How do you oil mount my film?

We start by cleaning your film with film cleaner and a soft lint free scanner wipe.Once the film is cleaned we mount the film to the scanner drum with Tesa scanner tape. We then place a sheet of optically clear Mylar over the film and spray Kami fluid on both sides of the film before tapping the acetate to the drum. Oil mounting will fill in any small scratches that may be on the film and provide a much sharper scan.

What size scan do I need?

We suggest scanning for the largest size you will ever want to print to. If you scan for a 30x40 at 200ppi ( 138mb ) your scan would be able to print any size up to 30x40 at 200ppi. This practice gives you a scan that can be used for multiple applications and prevents you from having to re-scan in the future.

What is the difference between 8bit and 16 bit?

A 16-bit scan will have greater color depth than an 8-bit scan. An 8-bit file has 256 definable tones per color between pure white and pure black, and can reproduce 16.7 million colors. A 16-bit file has over 65,000 definable tones per color and can reproduce 281 trillion colors. Every time you make a tonal correction to your file in Photoshop you are discarding some usable information that will result in “stair stepping” your histogram. Since a 16-bit file has more information, your corrections will be far less damaging to your file. The down side is that 16-bit files are much larger and take longer to scan, which is why they cost more.