XPan negative handling: from dev to HD and print

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Hi all, I recently got a nice deal on an Xpan I + 45mm lens and I jumped on that. Now, the camera is great, but my lab seems to be a bit puzzled on how to process the negatives (like asking me to pay 20euros to scan one roll...). So I have a few questions for you:
- independently from lab develop or house made, do you cut your negatives or leave them as a roll? And if you cut them, how many frames per piece?
- scanners: I have seen in another thread that flatbeds are probably the best choice, is it? Which model you would recommend? With which holders?
- prints: do you have a lab that prints panos? How much does it charge?
- hand prints: is there anybody printing panoramas by hand? Which kind of enlarger lens / holder / blabla you use?

Thanks for the patience and the answers!
🙂
 
Some responses to some of your questions-
- C41 is processed by the lab, uncut
- Since each XPan neg is just over 2 normal 35mm frames long; I usually cut into 2 Xpan frame lengths & sleeve as normal in ClearFile 7 x 6frame holders (from Freestyle)
- My lab doesn't scan at the resolution I like (but maybe I overdo this) so I scan each "half" on a Minolta film scanner & stitch them together in Photoshop; this is tedious & often requires balancing of levels & colour in both halves.
- I then resize for printing at the lab.
 
This is what I do: I send the film to get developped to my usual lab. I ask them not to cut the film, they deliver a roll. They do not charge any extra for this. If the film is negative I get the same thing done in a 1-hour lab around the corner, also without extra charge. Then I cut the film every 3rd image, I place it in regular 35mm sleeves and I leave it there between 2 piles of books for one week, to get the film perfectly flat. I do that because the film I get from the lab is not flat enough to be scanned. Afterwards I choose the best images and scan them home with a Minolta 5400 scanner using the stitching technique (a bit boring but it helps to get disciplinced in selecting only the best pictures). Normally I scan at 2700dpi in 16 bits. If I want to get prints,a frequent arrangement of mine is putting two pictures together one above the other in a TIFF file with the highest quality (i.e. the result of 4 scans), I burn a CD and send to my lab to get printed in 60x80cm (i.e. I get two pictures 30x80 each).
 
Similar to previous posters, I ask the lab not to cut the film - I cut it myself in strips of 3 frames. I use a Minolta 5400I scanner and scan both halves of the frame, using Photoshop's Merge function to blend the two scans and also equalize the scanning exposure differences (if any).

Sometimes if I'm in a hurry, I use my Epson 4990 flatbed where I can have four 3-frame strips in the holder for faster scanning throughput.
 
same as the above. I scan with vuescan which allows u to lock exposure and film base color settings so this is essentially like locking your whitebalance and exposure. Makes merging much easier and seamless.
 
When I use color negative film I have it developed by Helix in Chicago, they will make 4x10" prints for 75 cents each, cut and sleeve the negatives individually, so it's very clean, simple and pretty much effortless, typically runs about $18 a roll. The pics worth further enlargement I then scan from the negatives on a Nikon Coolscan 9000 (which I got for my MF work but has a holder and matte cutout designed to work with Xpan negatives/slides).
LJS
 
like others

like others

I get my film processed and returned uncut which is a no cost option, up to now, on kodachrome 64. I cut into twos, inspect on the light table and scan the ones i like on a Nikon coolscan 8000 using the optional film carrier with the correct mask for xpan negatives. The scanner was expensive and the rotatable glass carrier with masks for many unusual negative sizes was too, but I have had them ages so it doesn't seem so bad now 🙂
 
I have found that there is no problem at all scanning my xPan negatives. I am using an Epson V700 flatbed scanner. Perhaps I am missing something but I place the film into the supplied 35mm holder, mask around the image with software (epson or silverfast) and scan. The 24mm (?) width is so narrow that I don't have any real film flatness issues. On the other hand I have a LOT of trouble with 6 x 9 film and never seem to get a scan I like regardless of film holder cost or complexity.

I shoot predominately negative (vs slide) film. Developing is inexpensive and results seem consistent. While on the road I send my film to NCPS in California for processing and high resolution scanning. When I return, in addition to my uncut film I also have a $12.00 CD with a scan of each frame at 8200 x 3300 pixels which to my thinking is equivalent to a 27 megapixel camera. For less than 60 cents per scan it's good value.
 
two shots merged-very clever
new noritsu printer has 640 dpi-output. approx. 30x90cm panoprint max.size. wow! i have seen small 13x18cm/5x7 prints from eos 5m mk2. fantastic. let alone when using metallic paper. shows more details in shadow.
i would test new kodak ektar 100. sharpest 35mm cn-film.
beware of high saturation.
scanning enlarged prints is most clever.
 
Same here...

Same here...

C R Maclauchlan said:
I have found that there is no problem at all scanning my xPan negatives. I am using an Epson V700 flatbed scanner. Perhaps I am missing something but I place the film into the supplied 35mm holder, mask around the image with software (epson or silverfast) and scan. The 24mm (?) width is so narrow that I don't have any real film flatness issues. On the other hand I have a LOT of trouble with 6 x 9 film and never seem to get a scan I like regardless of film holder cost or complexity.

I shoot predominately negative (vs slide) film. Developing is inexpensive and results seem consistent. While on the road I send my film to NCPS in California for processing and high resolution scanning. When I return, in addition to my uncut film I also have a $12.00 CD with a scan of each frame at 8200 x 3300 pixels which to my thinking is equivalent to a 27 megapixel camera. For less than 60 cents per scan it's good value.
Click to expand...

V700 here, too. I got it when it first came out, but it's not in use as much as I'd like- funding priorities have prevented me from developing much film to get it into the scanner- resulting in 24 undeveloped rolls. (Yeah, I know, shame on me.) When I've done it in the past, I cut the film myself and just use the sheaths provided by the processer.

When I've got the cash, I get it developed @ ImageExperts in LA, CA (free mailers) for pretty much the same deal as above with the CD scan if I want (though the above is a much higher scan than mine offers at this pricepoint).

The flatbed 4-track holder works well, three frames per track, 12 per scan. The Epson software works efficiently, I find. Follow-up in Photoshop for detail, and that's it. The slide curl hasn't been a huge problem, but I've noticed that over time it naturally flattens. I like the books idea above, but I'd probably not risk the potential scratch damage.

I haven't done any printing yet. None. I haven't tried them yet, but this place in CA does printing. ImageExperts does too, for cheaper, but I haven't used them for this service yet. ImageExperts has mixed results when I sent them a slug of 30 or so rolls of chrome- they advertise that they check every image for quality, and adjust it as needed, but some were off noticeably, and I got a full blank roll back (not sure who's fault it was). Overall, good results, though. I'm debating on either going back to them or trying NewLab in SF. If anybody has any experience with NewLab, I'm all eyes!
 
Hi all, thanks for all your answers.
In the end I found out that scanning with the cheap Canon4400F is great! The plastic film holder does not have the separators, so I can drag the area I want to scan to cover all the Xpan frame. I have scanned at 1400dpi maximum (but you can go higher) and on screen scans look good.
I have not yet tried printing...
 
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