Scanning color negatives

davidmj

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I am about to scan 35mm color negatives. What settings should I use - 2400ppi or 1800ppi, 48 bit color or 16 bit color?
 
I am about to scan 35mm color negatives. What settings should I use - 2400ppi or 1800ppi, 48 bit color or 16 bit color?

Sort of depends on what you want to do and the amount of post processing you plan to do. 2400 ppi is the appropriate full-res scan for 35mm. Less than 2400 ppi and you're not scanning all the information stored in the neg.

Need to know what your scanner means by 48 bit color or 16 bit color. The terminology can be confusing and especially so if the scanner marketing dept. has managed to have some influence. For example a photo can be called an 8 bit color photo meaning 8 bits recorded per channel or 24 bit color photo meaning 8 bits recorded per channel (times 3 channels: 8 x 3 = 24). Typically we don't do less than 8 bit per channel and since a color photo requires 3 channels it's pretty safe to say that 16 bit means 16 bit per channel (16 / 3 = 5.33333 which makes no logical sense). Very likely that's what you've got. But the question then is begged what does 48 bit color mean. 3 x 16 = 48. Is 48 bit color just calling 16 bit color 16 bit color times 3 channel? That would make sense because if your scanner manufacturer was trying to say 48 bit per channel then the marketers have certainly gotten a grip here. That is surely a lie, and ridiculous in the extreme. Even if the scanner were capable of 48 bit per channel (no way!!!) no color film has even been manufactured that contains that much data. Do you see the problem I'm having? I would expect the instructions you're looking at to be somehow consistent. 16 bit color should mean 16 bit per channel, but 48 bit color should also mean 16 bit per channel (times 3).

Scan at 16 bit per channel. When you're finished editing the scan you'll be able to convert down to 8 bit per channel.

Joe
 

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