Neg Scannas.... Tawk to me Tewy

Dan Cattermole

Dan Cattermole

Dan Down - The Steampunk Womble
Hoping to get a neg scanner for crimbo, I did write a letter to Santa, However, as the Royal Mail system is very busy at this time of the year and there's a strong possibility that he may not get my request in time. lol

I've been looking at these neg scanners on Fleabay, and there's 5mb ones, and 9megapixel ones, and one that brush the dust off before scanning (which is self explainitory!) and ones that do the washing up for you........ :/ I wish. lol
my only question is........... what's the biggest scan size these things can do? commercially that is. In fact, not sure why I'm asking that cause in well out of my price range. lol, but I'm looking for something that scans large enough and is affordable. Any idea's RPF?? :)
 
I've heard good reports of the Plustek one but have no experience. I used to have a Minolta years ago but now use a Nikon Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 ED as I mainly scan MF. I know that Commercial Cameras has just got one in S/H but I think it will go on sake for about £1K. I know nothing about the Ion scanners although it looks like they produce JPEGs rather than TIFF files. What's your budget?
 
To be fair pete..... that all sounds glorious..... but, as it's christmas and the bank account is looking very ****.... £50? lol
What are the numbers all about then? 5mb? as in size of the scan of course, but is that too small? what's the detail like on a 5mb one? I dunno.... I'm just going to stop there I think. lol :)
 
Dan I have an Agfa Photo AFS3 inexpensive, I have said before that it may not be the best but for now for me up upload for web use its acceptable the shots from the viaduct series - The Pipe, The Ironwork, The Arch etc were all scanned with it, it scans to Jpeg and Tiff, I bought it basically as I needed one and felt that until I know for sure I will be using very regularly I couldn't justify big £'s just yet :D
 
Just looked on ebay for that one.... there's one at a bid of 35 sheets at the moment, so that's propbably worth me keeping an eye out for it.... it doesn't give it any spec on the thing though.... whats the.... dpi is it? or mb?
 
File size depends on a number of factors such as bit depth and scanning resolution. This site shows the relationship:

Scanning service: image file size, picture dimension, file format, colour depth, different film formats

For getting a film into a computer to play with and get something that will print 10 x 8 (at least in B&W) I would guess that a 5MB JPEG will be fine. If you are after critical rendering of colour I suspect you will struggle but if accuracy is not essential it should be fine.
 
Agree with Pete - the standard scans I have done of my negs at the dunk 'n dip lab are 5 Meg - the 'pro' scans are 15 Meg

Colour is definitely difficult to get right from colour neg, easier with colour slide

Pick one 35mm film and stick with it, then you'll get to know how to tweak the colour so it looks right.

I had best scanning results for colour neg with Fuji Reala 100.

B&W neg shouldn't present colour issues! :D

I used to have a Minolta 35mm scanner - but I see they're out of the 35mm scanner business these days!!
 
Pete, thats spot on... thats what I was looking hoping to see.
5mb would do me fine then.... thanks both..... :)
 
Hi Dan,

Funnily enough I have been looking at film scanners and have done quite a bit of reading about it. Here are my thoughts, take what you feel is right for you from them.

Some of the cheap film scanners in Maplins and on Ebay seem to be low quality cameras that just photograph a back lit film. Sometimes it will mention how many MP's the camera have. My thought is to avoid these, you'll be better with an attachment that you connect to your SLR as it will have a much better quality lens and camera sensor. However in saying that I feel that the best way to go is to use a flatbed scanner as I believe that you will get much smoother graduations in shadow tones that way. This is one of the reasons for using film.

It seems that 4800 DPI is the minimum resolution you should go for. Always look at the lower of the 2 resolution figures on scanner specifications, 3200 x 4800 DPI is really just a 3200 DPI scanner.

It seems that Epson make highly regarded film scanners and they can be bought for around £80 upwards new. I have also seen good things about the Plustek scanners.

Some of the cheaper scanners can take around 15 minutes to scan a 6 exposure strip of film at full resolution!

I have an all in one scanner and have recently bought a TMA - Transparent Material Adapter - made by HP for £20 on Ebay. It wont connect to my scanner but a quick google revealed that it just needs DC power to light the backlight inside, so a bit of simple DIY needed. It also has a film holder built in. Once ready and loaded you just place it on top of a regular flatbed scanner. hopefully it will be delivered before Xmas so I can verify that it is a viable way to go.

Hopes this helps.
 
Many many thanks Chris, I'll have a look n see how much the Fujifilm one is....... good advice about sticking to the one you know......... however, I'm none of the wiser with these, but I will get one and stick to it. lol

Thank you Paul, thats a great reply and whole bunch of good advice about the dpi. I don't think I'm going to go less than 4800dpi to be honest, I want at least some quality out of the scans. Also, as I'm going to be paying alot interest in developing my own film soon, so it's going to be a matter of B&W majority of the time.

Thanks again guys, I'll take all that to note when getting a scanner (hopefully if Santa hasn't got me one already) :D
 
Dan
The low end Epson flatbed with 35mm film scanning will see you right!

As I mentioned elsewhere a v300 can be had s/h for your money
Even the latest v330 can be ha for not much more ... They are only £99 new!
Either will do you a treat!

I have the v500 ... I bought it because it does MF film ... If you ever need to scan mf you can borrow mine!

For 35mm you won't get better than one of the epsons for your money i doubt!
 
Well, I have an epson printer (low budget) and it get me by, and I was thinking about sticking to epson....
I will have a look into it, I don't think I'll have the need to scan any MF though, although, once you pop.... you can't stop. :D :D
 
I have the Epson Perfection V500. Got it a while back for under $150 off Amazon. To be honest all the DPI and megapixel information confuses me some--actually a lot (I'll have to have a read through the link Pete posted)--but the V500 scans MF as well as 35mm and the software it comes with is simple enough even for lil' ol' me to use out of the box. Anything I've posted on my blog or on RPF or Flickr has been scanned by myself with the V500. For the money I think it's good. I've seen lots of similar testimonials.
 
Hi Dan, Some of my family just gave me hard currency for Xmas as they had no idea what to buy me. It came to enough to buy an Epson V330 which was ordered yesterday. Once I fire it up and scan a few negs I will let you know my thoughts on it. The only negative (pun not intended) thing I have heard is that it can take a while to scan film at 4800 dpi.
 
Sound Paul, Santa didn't deliver me a neg scanner for crimbo. So it might be a case of buying my own. Lol
But yes, do let me know! That would be brilliant!
 
How long approx does it take to scan a single neg? I know it depends on the size, type, make etc. but let's say for arguement sakes..... A 3200dpi... How long approx would it take??
 
Cheers hammy...... Santa got me a 200 squid voucher to spend at LCE.... So I might just see what's on offer!
Great reply on this thread guys..... Many thanks
 
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