negative scanners

[Helen B]

There is a common format, still in use, that uses film 2-1/4 inches (6 cm, 60 mm) wide. There are a number of scanners that will scan that size, or close to it, with a very wide variation in price and quality - $100 or under (maybe?) to $20,000 and upwards.

What sort of price are you thinking of, and what would you like you use the images for - ie what sort of quality do you require? You can get reasonable quality scanners for around $500-$600 (Epson V-700 or V-750; or Microtek M1 or F1) and a good one (Nikon 9000) for about $2000. There are plenty of others.

Best,
Helen

 

[whistule]

How does the time it take to scan each image compare for the different scanners?

I guess some of the dedicated film scanners pull the film in and scan each frame. Could you technically load the whole film through in one go? In this case are the images saved as separate files and how doe it work out where the borders are?

I imagine the V700 could be really quick - as in load the whole film in in strips but it must be really difficult to keep all those negatives clean and dust free??

 

[Helen B]

The Nikon 4000 and 5000 can be fitted with a feeder drum that will hold a full 36 exposures. They produce separate files for each image. The software does its best to detect the frame edges automatically. I have found that it works very well except when there is a lot of deep shadow near consecutive, adjacent frame edges at the beginning. It will also mess up badly if you tell it the wrong type of film - such as if you try to scan negative as if it is positive (there are some advantages to this). This really fools the frame-finding routine because it is looking for the wrong kind of bar. I often find myself in the wrong kind of bar without looking, but that's another story.

Best,
Helen