What do I do here?

[Zach Matthews]

So I have this problem:

The D70 won’t go double-page, it simply isn’t big enough to handle that much size at 300dpi (matter of fact it only gets a single page with enlargement).

I’ve missed a sale or two because of this problem.

So I have been shooting slides.  I have some very good slide shots that I love; Fuji Velvia looks just great.  The problem is they cost $15/roll (36 shots) to get developed and scanned, and then the scanning is pretty weak. Digital is not an option in the long run – even slides now get scanned into magazine layout programs like Quark, and images I sell to magazines get uploaded via FTP rather than mailed in. I prefer this anyway as I hold on to my own images here rather than sending them off to some editor who may lose them.

I am ready to get my own slide scanner.  I will be continuing to use film for more or less ever.  As soon as digital totally wipes the field I am going to purchase some older “out of date” cameras like the terrific F100 to hold until film eventually quits being made in 2075 (hahah).  Film simply has its own feel and it can do some things digital can’t, at least not in my price range (star traverses, etc.)

So, here’s my problem.  I can get a flatbed scanner for $100 that will produce a scan of a 35mm slide that might max out at 600 pixels or so.  (Most are 3200 X 6400 or something but of course you only use a little bit of the scanner’s capacity).

[ginseng_sullivan]

Zach, you may be going at this from the wrong direction. if you are submitting slides you usualy leave it up to the publisher to scan them. they usualy use drum scanners which will produce a 100 mb+ image. no scanner under $200 will do what you want it to. the best buy in a scanner for slides is probably the nikon 4000. will produce an image of around 60mb and cost around $500 used. with the d70 shot in raw you should be able to produce a 30 mb tiff file. is this not big enough? where did you come up with the 17mb majic number?

[Zach Matthews]

Hey GS –

From talking to my editor.  I’ve sold them quite a few pictures and I know where I am on this.  I need to be able to scan slides in advance to send in *electronic* proofs – it is much faster and most submissions are being handled this way now.  Fly Fisherman had me upload my images via FTP, but American Angler and The Drake accepted them via email as well.

Most major magazines want 300 dpi.  Multiple 300 dpi by the 17″ by 11″ double truck print size and then divide the results by a million and you have your megapixel count.  16.4 or something is the requirement for an out-of-camera 300 dpi print.  Now they don’t actually print in 300dpi (they only need 266) but they still want to see the images in that size to be able to crop as needed.

All of this is actually moot, I’ve talked about it extensively with a couple editors now and a D200 will get the double truck job done – they can enlarge these images enough to satisfy them.  The 300dpi thing, like the RAW requirement, is really only in place to discourage mass submissions by amateurs.  (My John Wilson shot that ran full-page in this month’s American Angler is a D70 JPEG.)

Also, continuous bursts with the D70 are not, alas, possible.

[Richard Bernabe]

Zach,

I still beleive you can do 17×11″ with the D70 – in fact I am sure of it.

The digital capture can be uprezed easier and without degradation unlike a film scan.

[anonymous]

I think Richard is on the right track with Raw and sizing:)- vs slide scanning there are a variety of resizing algorithms that yield various results, going up size and downsize. Not sure what PS uses , the prog I use has Lanczos 8×8 as an option which is very clean going downsize verses the basic

[ginseng_sullivan]

Richard and PS- you guys are right on here. most of the editors out there don’t understand the digital workflow as well as they should (being editors and all) i have had several tell me they can’t use digital and not realizing that everything is digital now so if you start with film you are one generation behind already. resample upsizing in ps going up 10 percent at a time works very well and holds up. raw is clearly the only way to go jpeg is just too muddy in the shadow detail after publishing and won’t allow the postprocessing without degradation. folks are learning and very soon digital is going to be the only way to go.
richard- how has the performance of your d200? any banding issues? i am ready to upgrade and this clearly seems like the camera.

[david king]

Create an action in Photshop to increase the image size 110%, play(repeat) the action as many time as needed to get the file size you need. It works much better than

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