Transforming film pictures to digital pictures...how?

[nist7]

Hello fellow photo-enthusiasts. I'm a student that is taking a photography class for the summer to fulfill a humanities credits. To my pleasant surprise, I have picked up this hobby and will soon go develop my first *artistic* roll.

I inherited a Cannon EOS 5 from my grandfather, who worked as a photojournalist between China and Japan. I believe the US-equivalent of this is designated the A2E. It is the traditional film SLR, albeit it does have a hodge podge of computerized functions.

Now, my professor briefly mentioned that if you take a traditional roll of exposed film (say, color negative) to one of the express photo printing places (pharmacies, wal-mart, etc.) they can put the pictures onto a CD.

Is this true? And what kind of image quality do I expect? Raw image file? JPEG?

Also, do the various photo processing places differ in their quality? Or should I just go to wal-mart since they seem to have the best prices?

Thank you for your time. I'm hoping this transformation wouldn't be as much of an effort as what Industrial Light and Magic had to do for Optimus Prime. :thumbup:

 

[deanimator]

Most labs offer this service
It´s not a drama

You say, "here´s my film...please put it on a CD"

They will develop the film as usual, then scan the negatives and software converts it to the image you see on the CD.

It may be possible to specify the quality of the scan, but it will certainly be at least good enough to make normal sized prints. Ask them to show you an example.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

As mentioned, this is pretty easy to do...just about any lab will put your images onto CD for you. Some labs do offer a higher resolution file, so ask around.

 

[nist7]

Cool. Thanks for your replies!

 

[Digital Matt]

To get the most quality and consistency, I would recommend going to a pro-lab. Your professor should know where one is located near you.

 

[morydd]

Anyone know of a good bulk scanning service that won't break the bank? I've got years of film that I would like to have digitized, but don't know that buying a film scanner is worth it in the long-term.

 

[deanimator]

Commercial scans are usually quite expensive!

If you want to scan 35mm negs, the flatbed scanners such as Canon 4200F have good built-in film scanners, and only cost around $100.

If you have a lot of negs, then you´ll save a lot of money by doing it yourself...but it may just take forever!

 

[carusoswi]

Commercial scans are usually quite expensive!

If you want to scan 35mm negs, the flatbed scanners such as Canon 4200F have good built-in film scanners, and only cost around $100.

If you have a lot of negs, then you´ll save a lot of money by doing it yourself...but it may just take forever!

Excellent advice. I have an older Epson "Perfection" 2400 scanner that came with holders for 35 mm film and also mounted slides.

If you scan yourself, you have the opportunity to review the images before saving. Thus, you can correct defects - rid your pics of red eye, correct exposures, color balance, etc.

You also have control over the resolution. I'm not certain about the resolution you'll get at typical local one-hour photo walk-up counters in places like Rite-Aid and Wal-mart, but, I think they will scan to optimize for the web . . . and that means you will have lower resolution . . . wouldn't be my choice.

Good luck.

Caruso

 

[glaston]

Scanning negatives is a bit tricky without a scanner that's built for it.

Years back I took on the task of scanning slides for a guy.
I couldn't do it.
I sought out the information needed to complete the task as always.

It came down to "buy this fixture for over $200, or make your own"

I'm sure you can still find the information, you basically create a pyramid shaped piece out of paper or plastic and put it over the slide, this allows the light to pool behind the slide.

The guy I was working with went to a photo place to have it done and they scanned them normally.
They looked like ****!

 

[tshue]

you might want to check with your university's library. if they have a media center type area they might have a film scanner.