HP Designjet 130 and Photoshop Performance Query

I'd like a few people to explain their setup and print enhancement
techniques. I have a Designjet 130 and am using Photoshop 7. I
started with a flatbed scanner, but I noticed that the printer picks up
and enlarges the blots of ink on the cheap photolab digital prints that
I was scanning from. Now, I'm using a Plustek OpticFilm 7200 to scan
the negatives, but this seems to result in even lower quality prints
off the 130. I've thought about investing in a better film scanner,
but I haven't been able to find much performance information on them on
the internet.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm printing on 17 by 22 inch Hannemuhle
paper - which at $4/page gets very expensive when the prints aren't
what you'd expect.

Anyone using digital cameras to input their images? If you scan from
prints, what size are they and are they digital or optical prints?

Also, what Photoshop settings do you use?


Thanks for any info.

nhparks

NhParks.DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:
> I'd like a few people to explain their setup and print enhancement
> techniques. I have a Designjet 130 and am using Photoshop 7. I
> started with a flatbed scanner, but I noticed that the printer picks up
> and enlarges the blots of ink on the cheap photolab digital prints that
> I was scanning from. Now, I'm using a Plustek OpticFilm 7200 to scan
> the negatives, but this seems to result in even lower quality prints
> off the 130. I've thought about investing in a better film scanner,
> but I haven't been able to find much performance information on them on
> the internet.
>
> Anyone have any suggestions? I'm printing on 17 by 22 inch Hannemuhle
> paper - which at $4/page gets very expensive when the prints aren't
> what you'd expect.
>
> Anyone using digital cameras to input their images? If you scan from
> prints, what size are they and are they digital or optical prints?
>
> Also, what Photoshop settings do you use?
>
>
> Thanks for any info.
>
> nhparks

Try not to scan from prints, you only magnify the defects. An 8x10
print behave as a 10ppi image, not a misprint 10ppi. If you have a good
8x10 then going to 8x10 you will only loose a little quality, going
bigger will just lead to frustration. Going from a "cheap print" do you
mean a 4x6, again this won't enlarge well even to 8x10, to 11x17 forget
about it. You just enlarge the defects
To scan negatives, scanners either make it easy, difficult or extreamly
difficult. Some scanners or scanning software will que in various film
emulsions, reverse the image and you have a scan that is easy to play
with. Others just reverse the image assuming a generic film backing,
this makes a file more difficult to work with, but can be compensated.
Still other scanners don't take negative film backing into account at
all,
this make a nightmare of a file.
If you are scanning from a negative approximently a 2800ppi file gives
an 8x10 at 300ppi, the resolution your file should be to print. So for
an 11x17 you need a 50 megabyte file.
You should be getting better scans from film than from prints, it
really should be no contest.

Tom