Compact film/slide scanners

Dear BigH47,

The lab at your local big box store or chemist could have given you decent (not great) scans on a photo CD when the film was developed. You may want to have them scan a roll (if they will after the fact) and see if you're happy with the results.

As for scanning it yourself, it will be some work depending on how fussy you are. The scanners you mention will do a decent job, but you'll spend a lot of time in Photoshop fixing scratches and dust specs. Even the high-end scanners I've used in a professional print shop will only do so good with negative print film. Give it a shot, and good luck.

Mark

Thanks Mark, I seem to remember that there wasn't an option for a CD copy of the pictures at the time, it was few years back now.
We had a quote of £150 GBP for 30 rolls scanned to CD at the local Fuji shop.

BigH

Try ScanCafe. I got a load of prints and 35mm slides done by them. Very good once you get over the idea of sending your stuff to India.....

Jim

OK, let's suppose you are going to buy one of the scanners you mentioned. It can get very complicated here so I'll try to keep it simple.

You will be scanning a 35mm film to get a digital file, like a digital camera. The file will be in pixels, just like from a digital camera. A 10 megapixel DSLR gives you a file of about 2,000 X 3000 pixels.

You need to see the spec of the scanner you are considering for comparison. I've seen very low end cheap film scanners produce files of only 640 X 480 pixels, barely enough for a small print, and not very big when viewed on a computer screen.

The ones in your price range will probably produce files of about 2,000 X 3000 pixels, similar to that of a 10 megapixel DSLR. Keep in mind that it will take the scanner a full minute or two per frame to do this.

Also keep in mind that you will likely need a few minutes per frame to clean up the scratches and dust. Most scanners have bundled software that's good at this, and you will need lots of disk space to store your files.

Again, good luck.

Mark

Mark I hear what you are saying. Some of the specs:-

Cheapest one:
Focus Range Fixed
Exposure Control Automatic
Power USB 2.0
Image Sensor lens&quarter; 3 mega CMOS
Colour Channel 24 bit to 48 bit
Drivers Driver Free with XP, Vista 32/64 bit and Mac OS x10.34 above
High scan resolutions from 1400 dpi to 1800/3600 dpi


More expensive :
Interface: USB 1.1
Image sensor: 1/1.8-inch 5MP CMOS sensor
Lens: F no.=6.0, 3 glass elements, Half-field Angle= 15°
Panel: 2.4-inch TFT
Focus range: Fixed Focus
Exposure control: Automatic/ Manual (-2.0EV ~ +2.0EV)
Colour balance: Automatic
Scan high resolution: 2592 x 1680
Data conversion: 10 bits per colour channel
Film type: 35mm, Monochrome, Slide
Scan method: Single Pass
Light source: Back light (3 white LED)
Button: Left, Right, Start (capture)
TV OUT: YES (NTSC/PAL)
Storage: Built-in 32MB Nand Flash + SD card slot
Power: DC 5V (Adaptor included)
USB MODE: Mass Storage
Dimensions: 96.4(H) x 94(W) x 170(L) mm
Software: Arcsoft Photo Impression 6 (included) for WIN XP, Vista 32/64
Operation systems: Win98 (Driver needed), Win ME, Win 2000, Win XP, Vista 32/64, Mac 10.4
Capture: Stand alone operation without computer
# 48-bit, 3600 dpi optical resolution
# Simple one button scanning
# High speed scan and preview: 0.5 sec

Best option would seem to send the rolls away for scanning and mybe get one of these scanners for smaller batches/odd scans of important pictures.

Slightly leftfield suggestion but one option might be to but a Nikon Coolscan 5000 & Slide feeder accessory. You can pick them up on fleabay from time to time. It will provide excellent quality files, albeit large ones if max resolution is used. Each scan takes a while but you can leave the scanner and computer to deal with a whole film in a single hit.

Once you have batch scanned all your films, you could either decide to keep the scanner or sell it on for same/ similar/ greater amount than you paid (assuming you bought previously owned).

Peter

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
Thanks Mark, I seem to remember that there wasn't an option for a CD copy of the pictures at the time, it was few years back now.
We had a quote of £150 GBP for 30 rolls scanned to CD at the local Fuji shop.

BigH,
The local photo shop might be worth revisisting. Last year I got a "shoebox" deal where they would scan and burn to cd as many slides that can be fitted in a shoebox. At NZ$ 200 for 500 odd slides, and a bound thumbnail folder, this was a bargain, especially if you count your own time into the equation.

Dear BigH47,

"Best option would seem to send the rolls away for scanning and mybe get one of these scanners for smaller batches/odd scans of important pictures."

This sounds like a good strategy.

Both of the scanners you mention will work with your Mac. Both seem to have enough resolution.
With the cheapest one however, there is no mention of any image editing software (like Photoshop, or such).
With the more expensive option the bundled software seems to be for Windows only.

There are many Photoshop-like programs out there (I use Photoshop Elements, it's inexpensive and excellent) and you may even have one on your Mac already.

I would look at their warranties and get whichever one you feel comfortable with.

Hope this helped.

Mark

Thanks guys, it seems the scanners will be seen by the MAC and use some form of editing S/W on there.
I'll also keep an eye out for a flat bed with accessories, for future use.

With the cheep ones you mentioned - remember with UK distance selling regulations, if you bought via mail order and the quality is not sufficient then you have 7 or 14 days to return it.

Eloise

Dear BigH47,

All this talk of scanning old film negatives made me finally go out and buy one. It's an Epson V500 Photo flatbed, pretty inexpensive. If you have a decent negative to start with it does a surprisingly good job.

I scan 35mm negative film at 9600 dpi with all of the scanner's adjustments off or at 0. Then bring it into Photoshop Elements, adjust brightness and contrast, color if needed, sharpen a bit, and save it at 4 X 6 inches, 300dpi as a jpg. I find this size a good compromise for prints, screen viewing, and file size.

The color is pretty good on anything shot within the past decade or so, but I guess the dyes fade after a while, and the color on my 20+ year old negatives gets a dodgy. It can be made acceptable using Photoshop Elements.

Everyone loves seeing their old pictures in electronic form, so I'll be busy over the winter.

Mark