Comparison of 3 Film-on-CD Services in Christchurch
By Volker Kuhlmann <VolkerKuhlmann@gmx.de>
28 Nov 2002, updated 14 April 2006
This is a brief comparison of cheap film scanning services in Cristchurch. The
services are cheap because the scanning is performed as part of film development
and printing. The film is fed into the scanner as one long strip before being cut
up into strips, which is why the scanning must be requested together with
development (and initial printing, if any).
The following describes what the shops supply for how much. It includes
technical details of the digital images, which seems to be hard to come by (most
staff doesn't have a good understanding of what's involved). File sizes are also
generally noticably smaller than what shops claim they would be (meaning there's
less information in the file). There isn't much (yet?) about the quality of the
scanning and resulting image files. The shops are listed in no particular
order.
Photo & Video
Merivale Mall, 189 Papanui Rd WWW: photo.co.nz
Film: negative, 36 frames
| Develop + print: |
| 9*13cm (3.5*5) |
36 frames: $23.50/same day, $14.50/3 days |
| 10*15cm (4*6) |
36 frames: $25.45/same day, $17.40/3 days |
- Negative film only. No facilities for developing slide film.
|
| Index prints: |
| 10*15cm (4*6) |
included in price of scan |
| (appr 5*7) |
$5 |
| 20*30cm (8*12) |
$10 |
- Index prints are of the film, not of the CD (which doesn't have
one).
- Index prints are upside-down as well as back-to-front however one
looks at it. Very annoying.
|
| Scans on CD: |
| highres |
|
$25 |
|
3000x2000 pixels, 24bit
5.7 megapixels, 17.5MB uncompressed, appr 2-3.5MB compressed (as
JPEG)
|
| medres |
|
$10 |
|
800x533 pixels, 24bit
0.4 megapixels, 1.2MB uncompressed, appr 0.3-0.4MB compressed (as
jpeg) |
| lowres |
|
$10 |
|
Only suitable for email! As medres costs the same and can
easily be downsized, lowres is useless. |
- Prices per film, regardless of number of frames.
- No index print for CD case (shop logo instead).
- $5 handling charge when bringing in a negative film in strips.
- $5 handling + $1/slide mount of either negative or slide film at
any of above resolutions (is this really true?)
- Scanned images on CD are upside down, and their order on CD bares
no relation to the order in the film. Very annoying, esp. when
considering that there is no index print supplied for the CD.
- Photo & Video say that CDs only contain the resolution ordered,
but some highres CDs have all 3 resolutions on them.
- Can also save as BMP (which is an uncompressed and therefore
lossless format).
|
Fuji Image Plaza
380 Riccarton Rd (Church Corner Mall) WWW: photodigital.net.nz
| Develop only: |
$6 (any number of frames) |
|
| Develop + print: |
9*13cm (3.5*5)
10*15cm (4*6) |
36 frames: $25.50/1h (with digital enhancement), $18.95/2
days |
- Negative film only. No facilities for developing slide film.
|
| Index prints: |
| 10*15cm (4*6) |
included in price of scan |
| 20*30cm (8*12) |
$12 |
- Index prints are of the film, the CD has its own (different) index
print.
|
| Scans on CD: |
| $9.95 |
|
1840x1232 pixels, 24 bit
2.2 megapixels, 6.5MB uncompressed, appr 0.4-1.2MB compressed (as
JPEG) |
$31.95 incl
dev+print |
|
3200x2200?? pixels, 24 bit
6.9 megapixels, 20.1MB uncompressed, appr ??MB compressed (as
JPEG) |
- Prices per film, regardless of number of frames.
- Index print for CD case (but it's always in reverse order as the
film).
- There can be dust specs on the scanned images (the prints are from
film, not from the scan).
- This small size isn't really suitable for printing more than
10*15cm (perhaps 13*18cm is ok too).
|
Ken's Cameras
132 Armagh St WWW: kens.co.nz
| Develop only: |
36 frames slide: $15.90 sleeved, $19.50 mounted
24 frames: $11.90/$17.90 |
| Develop + print: |
9*13cm (3.5*5)
10*15cm (4*6) |
36 frames: $25.80/1h, -15%(=$21.95)/2days |
- Prices are for negative film.
|
| Index prints: |
| 10*15cm (4*6) |
included in dev+print |
| 20*30cm (8*12) |
$10.90, $5.95 with dev+print |
- Index prints are of the film, the CD has its own index print.
- Clear and practical layout of index prints.
|
| Scans on CD: |
$9.90 with dev+print
"standard res", "5MB scan" |
|
1024x1536(?) pixels, 24bit
1.5 megapixels, 4.5MB uncompressed, approx 1MB compressed (as
JPEG) |
$30 with dev+print
"highres", "18MB scan" |
|
2970x2048 pixels, 24 bit
5.8 megapixels, 17.8MB uncompressed, appr 2.4-3.4MB compressed (as
JPEG) |
without dev+print
(select frames) |
|
$0.75 standard / $1.25 highres, per frame |
- Above prices for either negative or slide film.
- Index print for CD case, showing file names (very useful!).
- Image formats other than JPEG are available, but only with higher
per-frame charge.
|
Conclusion
None of the services are totally satisfactory. Take your pick.
