 BetterPhoto Member |
Transperancy to print ratios I was wondering if someone could clarify 2 printing questions for me. First, Which precise standard enlargement sizes come from 35mm film? Which precise standard enlargement sizes come from 6x4.5 film? Next, what is the biggest that I should print these without seeing too much grain? Can I reduce this problem with a quality transperancy scan?
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Michael H. Cothran |
35mm film produces an image with a side ratio of 2:3 (the actual size of the film image is 24mm x 36mm). This translates into "precise" image sizes of 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, 16x24, 20x30, etc. As you can see, only the 4x6 is considered a "standard" size. A 6x4.5 camera has a ratio slighty shorter - 3:4 (I believe the actual film image size is 42mm x 56mm). This proportion would yield "precise" image sizes of 4x5.33, 8.5x11.3, 12x16, 18x24, etc. As you can see, film proportions have absolutely NOTHING to do with paper proportions. Sad, but true. One would think that in all the years of photography printing, that paper companies would try to match at least some of their paper sizes to the proportions of film sizes. No such luck. By the way, the most popular paper size is 8x10, which has a side proportion of 2:2.5. Medium format cameras (645 and 67) come closer to this ratio than 35mm cameras, so while you'll still have to crop, you will not have to crop as much. Addressing your inquiry about how large to print, there has been many an opinion expressed over the years. My opinion is that this is 10% objective, and 90% subjective. Quality-wise, the medium format will leave the 35mm in the dust, no argument. However, your opinion of a good, or even acceptable print may be different than someone else's. Not to mention that a good quality, sharp negative/slide will print larger better than a lesser quality negative.
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