Negative scanner - any ideas?

Hi All

I'm thinking that scanners (film and flatbed) will have improved at the same rate as digital cameras. Does anyone have any thoughts on or experience with a suitable scanner which might save me having to set up a wet dark room to make more creative use of 35mm black and white negatives?

I have a veho slide scanner which gives images which are ok for e-mailing but maybe not for decent sized prints.

One computer magazing mentions a C*non flatbed (9000F) as being a top choice but doesnt review it as a photo tool.

I've got an Epson Perfection V500 PHOTO flatbed USB connected scanner which does everything I want of it - documents, photographs and negatives (comes with supplied frames to position the negs whilst scanning). Don't kid yourself that it's a swift process - far from it - but the results are good.

If you want to "try it out," you could post me a negative, I'll scan it and e-mail you the resultant digital pic.

Ray

I use a Konica Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV with no problems. I also have an Epson Perfection 2450 Phot flatbed . . . which I hardly ever use.

The software? Vuescan. Simples.

To say 'me too' I have a Epson Perfection 4490 that deals with MF negs with ease.

C

I've got an Epson Perfection V600 flatbed which does a very good job. Having said that around 80%+ of my scanning is from 120 size negatives, if I was just scanning 35mm negatives I'd have probably gone for a dedicated film scanner (dedicated MF film scanners cost way too much for me to afford).

I have a Konica Minolta Dimage Dual Scan IV too, worth looking out for on eBay.

I have version III of the Dual Scan which is excellent for 35mm. I am looking into a flatbed though for my medium format and 5x4 images.

K.

Thanks for the thoughts. All very helpful. I can't see anywhere to buy the Minolta film scanner from. Does anyone know if its available under a different name or model number?

The Minolta has been out of production for some years so eBay's your best bet.

Digital Photo October Out Now. Review of new "Plustek opticfilm 76001 SE" Rated 5 star. I have, like many others, an Epson flatbed scanner which does the job for me but if you want a dedicated model then look this one up. CHEERS Vic.

Be careful with old scanners a lot of them need a SCSI card.
I've got old Nikon and Olympus scanners but rarely use them
nowdays or any other SCSI stuff for that matter. I used to like
SCSI but the industry dropped it for Firewire and USB. Still got
SCSI DAT drives, Jaz drives, Tape drives etc.

With the various scanners mentioned how much of a problem is film curl? I have just got back a newly developed film which has been cut into strips of 4 35 mm negatives.

Using my cheap veho scanner's strip holder the end negative is not properly held leading to that part being out of focus.

I imagine the best solution would be for the negatives to be sandwiched between glass plates?

Thanks again for all your comments

The Minolta film holders, one for strips of up to six frames and another for up to four mounted slides, hold the film perfectly flat. The scanner actually focusses and I'm not sure if the cheaper ones do. Glass plates would introduce another four surfaces to attract dust.

Thanks Ken. I'm a little reluctant to buy second hand unless I knew the scanner had not had excessive use but its good to know that the Minolta does secure the negatives so well.

A general question to anyone who scans negatives - if you wanted to go to A4 size and had a good inkjet printer would the results via the scanner be as good as those returned by mail order D and PO houses? I wonder if these commercial mass D and P businesses use scan and inkjet rather than conventional enlarger. If they do use digital scans to rpint from then maybe a film scanner would be very comparable?

Geoff

They can be, a lot depends on the negative/slide, the type of film used (some scan better than others) as well as the printer/paper combination.
TBH, if you just want prints of select negs you are probably better off sending them off. Scanning is a slow and painful business and by the time you have got a scanner, some negative cleaning fluid and pads, printer, paper, extra computer memory and so on it has turned into a major investment.

K.