35mm negative scanners

[tom beard]

I have 2k plus 35mm color negative frames that I need to scan. I don't want to take savings for my new dslr to buy a scanner. I could probably scan everything in about a week. Does anyone know if I can rent one? Second question is: Can you hook up the scanner to a computer and see it in positive? A lot of the stuff is bracketed, so I could do a lot of editing as I scan. The third question is that somebody told me I could scan the negs on my flat bed scanner. I doubt if that's true, but should I try it? The flat bed I have is over ten years old (Microtek Scanmaker x6), and I'm sure it doesn't have enough pixels to do anything that small. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Tom Beard

 

[benlonghair]

Have no idea on quality on any of these, but this would probably be a pretty decent place to start.

Or here.

 

[Josh66]

Is this a one time thing?

I would seriously consider sending them out somewhere.

You can do it yourself for a reasonable price, but it will take forever...

 

[AlexColeman]

This looks like an outside job, they can do a better job with much less hassle.

 

[Dwig]

I have 2k plus 35mm color negative frames that I need to scan. ...I could probably scan everything in about a week. Does anyone know if I can rent one?

... working 24 hrs per day, no sleep, a lot of drugs, ... maybe. If you need to sleep occasionally, along with eat, shower, ... , plan on something more like a month without spending any time to do any manual adjustments in the scan. You'll still need as much time or more to clean up the images and do final adjustments in an image editor.

Second question is: Can you hook up the scanner to a computer and see it in positive? ...

Yes, if you take the time to do a preview scan. You can't afford that time if you are intent on scanning 2k images in only a week.

The third question is that somebody told me I could scan the negs on my flat bed scanner. ...

Probably not with yours, but you can with mine. The resolution (your "number of pixels") is important, but easy to achieve with modern flat bed scanners. The big issue in scanning film is the dynamic range of the scanner (AKA Dmax or density range). Few flatbeds do well enough in this respect.

You generally need a resolution of 3200ppi and a dynamic range of 4.0 to do good film scanning. You can get rather decent results with resolutions of only 2400ppi and, unless you are scanning traditional B&W negs, a density range of 3.2. The EPSON v500 (like my brother's) is a decent flatbed for film (optical resolution of 4800ppi and dynamic range of around 3.3) at a good price (generally $200-250USD). The v700 (like mine) does a bit better (9600ppi/4.0) but at a higher price ($500-600USD). The better "dedicated film scanners" (read: film only) are often scan faster than flatbeds, but don't deliver better image quality than the v700 and its sister the v750 except a few very expensive models costing 3-5x as much.

 

[SrBiscuit]

in addition to the higher pixel count, you also need to have a light in the lid of the scanner...it allows light to pass through so you will be able to make out the image.
as far as seeing them in positive...the one we have at work automatically inverts the image to positive when you tell it you are scanning negatives.

 

[tom beard]

Again thanks 100x. From what you all say. There's no inexpensive way to do this. So, I'll keep saving for my dlsr, put all those negs back in storage and forget about it for now, buy a lottery ticket and hope for the best.
Thanks, Tom Beard

 

[Josh66]

There's no inexpensive way to do this.

Oh, there is. There is NOT however an inexpensive way to do this quickly...

You could pay more and send them out, getting them back fast.

Or, you could buy a decent scanner and spend the next month or two scanning negs.

 

[Josh66]

Sending them out might not actually cost as much as I thought...

drumscanning.com - Rates
No experience with this place, but their rates seem pretty standard after a quick googling.

...I'm not sure how much disk space 2000 negatives will take up though...
EDIT Mine use about 50MB at 9000x6000 pixels... Using those numbers, I think it could get very expensive...


You may or may not (seems like some places require it, others don't - or just don't tell you on the website) have to cut all of the strips into individual frames.

With 2000 negs, that would be a major pain in the ass...