Scanner Suggestions

[Joe]

I have some family negatives and photos that I want to capture digitally.
Most of the negatives are 35 mm. I would like to know what is the best
method to scan in
negatives? Are regular flat bed scanners with attachments on the lid for
negatives and slides any good, or should I consider getting a dedicated film
scanner? Any help provided is appreciated. Thank you.
Joe

 

[tomm42]

I have some family negatives and photos that I want to capture digitally.
Most of the negatives are 35 mm. I would like to know what is the best
method to scan in
negatives? Are regular flat bed scanners with attachments on the lid for
negatives and slides any good, or should I consider getting a dedicated film
scanner? Any help provided is appreciated. Thank you.
Joe

Ist choice would be a dedicated film scanner, the Nikon LS5000 is
about the only one left you can purchase new. As for flatbeds (and
film scanners) you get waht you pay for. As prices get less, speed and
scan quality decreases. After the Nikon LS5000 I'd look at the Epson
V700 flatbed, the advantage with this scanner is that you can scan 24
negs. Quality is the best of any flatbed, but takes some tweking with
film holder heights to get the best results. This scanner is better
than most older film scanners and probably better than inexpensive
ones. I mostly scan slides with mine (12 max) and I find the manual
set up almost as quick as the auto scan and more acurate.

Tom

 

[Barry Watzman]

A film scanner is best; most flatbeds with adapters are pretty bad,
except for some Epson models (not cheap, however).

The best film scanners are the Nikon models with Digital ICE, from the
LS-2000 and up. hey can sometimes be had cheap (under $100) but will
likely both be incomplete and need service. Check E-Bay.

 

[Talker]

I have some family negatives and photos that I want to capture digitally.
Most of the negatives are 35 mm. I would like to know what is the best
method to scan in
negatives? Are regular flat bed scanners with attachments on the lid for
negatives and slides any good, or should I consider getting a dedicated film
scanner? Any help provided is appreciated. Thank you.
Joe

How many negatives are you planning on scanning? Also, how much
were you figuring on spending? If you have a lot of negatives and you
want the best possible scan, then like tomm42 and Barry Watzman said,
get a decent dedicated film scanner.
If you only have a handful of negatives, and you only want to get
a good scan of the negatives, then it wouldn't make sense to buy a
$1000 scanner, when a flatbed would suffice.

Talker

 

[Barry Watzman]

Do not discount the option of buying a used scanner (anywhere, including
E-Bay), using it, then reselling it (E-Bay). If you are careful, you
can at least break even, and might make money on the transaction.

Also consider services such as scancafe.com. And Sam's club does
relatively low quality scans (2MP) for 18 cents each ... maybe do that
as "insurance" before sending off your original images to a service like
scancafe (which uses Nikon scanners).

There are LOTS of ways to skin this cat.

 

[Talker]

Do not discount the option of buying a used scanner (anywhere, including
E-Bay), using it, then reselling it (E-Bay). If you are careful, you
can at least break even, and might make money on the transaction.

Also consider services such as scancafe.com. And Sam's club does
relatively low quality scans (2MP) for 18 cents each ... maybe do that
as "insurance" before sending off your original images to a service like
scancafe (which uses Nikon scanners).

There are LOTS of ways to skin this cat.

Yes, buying a used one is a good option. I would think that it
would be better to follow your second suggestion and have someone else
scan them. It would be more cost efficient to do that if he doesn't
have a shoebox full of negatives. At 18¢ a piece, you'd get 5 scans
for a buck, and if he spent $200 to buy a used scanner, he could get
1111 negatives scanned instead. That's a lot of time and work to do
yourself.(I guess he'd recoup his money if he resold the scanner
though.)

Talker

 

[Alan Browne]

I have some family negatives and photos that I want to capture
digitally. Most of the negatives are 35 mm. I would like to know what
is the best method to scan in
negatives? Are regular flat bed scanners with attachments on the lid
for negatives and slides any good, or should I consider getting a
dedicated film scanner? Any help provided is appreciated. Thank you.
Joe

Google away on this group.

1) For high quality (archive) or larger prints a 4000 or higher dpi
dedicated file scanner

2) To make small prints ( 6 x 9 inches or smaller) or for screen
display, a flatbed with film capability should do okay.

 

[Barry Watzman]

I guess that one can always argue that "more is better", but a 2,700 dpi
scan of a 35mm image gives a 10 megapixel result. I seriously question
going higher. Most images simply don't have any more meaningful detail
to give.

 

[Alan Browne]

I guess that one can always argue that "more is better", but a 2,700 dpi
scan of a 35mm image gives a 10 megapixel result. I seriously question
going higher. Most images simply don't have any more meaningful detail
to give.

Shoot decent lenses off a tripod on good film and expose properly and
they certainly do.

Don't top post.

 

[Barry Watzman]

As I said, MOST [35mm] images simply don't have any more meaningful
detail to give [than 10 MP].