Scanning in film camera photo lab prints?

[What's In A Name?]

I had asked my all in one tech support for my lexmark machine what
resolution I should scan photos that were taken with a film camera/developed
at a local photo lab etc so that I may print those scanned images out in
sizes up to 8x10. He said I only needed to go as high as 300dpi, anything
higher would make the scanner work really slow and then anything higher
would just be a waste of space on my drive. He said my prints would be
outstanding.

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks.

[Waldo]

If you scan prints and not slides/negatives and the orignal prints are
around 8x10, 300 DPI will do the job. If the original prints are smaller,
you could scan at a higher resolution, like 600 DPI. >=2400 DPI is
definately a waste of time and space, unless you're scanning slides etc.

Waldo

[Happy Traveler]

300 DPI sounds about right. There is simply no more information to be
extracted from the average print and if you go higher you'll be wasting time
and storage space.
As for 'outstanding', your 8x10 prints will be, at best, a blown-up version
of the smaller prints that you scanned, with all their imperfections and
limitations of the printing process which created them. Hope your prints are
not on any textured paper, because then you'll have a real challenge... If
you still have the negatives and can scan them on a dedicated film scanner,
or even on a decent flatbed scanner with an attachment, you will extract
much more information than your prints did and the results will, at least in
theory, be much better. Whatever you choose to do, scanned images require
some post-processing and retouching. Sharpen your Photoshop skills...

Post by What's In A Name?
I had asked my all in one tech support for my lexmark machine what
resolution I should scan photos that were taken with a film

camera/developed

Post by What's In A Name?
at a local photo lab etc so that I may print those scanned images out in
sizes up to 8x10. He said I only needed to go as high as 300dpi, anything
higher would make the scanner work really slow and then anything higher
would just be a waste of space on my drive. He said my prints would be
outstanding.