Negative scanner.

amorgan · Feb 22, 2013

Hi,

My grandfather recently came across a box of old negatives that are from the early 20's up until the mid to late 30's. These are some photographs that no one has ever seen in our family. I have checked into getting them scanned at the only local photography store here but with the price they charge, it's not even an option anymore. I'm looking for a good recommendation for one of those negative scanners that can be hooked into the computer.

I'm not sure what type of negatives these are, some are quite large, about the size of a baseball card and others are the size of business cards. There are also some of the negative strips, I'm guessing regular 35mm negatives on those.

Thanks for the help in advance!

bhop · Feb 22, 2013

I use an Epson V700.. that's what I would recommend.

tevo · Feb 22, 2013

Epson v500 is much more affordable and will definitely do what you need, depending on the sizes of the negatives.

stewdygert · Feb 22, 2013

I use an Epson V330 and like it alot. It does exactly what i want it too. The V500 is a great option for not much more money.

amorgan · Feb 22, 2013

Thanks for all the options, I have been reading up on those and see that they come with a "Film holder for 35mm film strips and mounted slides". Will the larger negatives fit on this, or is there another holder that I can purchase that they will fit on?

Railphotog · Feb 22, 2013

I have the V500, it comes with a separate film holder for 2-1/4 film strips. Great scanner!

jake337 · Feb 22, 2013

If you just want to see what they look like on a monitor you could try this:

How to Scan Film Negatives with a DSLR

vintagesnaps · Feb 23, 2013

Are the larger sized negatives you mentioned in a strip like the 35mm or are they individual frames? I'm wondering if those are sheet film and if so that could affect what scanner would work for your purposes. Are the negatives marked the way that more modern day film is along the edge with the number giving the film size? I haven't seen enough old negatives to know if/how they were marked.

There are a couple of resources I have that give charts/info. about various film sizes that I can post if that would be useful. From the era you think the negatives are from, I think 120 was used but maybe not yet 35mm; 116 was still around then I think, and Kodak made a number of different film sizes before it became more standardized.

Sharon

manaheim · Feb 23, 2013

Mind you the one I have is OLD OLD OLD, so this may be different these days, but one thing to keep in mind is the time involved in scanning these.

Mine can scan strips of four negatives at a time, but you have to sit there for endless hours feeding the beast.

The slides are one at a time, which is brutal. And then you tend to need to calibrate for color and such... though again, newer ones may be better.

Each image takes a good 30 seconds to scan... though again, this is a 13 year old device I have and it's like 4000 dpi.

Anyway, just something to consider when you're making your decisions.

Turell · Feb 23, 2013

Hey!
I suggest that you measure the size of your negatives, if these are standards of today an Epson V700 can scan all of them. Maybe you have to buy holders separately.
I have not used the other scanners mentioned and therefore i will not suggest any of those.
About the negative sizes: the "business card size" might be 120 roll film, known as medium format (if someone mentions 220 don't get confused, it's just a longer roll but same format) , if that is the case one photo on the roll can vary in size because a lot of cameras use this format. It varies in size measured in CM. 6by7 4,5by6 and 6by6. The large sheets might be 4x5" (10,2x12,7 in CM). I think you are right about the small ones, 35mm.

When you have figured this out find the suitable scanner, i think epson 5-- or 7-- would be a good choice. If some of the pictures turns out good and you like them, maybe print them, you can find a place near you that rents out time on an Imacon Scanner this deliver the best quality in its own league, but you don't want to buy one. It is really slow because it only scans one negative a time and it is very expensive.

Good luck scanning, Christoffer

Josh66 · Feb 23, 2013

manaheim said:
Mind you the one I have is OLD OLD OLD, so this may be different these days, but one thing to keep in mind is the time involved in scanning these.

Mine can scan strips of four negatives at a time, but you have to sit there for endless hours feeding the beast. The slides are one at a time, which is brutal. And then you tend to need to calibrate for color and such... though again, newer ones may be better.

Each image takes a good 30 seconds to scan... though again, this is a 13 year old device I have and it's like 4000 dpi.

Anyway, just something to consider when you're making your decisions.

Newer technology has brought higher resolution, but that means longer scan times. If I can scan 2 rolls in a day, I feel good. One roll a day is more like it.

manaheim · Feb 23, 2013

Lol funny. So newer is even slower. Not often you'll see that in technology,

bhop · Feb 25, 2013

It does suck, but it's still faster than sending it out.

amorgan · Feb 27, 2013

Some of these negatives measure 4 3/4" x 3 3/4" and is a single, another is 4 3/4" x 3 1/4" and is two per film. Another is 4 1/4" x 3 1/4" and is another single. I have tried the DSLR method mentioned above and it's working beautifully, some of the larger negatives are of soldiers wearing what looks like World War I uniforms. Which would make these older than we originally thought. Thanks for all the help!

Light Guru · Feb 28, 2013

O|||||||O said:
Newer technology has brought higher resolution, but that means longer scan times. If I can scan 2 rolls in a day, I feel good. One roll a day is more like it.

Newer technology has also made the scans faster. I work at a history library doing digital preservation. I can scan a good well over 500 35mm slides in on day on a v750. One day I had two scanners running and scanned over 1000 35mm slides in one day.