Printing medium format negative

[Mac1337]

I have come across a negative of great sentimental value. It measure 2 1/4inX3 1/4in. I suspect it came from a 120 film. I want to have it printed but don't want to send it away. Another question is how large can you blow up these size negatives?

[lafinfil]

6x9 (2.25 x 3.25) was a very popular format for roll film - both 120 and some older amateur formats.

The size that you can enlarge it will depend upon the level of detail in the original
(put a loupe to it and see how sharp it look) and also on the original films resolution.

I have 6x9's shot on modern films using a roll film back on a view camera that have been
used at 8'x12' size for murals. One of decent quality should be able to go fairly large (for consumer usage)
with no problem at all - 16x20 20x24 ... etc ....

A lot will depend on the quality of the scan. Find a local lab that caters to the professional trade
and have them do a high res scan for you and then see what it looks like after cleaning up.

If you want to go really large size it up to 100% and then crop a test patch out at 100%
and have a test print made to determine if it is going to hold up.

[Mac1337]

I had some color slides scanned at Costco. Does the same equipment scan negatives? What do you with it then? It is black and white, by the way.

[mattkime]

Where do you live?

There is no way i'd give anything of value to costco to scan. they may have someone very good - but they might not. too risky.

[lafinfil]

I don't know what equipment Costco has, so I don't know if they can do large format

Same equipment is used to scan a neg or positive, If they don't reverse it to positive for you
then you can do it very easily in Photoshop.

Some places may go ahead and covert it to B&W too, but I personally prefer that they give me a
"color" scan / RGB and then I can convert it in PS using the channels. You can also do a sepia
or duotone if you like that effect.

I have better control of the contrast that way. At that point do any sharpening or other tweaks and
ship a file off to the lab for a print.

If you don't have a desire to do the tweaks, most labs will scan and print with no file saved.
A little cheaper but the quality depends upon the operator.

One thing I like to do when I send out for big prints, is to make a guide print for the lab.
I'll make a print on my epson showing cropping, contrast, and color balance and send it along
as a guide for the printer.

[Dik2]

Any recent flatbed scanner with transparency capability should be able to produce a scan that will make a beautiful 20"x30" from a 2.25"x3.25" negative. That's less than 10x.

Nikon's film scanners don't do too well with B&W film, I've heard. I think there's just too much dynamic range when used with the light source they use. The diffused light source in the flatbed works better with B&W film.

Scan as an sRGB tiff, desaturate and tone as desired using Photshop or whatever, and take the file to Costco for a $3 12x18. If it looks perfect, order larger.