Looking for B&W Negative Viewer (not scanner?)

[cglenn]

I have many B&W 35mm negatives from college days. Many are not worth digitizing, either because of content or bad focus. But these old eyes can't screen for these just looking at the small negative.

I need a quick way to view each image (a) converted to a positive and (b) enlarged. I don't need scanning, although I expect one can't get a viewer without a scanner. The images that I think may be worth a closer view I can scan and adjust using the same hardware (Epson V550) and software (Photoshop Elements) I am using for my color slides.

The largest screen I could find was for a scanner+viewer with a 3.5 inch screen (KODAK SCANZA Digital Film & Slide Scanner). That might do, but if I can find a larger screen, that would be great.

 

[dxqcanada]

 

[cglenn]

Thank you dxq. Unfortunately I don't have a tablet. Just an iphone, and I read how I can use it as a viewer, but the iphone screen is too small.

 

[dxqcanada]

Ah, too bad ... would have saved you some $$$

 

[vintagesnaps]

The negatives are older than him!?!

Look like it would help to have a way to hold the negative still with that...

I have slide viewers, and did a quick look and it looks like there are some for negs that magnify. Even Walmart of all places has one. Try B&H, they have all kinds of things under Lightboxes, Loupes and Slide Viewers; so does Adorama.

Those don't give a positive image though. Don't know if there's anything made for that purpose.

Or you can get a standard loupe for like $10, and larger loupes that hold the film, etc. I have one someplace but haven't used it much, I have a small lightbox, or hold negatives up to a lampshade. But obviously, a lampshade doesn't magnify.

 

[cglenn]

Hey vintagesnaps, these slides were taken from 1972 through 1979, when I switched to color slides. True, all TV was B&W back then. Isn't that what one is supposed to do in one's dottage...play with old photos?

Anyway, I took your (implied) suggestion to call B&H, and they did have something, a scanner, with a 4.3 inch screen (Wolverine Data F2D Titan).

If anyone can come up with a larger screen, I'll wait a day or two to order this, as I still have a couple of weeks of color slides to process.

After further research, I think this is a winner. While reviews say the scanning capability is only OK, for snapshots, it has an HDMI out. This disables the internal screen, but I think a 65" TV screen should do it for assessing if the image is worth real scanning and processing.

 

[KmH]

There were boatloads of color TV's in the 70s.
It was in the early 1970s color television set sales first outsold black and white TVs in North America.

 

[cglenn]

Off topic, but I started remembering TV about 1956, when I was 4 years old.

 

[dxqcanada]

Yeah, sitting around for a couple of minutes after turning it off just to see the white dot disappear ... been there, done that.

 

[Light Guru]

Thank you dxq. Unfortunately I don't have a tablet. Just an iphone, and I read how I can use it as a viewer, but the iphone screen is too small.

Connect your iPhone to a TV!

If you have an Apple TV you can wirelessly airplay your phone screen to the TV. Or you can get a iPhone lightning to hdmi adapter to connect it with a cable to the TV.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk