Film vs Digital
What kind of printer/scanner did you get? a flatbed? What kind of film are you scanning? (35mm/Med Format?) One of the "most important factors" of a good quality film scanner is it's dynamic range. if it's 4.5 or higher, it's a good one. (max is 5.0) The higher the better the ability to pull detail out of the darker areas.icepics wrote: I just started trying to figure this out myself. I got a new printer/scanner so am comparing digital images to prints from film. I'm so far noticing the most difference with black and white although it seems to depend on the photo. Of course the paper is a give away, esp. comparing inkjet photo paper (which seems really flimsy to me) to the Ilford I used doing darkroom work.
With some photos in the darkroom I've been able to dodge details from the negative that you can't even see, or get a decent image out of a dense negative. Eventually I'd like to get out some of my older negatives and scan them and see how those print out compare to those photos that I worked a lot on in the darkroom.
I have one B&W photo that looks a little pixellated in the background of the print, but doesn't look that way on the monitor. It's the only one that so far looks like that.
Canon Platinum Pro is a good thick "not" flimsy inkjet paper.
Prago wrote: You might be able to tell, but then again you have a 50/50 shot to guess
Nice to have those odds in Vegas
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icepics wrote: ...I haven't done much digital so the paper seems really different compared to the Ilford I used in the darkroom. Or even Kodak paper for color prints I've had done.
The vast majority of digital prints are RA-4 C prints on Kodak and Fuji papers. Besides the standard improvements over time it's the same old, light sensitive, chemical, color photo paper. Ink jet is expensive and requires skill and training. RA-4 minilab printers have been around for decades, and pretty much run themselves. I like ink jet because there is such a wide variety of papers that can be used, but my favorite flavor is still the traditional chemical prints. Fortunately they are readily and cheaply available everywhere.
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