Scanning in 4"x6" photos--what resolution?

[anonymouse1]

I'm going to scan some 4x6 photos, so I can clear out some storage space. Any idea what resolution to scan them in at, if I might want to print them out someday? Does it depend on whether I want to print them out later as enlargements; say 8"x10"? Is that even worth it (would there be too much grain?)?

Thanks.

[AlphaDog]

Yes, the scanning resolution will matter if you decide to print them later at a bigger size; it'll also effect the quality of a print if you decide to crop any of them and enlarge and print just the cropped areas. The quality of the enlargement will also vary, to some degree, on the quality of the originals and the quality of your scanner. For the most part, I've had pretty good luck.

Personally, I'd try a few and see how it's going, which might also mean printing a couple to test the quality. It's a lot of work to scan photos, especially if you take time to do it well, so spending some time experimenting before you start is worthwhile. It's going to be particularly important to do it right if you plan on destroying the originals. (Arghh!!!)

Here's good site that includes a scanning calculator:

http://www.scantips.com/calc.html

[Dik2]

600 ppi wil give you 300 at 8x12. That's about the upper reasonable limit for enlarging 4x6s.

[jonny]

any scanners out there with an auto feeder for photos?

[davester]

Everything you need to know is here: http://www.scantips.com/basics08.html The resolution of a prints is less than 300 dpi, so you won't get anything extra by scanning above 300 dpi unless you have extremely high quality prints (i.e. not the kind you get from the drug store). Does this mean that you no longer have the negatives? The negatives have an order of magnitude more resolution than the prints...archive those as well as scanning the prints (or better yet, have the negatives scanned).

[ka jowct]

Enlargements from scanned prints aren't likely to be as good as enlargements from a negative or a scanned negative.

Are you thinking of throwing away the prints after you scan them? Or just putting them in storage somewhere?

Whatever you do, keep the negatives, if you have them.

[rz]

[quote jonny]any scanners out there with an auto feeder for photos?
HP makes one. I have the previous model. Works ok, but I've only scanned in one batch of photos with it. It's on my neverending "to do" list to scan in all my old photos.

[anonymouse1]

There's a bunch of these that I just want to archive and toss. For the important ones, I'll scan the negatives, when I can afford a scanner with Digital ICE.

So it sounds like 300 dpi is about right.

Thanks for all the tips, folks.

[anonymouse1]

[quote davester]Everything you need to know is here: http://www.scantips.com/basics08.html The resolution of a prints is less than 300 dpi, so you won't get anything extra by scanning above 300 dpi unless you have extremely high quality prints (i.e. not the kind you get from the drug store). Does this mean that you no longer have the negatives? The negatives have an order of magnitude more resolution than the prints...archive those as well as scanning the prints (or better yet, have the negatives scanned).
Thanks, davester--that link is particularly helpful.