A. T.

Hello everyone,

I just purchased a Hasselblad 500CM and wanted to get information on editing the scans in Lightroom. Would the scans be the equivalent of a digital JPG in terms of editing limitations?

User ID

Making your own conversions you can produce raw files, but an outside service isnt going to do that. If you can fund a service that scans to tiffs youll be be somewhat less limited than working on jpegs.

To get raw files youll hafta be a bit inventive and need some new camera accessories: lens, light source, support device. Youre switching to a semi-obsolete medium so you hafta take some initiative to deal with it.

You might find a service willing to scan to a few bracketed exposures. Even if those are jpegs youll still have an enormous range of density data and then you can HDR them in your editor.

Otherwise, you do the simplest thing and wind up with jpegs, which makes toting a rollfilm outfit hardly worthwhile. Youd be better of with a 40 to 80MP camera that shoots raw files instead of film. Such a camera costs less than a Blad outfit with lenses and a few bricks of film (with develop and scan service).

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

A scan IS a digital image.

Can <some> scanners save in formats other than JPEG?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

A JPEG is a JPEG. It doesn't matter much where or what that JPEG represents.

The ability to 'edit' that JPEG within any digital editor, including Lightroom, depends on exactly the same issues: a) the pixel resolution of that JPEG and b) how near / far the original differs from the final edited result. As an 8-bit image, one can only push the color data so far. One can only crop / sharpen so far, based on the pixel resolution, where less pixel resolution means less potential.

As a medium format film camera, the negatives are thought to deliver roughly 50MP resolution. That's about the target resolution you should seek for the scans. Alas, unless you're doing it yourself, you'll struggle to find an online processor that will develop and scan your negatives to that resolution, or will charge an additional cost.

For example, TheDarkroom's 'superscan' of a 645 frame delivers a JPEG of only 3533×4824 (17MP) at an additional code of $8 per roll. The 'enhanced scan' from North Coast Photo delivers the same 17MP resolution, at an even higher $15 / roll cost. Another suggestion I received last week was indiefilmlab.com; they scan 645 to almost the same 17MP pixel resolution for $24 / roll. You might see if you can find a medium format specialty shop, or look for your own scanner that delivers more resolution at the cost of doing yourself.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

And in nearly all situations, who cares what those other formats are?

User ID

Our first scanner, loooooong ago, output tiffs. I wonder has "progress" put an end to that ?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

What bit depth? What pixel resolution? What colorspace?

Maybe someone someplace woke up to the nonsense of 8-bit TIFFs in sRGB?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

(I don't. )

A. T.

I have a company (Canlas Photography the FindLab) who will scan the 120 film but I can't remember the file format of the scans. It seems to me that she said they would be TIFF but I can't remember. I'm not going to do the scanning my self because I don't want to have to purchase more equipment if I can find a company to scan the film. I really don't need RAW files because I purchased this medium format film camera for black and white mainly and I don't anticipate the need to do much editing to my images.

User ID

You make assumptions about devices you quite obviously know nothing about.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

RAW is a camera-model specific output format. You don't get RAW files from a 'scanner'. You get them from a digital camera; and yes, a scanner and a digital camera are almost the same thing. But, I've never experienced support for scanner-specific RAW formats. It would seem that would not be commercially viable.

Reading the details at thefindlab.com, they have a FAQ saying their ultra scan will give a 30MP file (4800x6379). Also, they do say TIFFs are too large to transfer to you electronically.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Hence, the probing questions for you to provide more details....

User ID

You dont need the details. I stated a very simple fact in reply to Longshadow and you chose to intrude to display your attitude.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

I don't where that comes from, but my basic EpsonScan software outputs 24 or 48-bit tiffs in sRGB or Adobe RGB at up to 12800 ppi. You can also scan to jpeg or bitmap files if you have any reason to do that.

A. T.

Thanks for responding Paul,

I tried calling the photo lab but apparently they were too busy to answer the phone because I wanted to ask them if it were possible to mail the TIFFs to me. When I spoke to one of the employees a few days ago she was saying that they were currently working on being able to scan in some format that would be better than an equivalent JPG but I can't remember what file format she said. I'm asking these questions because I'm really excited about getting and shooting with this Hasselblad. I never thought that I would be able to acquire one of these beauties, and to get one in top mint condition was such a Blessing. Also, it could be because it's a holiday, I forgot about that.