Sam's Club vs. Scanner

[glh17]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and don't have much photography experience. I have a Nikon P80 that I've been using for about 3 years. I haven't been entirely happy with my pics but the wide range of focal length is nice. I wanted something a little better for low light conditions and family photos. I also like to do landscape. I'd looked at Nikon's D90, D700, and D5100, but really didn't want to dump that much money into something I wasn't sure about. I figured I'd need at least 2 lens.

What I have done is purchase a Canon AE-1 Program with a Canon 35-70mm f3.5-4.5, 155A Speedlite flash, and FD/FL Vivitar 2x-4 converter on ebay. I added a Canon 24mm FD f2.8 NM+9.5/10 for landscape from ebay and a Tokina 70-210/4-5.6 F/Canon FD from B and H Photo. I have more in each of the last two lens than I have in the other stuff. I have about $225 total in the stuff, which is less than one-half what I just paid for my daughter's birthday present, a new Nikon P500 set up from B and H.

I chose the AE-1 Program because I had previous experience with it and really liked it. Long story, but it got wiped out about 20 years ago during a thunderstorm. Had it repaired but it didn't work. I gave my 188A Speedlite and Canon zoom lens (unharmed) to a cousin.

My problem is film development and digitalization. There are only three places in my town that do this: Walgreen's, Walmart, and Sam's Club. Walgreen's is significantly more expensive than the other two. There is a Costco's about 45 min, but that particular store doesn't handle film. I can get my negatives developed at Sam's for a little less than $2 per 24 exposures. I can get them on a CD for about $4. I have no idea what the quality is but I was hoping someone here would. Also, what about some of the flatbed scanners? If I can get a decent scanner for less than $300, I'd be interested. I've been looking at a couple of Epson's, the V500 and Perfection 4990 as I recall. Any suggestions?

I should have looked into this before I purchased, but I had no idea how hard and expensive it was going to be to get the film developed. I haven't bought film since the late 80s-early 90s.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[molested_cow]

Depends on how much more film you want to do.

A scanner is a few hundred bucks. You can get much better resolution out of it, but you do need to spend much more time doing the scanning and editing the photos yourself, which is what you should be doing anyways.

If a CD costs $4, say if you get a very decent scanner like EPSON V700 for about $500 new, you are only looking at 100+ rolls worth before it makes more sense to get your own scanner. Remember, what stores can scan for you will not be too high res. The V700 can push to 64k dpi, also allows you to do other types of films and negatives. It also serves as a regular flat bed scanner.

If you are going to be doing a lot of negative ( I used to go through 100 rolls of 36exp every year easily), buying your own scanner will be much better of a choice. If you are the occasional shooter, then just take them to the store.

 

[oifish]

I picked up a Epson V330 for around $90 at B&H.com. I love the quality of the negative and photo scans.

 

[glh17]

Thanks guys. I decided to go with the Epson V500 for $134.95 at B and H. I'd read mostly good things about the v700, v330, and the v500. I've got quite a few old photos that I'd like to scan as well as 35mm negatives. Although I don't anticipate shooting over 10-15 rolls a year, I'll get good use out of scanning the older stuff. Thanks again for your replies.