Scanning old negatives in bulk, is this a good deal?

[Submariner1]

I have about 800 old negatives that I would like scanned but I don't have the time to scan myself. I found a place online that will do the following and I am wondering if this is a good deal:

Will scan for .39/frame, 2000 dpi (6 meg file) into a 24 bit JPEG

or

.74/frame, 4000 dpi (16 meg file) into a 24 bit JPEG

What do you think? I might print a handful of these in the future but I'm not sure.

 

[Designer]

We fell for a deal like that. They claimed that they would "clean your transparencies" before scanning them. They did NOT clean them. I suggest that you clean them before you send them in.

 

[Submariner1]

Yes I plan to clean them. Just wondering if the price is OK.

 

[Light Guru]

The quality of the first option screens NO.

And your looking at $600 for the second option which is way high.

I suggest getting one of these and do it your self while watching tv or something.

Jumbl 22MP All-In-1 Film & Slide Scanner w/ Speed-Load Adapters for 35mm Negative & Slides, 110, 126, & Super 8 Films Amazon.com: Jumbl 22MP All-In-1 Film & Slide Scanner w/ Speed-Load Adapters for 35mm Negative & Slides, 110, 126, & Super 8 Films: Electronics

It can save to an SD Card so you don't have to be tethered to a computer.


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[Light Guru]

You could even pay a kid to scan them with that device and still come out with a much better price.


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[Submariner1]

The quality of the first option screens NO.

And your looking at $600 for the second option which is way high.

I suggest getting one of these and do it your self while watching tv or something.

Jumbl 22MP All-In-1 Film & Slide Scanner w/ Speed-Load Adapters for 35mm Negative & Slides, 110, 126, & Super 8 Films Amazon.com: Jumbl 22MP All-In-1 Film & Slide Scanner w/ Speed-Load Adapters for 35mm Negative & Slides, 110, 126, & Super 8 Films: Electronics

It can save to an SD Card so you don't have to be tethered to a computer.


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Thank you for this info! What image quality should I be scanning the negatives at with your suggested scanner?

 

[Light Guru]

Thank you for this info! What image quality should I be scanning the negatives at with your suggested scanner?

The highest quality possible.


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[WayneF]

What image quality should I be scanning the negatives at with your suggested scanner?

It depends, on your negative size, on your desired print size, and possibly on how much you want to crop them first. You want enough pixels to print at near about 300 pixels per inch.

That means, if scanning 35mm film, then about 1270 dpi scan will print 6x4 inches well, and 2540 dpi scan will print 8x10 inches well. But that is full frame, and if you crop then, and you probably will some, then you need proportionately higher scans, so a little more is a good thing. The scanner will offer a set of its standard menu settings, for example, maybe 150, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800 dpi... and the next larger one of those (larger than the computed size) is normally a good choice.

The scanning resolution defines the enlargement factor, for example, scanning at 2400 dpi and printing at 300 dpi, will create enough pixels to print a print 2400/300 = 8x larger than the negative. 8x enlargement.

Larger film, being larger, needs less scanning resolution than smaller film.
Creating larger prints, being larger, needs more scanning resolution to make larger prints.
A dpi calculator at Resolution DPI calculator for printing digital images from scanner or digital camera will compute this.