help with hybrid workflow

[gns]

The headache of the traditional 35mm workflow is the time and effort required just to be able to view and edit your pictures. Squinting through a lupe at those tiny frames on the contact sheet doesn't really show you much, so you are forced to make enlargements (work prints) of anything with any potential at all just to see what you've got. A lot of tedious darkroom work.

An all digital approach seems to offer a big benefit in that you can view the images on screen at any size, and easily make quick workprints too if you want to work that way. I've been messing with digital and shoot raw + jpeg. I just view and make workprints from the jpegs, edit and later go back to the raw files for any processing and final prints.

I don't know anything about scanners and scanning software. If I want to shoot film, but post-process and print digitally, what is the best approach? Would I just be spending more time in front of the computer than I did in the darkroom?

What is your hybrid workflow like?

I shoot usually 5-15 rolls a week. Process my own film (B&W). Don't really want to give the film over to a lab for scanning.

Maybe I should teach my 12 year old to scan and pay him to do it all for me???

Thanks,
Gary

 

[Ronald M]

Scan in 6 frame strips on my Epson 4870. 300 ppi

 

[Fabian]

If I were you I wouldn't think about scanning. With that amount of pictures you would spend hours scanning.
And thats without spotting an post-processing.

If you still want to make the final prints in the darkroom, you could buy a scanner like the reflecta 4000 that can scan a whole film roll, make some contact prints (digital) and then make the real prints.

Thats the way I did it for a long time. But now I don't have the time for the darkroom, so I have to scan, but I shoot a lot less then you, so its ok.

You will find your way


Fabian

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

You may consider taking the uncut negatives to a minilab for scanning to CD, then look at them on your screen, and carry on from there.

 

[robert blu]

10 film = 360 pics
average time to scan one frame, medium quality no special adjustement = 2'
2' x 360 pics = 720' = 12 hours more or less each week. and then work out in Postproduction maybe and print . I think for hat amount of pics Jon gav the righ suggestion. Frome CD you can choice the best fram, rescan at high resolutin etc...
rob

 

[aad]

It depends on the scanner. If you don't need any more than a contact sheet, put the negs in some kind of clear envelope or just lay 'em on the flatbed, and scan as a reflective document.

If I'm looking to just post something, I scan at 800 dpi or less on the Minolta-takes hardly any time. For better quality, I can scan at about 72= frames/hour, resulting in files that will print fine at 5x7 if I wish.

 

[chrish]

i have a nikon coolscan v. its quick and does a good job. im happy with it. previews are fast on it too.

 

[gns]

Thanks all for the input.

A scanner that will do a whole roll on its own sounds good. Other suggestions besides that Reflecta metioned above?

Digital contact sheets from a flatbed scanner could work if they can be viewed ok enlarged on the monitor. Anyone do this?

I'll check out the local lab for cheap scans to disk. It's just that I've always done everything myself and am not too crazy about handing my film over to someone else. I guess I could get over that.

Any other ideas are most welcome.

Cheers,
Gary