[Marco B]

Hi all,

Guys, these scans were made on a high end Imacon Flextight 848 that had just been serviced. It is a scan of a negative, so not a scan of a wetprint. Scan results of other films look pretty good, and I am therefore also pretty sure that what I am seeing is NOT just noise. Yes, part of it may be, and will be, attributable to noise, but for the most part, I am pretty sure what we see is actually what THIS PARTICULAR negative looks like. What I actually want to know, or try to assess based on all of your useful comments, is if Reala 100 is known to be a slightly more "grainy" film compared to some others around in the 100 ISO range, like for example the new Ektar 100.

A few responses to all the input here:

Reala is the best looking C-41 film made, IMO. I am thrilled to tears that I discovered a [somewhat] local source for it in 120 format. If only they made it in 4x5. From 35mm, this film is tack sharp at 8x12. For what it's worth, even Press 800 makes a decent 12x18 in my experience.

I have no doubt that even this negative will look great when printed on 8x12 or 12x18. The reason I scanned it at such ridiculous high resolution, is that I did intend to get a closer look at the grain structure. I have successfully scanned other 100 ISO films at the same very high 6300 ppi resolution for my Ektar review, that I am now in the process of updating for new, better, scan results of the serviced 848.

That looks exactly how Reala scanned on a Microtek 120 I had. The hard light source always produced grainy scans and the white speckles could be the result of "pepper grain", which has been attributed to microscopic bubbles in the emulsion.

Interesting, your suggestion of microscopic bubbles. Anyone else who can comment on this particularily in relation to this film type?

Your scanner is the culprit here, or rather the resolution settings. You should reduce the scanning resolution to something like 2000-3000 ppi - there will be enough detail in the photo for large prints, but the grain will not be obtrusive. You may want to read this excellent article for more information.

I am perfectly aware of this, as I am the author of that article! . Thanks for the compliment by the way, I am glad that all the work that went into these things is appreciated.

Yes, it's probably beyond what Fuji Reala 100 can deliver in terms of true image detail, but as I have clearly shown in my Ektar review, some films (like Fuji Velvia 100 and Kodak Ektar 100) DO hold up even with such ridiculous high scanning resolutions.

And again, I was trying to asses the grain structure. However, since these results, compared to the other 100 ISO films in my Ektar 100 review, were somewhat unexpected, I want to make sure I do not have another issue like a bad film processing issue. Or if Reala 100 is known to be a problematic film for scanning due to it's technical make up in terms of layers or so... I have regularly read here on APUG about older film types being "difficult" to scan, is Reala 100 maybe one of them?, and of updates to emulsions by manufacturers for "better scanning" characteristics.

Is there anyone else here that has ever attempted to scan a Reala 100 negative at resolutions beyond 4000 ppi at a scanner like Imacon, drum, or Nikon Coolscan and that can comment on his observations, like Landecker did with his Microtek?