Can I get my film scans in TIFF format?

Yes, we can produce TIFF files on our drum scanners.

However, we do not recommend getting TIFF files for your scans. This is because the high-resolution JPEGS produced by film scanning machines provide the same visual quality as the TIFFs, but at a lower file size. For example, a large Noritsu scan in JPEG format is only 12-15 megabytes, while a large Noritsu scan in TIFF format is more than 50 megabytes. If you have 500 shots in one order, that’s a difference of 17,500 megabytes!

Additionally, drum scanners are not aesthetically optimal for scanning film versus a scanner that is made for exclusively for film.

You can compare the image quality between a JPEG and TIFF scan produced on our Noritsu scanner with these film scan image files.

The only downside to JPEGs are that they become compressed every time you re-save them. If you anticipate editing your scans, save a master copy of your image in TIFF format to maintain image quality as you go through the post-production process.

For more info on JPEGS versus TIFFs, head to our blog post.

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