Epson vs. Noritsu

Well, I retrieved the CD from my client, and the Noritsu scans of 120 film look great. That is, until you zoom in.

True, they have nice contrast and saturation. But the resolution is way, way less than the Epson. The Epsons also have much more shadow detail. True it’s at the expense of contrast, but this is easily added in post-processing.

I can resample and enlarge the Noritsu scans, and they look pretty good as long as there’s no diagonal lines to cause aliasing. But the CD is just not a good value. Twelve 1024x1024 px scans versus 36 3000x2000 px scans for the same ten bucks. You get 203,417,088 more pixels with 135 film versus 120.

The Verdict
120 Color Negative or Transparency Film send it out for processing, and scan it yourself.

135 Color Negative and Transparency Film send it out for both processing and scanning.

120 or 135 Black and White Negative Film. process and scan it yourself.

Prints
At fifty cents apiece, the 4"x4" prints were nothing to write home about. It would be more cost effective to gang the 120 scans together with other image files and order prints online or from a pharmacy. They often have specials that can save you money.

Also, 4"x4" prints are kind of small for 120 format. A 4x6 print has an image area of twenty-four square inches, but a 4x4 print is only sixteen. It makes sense to pull 5"x5" prints on 5x7 paper, and trim off the sides. That way, you have twenty-five square inches to enjoy.