Scanning Med Format and 35mm film

[John Walker]

Hi

 

I have thousands of images in B&W ,Transparencies and Colour Negs in Med Format and 35mm -  mainly family images over many years.

 

Alamy quality not top priority as I mainly just want to get them saved in digital format as I have very few as printed images now.

 

Any suggestions for the most cost effective system for scanning.  (On pension now)

 

Thanks

John

[ReeRay]

John, if you have thousands then clearly outsourcing is not going to be cost effective. I would suggest you purchase your own film scanner (s) which, if of sufficient desirability, can be sold on after the job is done. I say scanners (plural) as a dedicated multi format scanner is going to be expensive. Conversely a dedicated 35mm scanner (say) Minolta 5400 and a flatbed for the 120 stuff would not break the bank. I use a Minolta Multi Pro which is a very highly regarded scanner but not so easy to acquire. I also have an Epson V700 which is superb for 120 but a bit soft on 35mm. It gets very near to my Minolta at the 120 level.

 

Hope this helps

 

Ray

[Chuck Nacke]

Depends on exactly what digital files you want to create. For simple 35mm scans I would suggest a used Canon FS 2710 or 2710 USB can be bought on eBay for less than $100 USD.

You would need to have an old computer (I keep my old Lenovo laptop running Windows XP Pro). If you buy a used Canon film scanner DO NOT USE the included software package,

it is out dated, just load the most current software from the Canon web site. For nearly ten years I've been scanning 35mm film with a Canon FS 4000 US, which is a really

great scanner that Canon does not make any longer. I connect it to my Lenovo laptop via an ADAPTEC PCMCIA 16bit card. The 2710 does not have any automatic retouching

software built into it, so a lot of people are using Silver Fast or ? 3rd party software that has the auto retouch included. If you buy a used Canon 35mm scanner make

sure that it comes with the film carriers, they are impossible to find and are not made any longer. Another thing that most do not know is that Canon has promised to

give telephone tech support for life to anyone with one of their film scanners, sometimes you need to argue with them a bit, but they try to help. Also keep in mind

that I am a lifelong NIKON user...

 

For 120 film I've been using the Canon 8800 ($190.00 USD New) and it does an OK job, Alamy has been licensing the images.

 

The other item that makes scanning ALOT easier is PEC-12 film cleaner, I order it online and it will save hours of dust spotting.

[Bill Brooks]

Copy the photograph with a digital camera, do not scan. It can be faster and of higher quality. I have done a lot of 35mm and 6X7 scanning with a Nikon Coolscan 4000. However when I wanted to do some 4X5, I devised a system like this from stuff I had laying around.

 

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/report/1934699/hybrid-copy.

 

This article was written by an old codger who seems to know his stuff.

 

The results on 35 through to 4X5 were much better than the Coolscan 4000, except there was no dust suppression. I had to spend extra time either cloning the file, or cleaning the film. Always use this setup with a true prime macro lens.

[Martyn]

Copy the photograph with a digital camera, do not scan. It can be faster and of higher quality. I have done a lot of 35mm and 6X7 scanning with a Nikon Coolscan 4000. However when I wanted to do some 4X5, I devised a system like this from stuff I had laying around.

 

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/report/1934699/hybrid-copy.

 

This article was written by an old codger who seems to know his stuff.

 

The results on 35 through to 4X5 were much better than the Coolscan 4000, except there was no dust suppression. I had to spend extra time either cloning the file, or cleaning the film. Always use this setup with a true prime macro lens.

 

 

+1

[Joe Gaul]

Just a note on the Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 which I use; I keep an old laptop using Windows XP exclusively for this scanner as it refuses to run on later operating systems (although it is rumoured that certain third party software enables this). If your objective is for family stuff and not saleable material I would suggest a flatbed scanner may suffice as they can be picked up relatively cheaply, will scan both mentioned film formats, and may be more useful in the long run.

Good luck

Joe

[John Walker]

Many thanks to all of you who have made some excellent suggestions.  I can't use the camera suggestion as I've reduced my gear to just a Sony RX100.

 

There are probably a number of transparancies that might be useful for Alamy but not enough to warrant a scanner.

 

So... it looks like a new flatbed scanner is my way forward.  Suggestions for one that will do B&W ,Transparencies and Colour Negs in Med Format and 35mm.  Using Win7.

 

Thanks again

 

John

[wiskerke]

Many thanks to all of you who have made some excellent suggestions.  I can't use the camera suggestion as I've reduced my gear to just a Sony RX100.

 

There are probably a number of transparancies that might be useful for Alamy but not enough to warrant a scanner.

 

So... it looks like a new flatbed scanner is my way forward.  Suggestions for one that will do B&W ,Transparencies and Colour Negs in Med Format and 35mm.  Using Win7.

 

Thanks again

 

John

 

Last week I have copied some black and white negs using my RX100, so it can be done ;-)

My RX100 has a 52mm adapter glued in front and I have diy-ed some elements and close-up filters I had lying around to fit that.

It's 52mm, only because I have a 1.7 tele converter that can go in front and probably has to be quite close. Otherwise 49mm would have been fine.

Don't know if you have a mk1 or a mk2, but my gripe with the mk1 is that it accepts no remote or tether. (So I used the10 sec delay.)

I used a small 4x5 light panel like this.

 

wim

 

edit: the converter closest focusing distance is a couple of meters, so that won't work for the negatives: it's a very thick close-up filter you would be looking for. (The converter is a nice addition to the RX though.)

[Graham Morley]

Many thanks to all of you who have made some excellent suggestions.  I can't use the camera suggestion as I've reduced my gear to just a Sony RX100.

 

There are probably a number of transparancies that might be useful for Alamy but not enough to warrant a scanner.

 

So... it looks like a new flatbed scanner is my way forward.  Suggestions for one that will do B&W ,Transparencies and Colour Negs in Med Format and 35mm.  Using Win7.

 

Thanks again

 

John

 

 

As suggested in an earlier reply, the Epson 700 could be an ideal choice. I use a Epson V750, and am currently using Epsonscan for B/W and colour neg, and Vuescan for transparencies (I find Vuescan a bit clunky, but I have noticed the multi exposure setting does give a bit more shadow detail).  I use the V750 for 5x4 and 120 mainly, but have scanned a number of 35mm Kodachromes for Alamy.  As the earlier post mentions, scans from 35mm are a bit soft, but I have had scans from 35mm Kodachromes pass QC when the minimum size for submissions was 48MB, even when just one image was submitted (so it must have been looked at by QC).  If I had a lot more 35mms to scan for Alamy I would buy a dedicated film scanner, but for the number that I scan the V750 is fine.  Incidentally, if I were looking for a scanner now I would probably buy the V700, which is basically the same as the V750, but a lot cheaper.

[Ed Rooney]

It's a pretty good idea to buy a dedicated scanner, scan all your images worth scanning, and then sell the scanner on eBay. I have a Honeywell film duping set up in the back room. I wonder if the flash still works? I might try "scanning" with that. I would almost rather keyword than scan chromes. 

[Ed Rooney]

I'm sure I could jerry-rig a system, but this is the unit I'm refuting to . . . it's all in one: 

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONEYWELL-REPRONAR-MODEL-805A-SLIDE-DUPLICATOR-WITH-BOOKLET-/190945849951?nma=true&si=2aF2cq5yatQjBCd%252FlR0axzMfs0I%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[Rosemary Hawkins]

I have the Minolta 5400 ReeRay refers to (actually I have the Multi Pro as well).  They are both excellent (I have not tried to use either on a modern Windows computer tho, probably Windows XP or a Mac would be necessary) however I did pick up the 5400 on Amazon Marketplace for maybe $230 or so, though I had to buy a slide holder separately.  Anyway it does a fine job though only for 4 images at a time.  I use the Multi Pro for medium format though if I just want a record of my films I let the lab make me a CD.

[Robert M Estall]

srb-griturn in Tring Hertfordshire have been making adaptors and mounts and all manner of gee-gaws for cameras for years. Their latest thing is a slide copier for APS-C cameras at £95 They list fittings for quite  a few makes including Pentax and Sony. Worth asking if they can find a way of attaching it to your RX100. Everybody should have their details in their address book. In many cases, if they don't have a thing, they'll make it for you, and usually at a pretty reasonable price,

 

For bigger stuff, there are lots of flat bed scanners will do the job and you might find other uses for one anyway. Epson, Canon, HP; spoiled for choice

 

srb-griturn.co.uk