Medium Format Workflow (LR stitching best practices)

About (the Value of) Stitching

I shot most of my 645 negatives on 400 ASA film with the intention to print on A4/8x10in paper. This was an easy to live with configuration that provided plenty of detail and enough room for cropping and an occasional 20x30in size print. I am now bringing these negatives into the digital age.

I’ve recently tried stitching and found a few things that I’ll sum up below.

  1. The smallest detail on a negative is its grain.
  2. A 20x30in poster printed at 300 dpi requires 6000x9000 pixels equal 45 Mpixels.
  3. If I accept a 20x30in poster printed at 200 dpi, I need 4000x6000 pixels equal 24 Mpixels.

If we assume that - in normal use - we look at a poster for pleasure or memories and not for counting pixels, a 24 Mpixel camera will do just fine. This also means that stitching is only necessary if:

  • Prints must be larger than 20x30 inches (50x75 cm)
  • Your customer (or your own standards) ask for higher dpi prints
  • Your printer/printing service can actually deliver higher dpi prints
  • Bad lenses are used, lenses that don’t draw well at close distances
  • Something else urges you to stitch

Print size being equal, grain will be the limiting factor, no matter if you print a file that has 24 or 2’400 Mpixels. The benefit of the larger file will be that the grain will (not really) look crisp and clean.

The bottom line: I’ll not stitch, except for the very few unusually good negatives that want a huge print.

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