Scanning negatives and other ?s

[Overkill-F1]

My Canon MP970 printer/scanner came with a negative and slide adapter. The lid has a strip of plastic with a lamp in it for scanning negs and slides, but this lamp isn't much wider than a strip of 35mm film so I cannot use it for my 4x5" negatives.
I would like to try using a larger light source to cover the larger negatives. Has anyone experimented with substituting a light source on a flatbed scanner? I have a Zone VI cold light head from my enlarger that I might try. Any advice or comments?
...Terry

 

[BostonBrother]

Those are some nice pictures. You are making me rethink which scanner I should buy.

 

[Battou]

My Canon MP970 printer/scanner came with a negative and slide adapter. The lid has a strip of plastic with a lamp in it for scanning negs and slides, but this lamp isn't much wider than a strip of 35mm film so I cannot use it for my 4x5" negatives.
I would like to try using a larger light source to cover the larger negatives. Has anyone experimented with substituting a light source on a flatbed scanner? I have a Zone VI cold light head from my enlarger that I might try. Any advice or comments?
...Terry

Yes, all my expariments with this have met with failure. Using an alternate light source to backlight a neg had a strong tendancy to blow it out to the point of nothingness. I was unable to effectivly diffuse the light to get a good scan.

One thing I did and had marginal success with was just scanning the neg as a regular image, converting to CYMK and manually removing the Magenta from the film, however for color negs this is pointless as I found I was unable to get the colors correct after doing so.

 

[registradus]

Hi!

Do any of you know of a Multi-Function Printer/Scanner that does a decent job of scanning medium format film? I've heard that the Canoscan 8800F is excellent, but I can get a Canon Pixma 970 for only another $50 (includes printer, print cd's, etc)... only I am not sure of the quality? The resolution is the same.

Thanks

 

[Early]

Well, dragonlady, in short: if your scanner does not have a transparency adapter, you simply cannot scan your negatives.

Mine has got one, and came with its accompanying software (of course), which enabled it (at first) to convert the scanned negatives into positive pictures on my screen in the scanning process, plus create a large enough picture, but for some odd reason lost this ability in the course of time. It now no longer recognises them and produces a very purple, small and negative picture.

You should try re-installing your software.

 

[bhop]

Hi!

Do any of you know of a Multi-Function Printer/Scanner that does a decent job of scanning medium format film? I've heard that the Canoscan 8800F is excellent, but I can get a Canon Pixma 970 for only another $50 (includes printer, print cd's, etc)... only I am not sure of the quality? The resolution is the same.

Thanks

The links in my post above (the one with the pics.. links are underneath) is medium format. Epson 4490

 

[Cappahayden]

You've gotten good results bhop. I also scan 35mm with a flatbed (Canon 9950f) and am very pleased with the results. I am also very happy with the results from scanning prints. I was not happy with my son's school pictures but apparently waited too long (3 days) to complain about it. I contacted the photographer, who said it was too late to do anything about it. I asked him would it be OK if I scanned it for adjustments and make a couple of prints for myself, he was too happy to say go right ahead to get rid of me. I did just that. Scanned an 8X10, cropped ,adjusted levels, colour, and sharpened. I was quite happy, if not a little amazed at what my printer spit out. I think there are some very good flatbeds out there capable of some very good results. As long as your not one of those people who scrutinize results at the tip of your nose.

 

[CanTex]

This may not be the place to ask BUT for 40 years worth of amateur-level slides and negatives that I wish to scan and archive, what scan resolution is best? Some family "snaps", some B&W wannabe shots. There may be the odd one that I'd blow up to 11 x 14 but that would be rare. Also, for this level of scanning, what is the best compromise scanner from all the above? Flatbed with adapters? Dedicated film/slide scanner? Lastly, is there a good "dust wipe" for old slides/negatives?