negs and slides using a film scanner

ajmall · Jun 16, 2004

i don't have a film scanner so i don't know but may well be getting one soon. is the quality the only difference in comparison when scanning a slide vs negative?

ksmattfish · Jun 16, 2004

There shouldn't be any significant quality difference between properly exposed, similar speed films neg or pos. Just that one scan is a positive, and the other is a negative that will have to be converted to positive to be viewed. This can be tricky, particularly if the film has a colored base, such as the orange base of most color neg film.

ajmall · Jun 17, 2004

ok thanks, thats made me feel better about getting a scanner...

Big Mike · Jun 17, 2004

Maybe the quality difference you were thinking about is between a flatbed scanner vs. a dedicated film/negative scanner.

In which case, there is a significant difference.

voodoocat · Jun 17, 2004

Scanning negatives is a little more difficult because of the orange base that ksmattfish talks about. Dedicated slide/negative scanners include software that is pretty good about picking up on that color but you still need to do a bit of color balance to get it right. There is also 3rd party software like Vuescan which has profiles for different print film types.

Once I got my scanner, I shot mostly slide film because of the colors and the ease of scanning compared to negative. It also has better grain. I found that ISO100 slide film > ISO100 print film in terms of color and finer grain.

ajmall · Jun 17, 2004

Big Mike said:
Maybe the quality difference you were thinking about is between a flatbed scanner vs. a dedicated film/negative scanner.

In which case, there is a significant difference.

nope, it wasn't.

my major question is cost because i'm very tempted to get a dig slr which obviously means no film and lab costs however, if i get a film scanner i would spend more money on slide film compared to print! decisions!!

Big Mike · Jun 17, 2004

ajmall said:
nope, it wasn't.

My Bad :?

ajmall said:
my major question is cost because i'm very tempted to get a dig slr which obviously means no film and lab costs however, if i get a film scanner i would spend more money on slide film compared to print! decisions!!

I'm saving for a DSLR and have thought about just getting a film scanner. The factor that I think sways the decision to the DSLR is that I will shoot a lot more if I don't have to constantly pay for film & precessing...even though it will take a while to make up the cost difference.

Plus, it's a lot harder to impress your friends with a new scanner than it is with a new DSLR. :lol: