Flatbed scanner recommendations?

[Jansos]

I’m sure this has been covered before (if so please post link) but what would you recommend as a 35 mm slide scanner? Does it have to be flatbed if you are trying to process 5-6 at a time? It might also be useful to be able to scan some old 35 mm negatives.  Back in the day Agfa had a good reputation. Any others? Epson? Needs to be OSX compatible and make the tea in the morning! 

[Harry Harrison]

There have been a couple of very long threads on this subject but I don't think anyone recommended a flatbed. Instead it's recommended that you use your camera and a suitable macro lens. This is a new piece of equipment from Valoi that probably exceeds the capabilities of the Nikon ES-2 that was recommended in the latest of those threads:

 

https://www.valoi.co/easy35

 

This thread runs to 36 pages:

 

https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/12518-canon-slide-copying-set-up/

 

If you particularly need a flatbed then you'd be looking at the Epson V700, V750, V800, V850 series. If you are scanning colour negatives then you might find that the scanner software makes your life easier so you wouldn't need something like Negative Lab Pro, black & white negatives are straightforward to handle in Lightroom, Photoshop etc. though NLP works with B&W as well.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Harry Harrison

[Jay D]

I have an Epson V600 ( flatbed ) which was bought 2nd hand to digitise all of my old film ( mostly family ) photos including negatives and i love it. It came with the negative holder etc, very simple to use. Works perfectly well with all of my Macs although the morning brew leaves a bit to be desired. Not sure if it's better or worse than other methods but i'm really happy with it. Apparently the V500 is also a great machine. 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Jay D

[Jansos]

11 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

There have been a couple of very long threads on this subject but I don't think anyone recommended a flatbed. Instead it's recommended that you use your camera and a suitable macro lens. This is a new piece of equipment from Valoi that probably exceeds the capabilities of the Nikon ES-2 that was recommended in the latest of those threads:

 

https://www.valoi.co/easy35

 

This thread runs to 36 pages:

 

https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/12518-canon-slide-copying-set-up/

 

If you particularly need a flatbed then you'd be looking at the Epson V700, V750, V800, V850 series. If you are scanning colour negatives then you might find that the scanner software makes your life easier so you wouldn't need something like Negative Lab Pro, black & white negatives are straightforward to handle in Lightroom, Photoshop etc. though NLP works with B&W as well.

 

 

Cheers Harry, Thanks for the link and info. I'll check out those flatbeds as a first port of call.

[Jansos]

11 hours ago, Jay D said:

I have an Epson V600 ( flatbed ) which was bought 2nd hand to digitise all of my old film ( mostly family ) photos including negatives and i love it. It came with the negative holder etc, very simple to use. Works perfectly well with all of my Macs although the morning brew leaves a bit to be desired. Not sure if it's better or worse than other methods but i'm really happy with it. Apparently the V500 is also a great machine. 

Thanks Jay. This was the same conclusion an artist (fine art picture restorer) friend of mine way saying. I'll have a look.

[MDM]

If you are only digitising old family photos as Jay D was doing, a good flatbed scanner might be acceptable. However, if you want to get decent quality from 35mm originals, which might even have a chance of passing Alamy QC without going the archival route, then camera copying is a far superior method, depending on equipment, technique (shooting and post-processing) and quality of the originals.

[Harry Harrison]

39 minutes ago, Jansos said:

I'll check out those flatbeds as a first port of call

Flatbeds are excellent for archiving a mixture of prints, slides and negatives for a family archive but you have to completely ignore their quoted optical resolution as this is just theoretical based upon the sensor specifications and ignores the way the image is actually formed inside the scanner. The measured maximum effective resolution for the V600 is 1660 ppi and even for the V700/750/800/850 it's no more than 2600 ppi. This would give you enough to be acceptable for Alamy, particularly the latter,  but a 24MP camera could exceed the resolution of a 4000 ppi film scanner with the right lens and would be much faster to use than a flatbed, particularly if you go for the easy35/Nikon ES-2 design. A flatbed can be recommended for medium format though.

[Jansos]

2 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

Flatbeds are excellent for archiving a mixture of prints, slides and negatives for a family archive but you have to completely ignore their quoted optical resolution as this is just theoretical based upon the sensor specifications and ignores the way the image is actually formed inside the scanner. The measured maximum effective resolution for the V600 is 1660 ppi and even for the V700/750/800/850 it's no more than 2600 ppi. This would give you enough to be acceptable for Alamy, particularly the latter,  but a 24MP camera could exceed the resolution of a 4000 ppi film scanner with the right lens and would be much faster to use than a flatbed, particularly if you go for the easy35/Nikon ES-2 design. A flatbed can be recommended for medium format though.

Really helpful, thanks 🙂

[Jansos]

2 hours ago, MDM said:

camera copying is a far superior method, depending on equipment, technique (shooting and post-processing) and quality of the originals.

Got it, thanks a bunch. 🙂