixal konica kdz500 digi. i love its small size etc and intended using my slr for events such as the rallycar day at castle combe.
the truth is digi is so user friendly that i dont buy films any more and so dont use the slr!
but the zoom ( 3x optical ) is no good for the action on track shots.
my thoughts now are to either buy another digi but would need to spend loadsa money to get slr, or use film and get a cd rom each time.
the cost of extra films woould be far cheaper than an digi slr for the little i would use it!
so!!!
what size would those files be?

pete

Diablo

Pete,

I use a local kodak lab for developing pics from 35mm film and get a CD done at the same time. You get various resolutions. The Average file size is around 1,000KB.

Dunno what that relates to in megapixels.

Resolution is good.

I'll try and upload a pic as an example.

D

Diablo

Bugger - photopic not working.

I'll email you one.

Size is 1536 by 1024

D

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Kodak Photo CD info here

According to the FAQ, the highest resolution on a normal Photo CD is 2048 x 3072, or 6.3MP. If that's not enough, you can have a Photo CD Pro disc made which also offers 4096 x 6144, or 25MP.

In both cases, the limiting factor is likely to be the sharpness of your lens or the movement caused by hand-holding.

Andy.

ozzy

Andy,

Can you explain why the picture would vary in size with a 35mm scanned onto CD?

If I use my digi-cam, I preset the resolution and every shot will be the same.

If a picture is taken on 35mm, won't (or shouldn't) the resolution be the same for every picture since it's using up the same physical space on the film.

Or is it to do with how the film is scanned?

Stefan

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

The ultimate level of detail captured by the film depends on the grain of the film and the quality of your lens.

You can, however, scan the film at whatever resolution you like. If you scan at too low a resolution, you'll miss out on details that may be present on the negative. Scan at too high a resolution, though, and you'll be wasting space - it'll just let you see how fuzzy the lens is, or how grainy the film.

A Photo CD's top resolution of 6MP will be fine for most purposes; any more than that will increase your storage and processing needs but won't resolve any more detail. You're shooting fast action - you don't have time to set up each shot carefully on a tripod, wait for the wind to die down, use a remote release and so on, which would be required to get the kind of ultra-sharp image that might benefit from a higher resolution scan.

ian_sadler

IIRC a 35mm neg at 100ISO 'ish should be the equivalent res. of a 17MegPix camera.

Also I find stills to be much easier to use in the fast action world of motor sport for example (or I could just be old fashioned )

Toonman1

The industry default scan setting is 300dpi. That's what images used in books, magazines etc are scanned at. Some publishers go higher, but it's unusual these days. It's the level at which the Human eye sees an image as a continuous tone.

Some processing companies put several scans of each pic, at varying resolutions, onto disk for the customer. The cheaper ones often do just the one - 72dpi, which's fine for on screen use, but may not be for print.

DPI + Physical image size = overall quality. Many make the mistake of taking their Digi photo straight from the camera, at say 24"x16"@72dpi, and then wanting to produce a 6"x4" print, simply alter the physical size. The result is a less than perfect result. Change the physical dimensions, but also increase the resolution to compensate for the loss in size, and hence quality. 6"x4"@300dpi would be better.

Tripods and fast action don't work either - too restricting, clumsy and not necessary. Check out the Professionals at an event, and you won't see them using a tripod in daylight.

Cheers

Toonman1

"a 35mm neg at 100ISO 'ish should be the equivalent res. of a 17MegPix camera"

That depends on the degree of enlargement. A 6mp camera is generally regarded as being as good as the equivalent 35mm, at enlargements up to 11"x17". Obviously it's not quite as simple as that, with lens quality and the way the digital camera processes and handles the image, playing their parts too.

Cheers