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Scanning 120 roll film - Advice on scanners please!


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Hello all,

 

I've got a large archive of old 120 roll film negs which I'd like to scan.

 

There's too many to consider paying out for drum scanning individually, so I'd like to buy a scanner and do it in my down time, (probably start over Christmas and January).

 

Has anyone got any advice on which scanner is best for this job?

 

Thanks,

 

Sam

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If you want to do it properly do what I did, buy a second hand Hasselblad Imacon Flextight scanner.

 

There are a couple on ebay for under £2,000, the results are exceptional.

 

Some of my best sellers were scanned from 6x7cm transparencies shot on a Mamiya 7.

 

Then when you're finished sell it on, I even made £500 on the deal, you certainly won't lose any money.

 

Good luck

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Being 120 negatives, you will have an extra time consuming task: Digital Ice wont work on dedicated scanners such as the Nikon 8000 or 9000 or the excellent Imacon. So there will be a lot of work with the healing tool.

 

When I was playing catch-up with my 9000, I reckoned 30 scans was a good day's work. That was with a mix of 35mm and 120 transparencies. I did about 6000 scans, it took a couple of years!

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I use a Nikon 8000ED. It does have ICE and I believe it works on color positives. I had some done on a Flextight and found the dust spots extremely time consuming to deal with. Incredibly sharp scans, though. 

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I have used an Epson 4990 Photo flatbed. Not really good enough for 35mm but OKish with the larger formats. The 35mm scans I submitted as archival but the 120s went through the normal channels. e.g Boldon Pit

 

I turned off all of the anti dust gimmicks etc and laboriously spotted the images in PS. I felt that the quality was better that way.

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On 120, I've scanned a few on a flatbed, I know but.....  From what I hear the Epson

is quite good, 700 or above.  If I was starting over I would shoot them with a 30+MP

DSLR.  I've heard that works for a lot of people.

 

Get yourself some PEC-12 film cleaner.

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I have used an Epson 750 flatbed scanner to digitize both 120mm and 4x5" transparencies.  I use the "wet" or oil bath method of mounting the transparencies.  This takes more time to set up each transparency but results in a cleaner scan requiring less retouching/spotting.  I've never had a digital file from one of these scans rejected by Alamy QC, and have scanned at least 2,000 transparencies.  The Epson 750 is not sufficient for producing quality scans of 35mm transparencies.  I use a Nikon dedicated film scanner for 35mm.

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Illumitran only works with 35mm

 

No.

6x6 with a vignetting fix in LR which I probably wouldn't need if I had the original carriers. 6x7 might just work- the OP didn't specify which.

archive-image-of-a-1959-maroon-austin-he

The Illumitran setup is fixed- no need to break anything down. It will take a camera and lens rather than the intended bellows and enlarging lens if required.

I agree with the DSLR/macro for a small number of originals though.

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I have a Plustek OpticFilm 120 scanner. Works very well and has some batch scanning capabilities Additionally, the infrared dust and scratch removal feature works great. Regardless, scanning is a mindless endeavor.  https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/890953-REG/Plustek_783064365642_Optic_Film_120_Scanner.html

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