# Best scanner for negatives?



## Tika4 (Jan 22, 2005)

I recently found out that there are scanners that can scan in 35mm negatives and turn them into pictures. That is correct, isn't it? I am looking to purchase one of these scanners as I have a ton of negatives but no pictures due to a flood. I refuse to send out the negatives to a company because I would be devestated if they were lost, not to mention the cost would be significant. I am able to spend around $500 for the right scanner if necessary, but before I do that I thought I'd get some opinions on which scanner is the best deal for this purpose. Any suggestions? I don't know of anyone who has used a scanner for negatives, so I'm hoping someone here has had some experience.  
Mel


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

have a look at Nikon they have some good 35mm scanners
it depends on the resulting quality you are after too.

Canon, Minolta all make 35mm scanners

This depends on how much time you also want to spend post processing and printing 
Do you have a good simple printer which gives reliable results on every print

I know this site may be no good to you depending on the country you are in BUT 
heres a list of Nikon scaners
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/xx/33/xx/266/9/criteresn.html


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

Any scanner that has a backlight may be able to scan in film (positives or negatives), the issues are primarily the resolution that you can get in the approximately 1 sq. inch of image. If you need an image to have at least 2400 pixels on a line, then you better get at least a 2400 dpi scanner. (If you need more, then get an even higher resolution scanner.) Getting a scanner with 9600 dpi resolution is not uncommon. For your own best results, ensure that it is the true resolution of the scanner you are comparing, and not an "interpolated" resolution (sort of a software devised resolution from something less than).

Another prime consideration is the proper illumination behind to be able to get a good image, and secondarily to be able to easily hold the film during the scan process. If that means a special jig to position the film or slides, or even a special mount, then that is something to look for. A third thing, you might consider, is something that will assist you in handling the film or slides if you have a large number to do.

With all that, and you scanning what you want, just about any half decent image manipulator (I am thinking something like IrfanView but there are MANY others) that can then reverse a negative, if needed.


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

I have a dedicated film scanner but have never had the patience to feed all my negatives and slides through it. I'm considering one of these because you can do several strips at once, so you can set it running and do something else.

Epson V700: http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson V700/page_1.htm

Epson 4990: http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson 4990/Page 1.htm

Canon 9950F: http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Scanners/Canon_9950F/page_1.htm

The Canon will hold an extra strip. The Epsons have true Digital Ice laser scratch and dust removal. It takes a while but that doesn't bother me if I can do a bunch at once. Canon uses a digital scratch and dust removal that is faster than the Digital Ice and seems to work better than I would have thought. I would still prefer Digital Ice I think.

All three scan negatives better than his old Nikon dedicated film scanner and not quite as well as his newer Nikon 4000. But that isn't a bad bracket - they do a nice job on film and slides as you can see in the reviews. I already have Vue Scan, so the weaker Canon software wouldn't be a big consideration for me. I think I slightly prefer the Epson V700, but they all have positive points. My wife took a lot of APS photos and I'm not sure I am thrilled about the quality you get on the V700 with negatives you have to put directly on the glass. He didn't test that with the others so it might not be any better.

The Canon is considerably cheaper and might be the better buy.


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

I can't offer any specific models but I would suggest looking for one that has an easy way of feeding it, preferably one that does it automagically.  I have a HP scanjet 3970 and I'll have to say the negative scans are outstanding but I think that's going to be pretty common no matter what brand you get as long as it's made for scanning negatives. The feed though is manual and you have to remove the negative holder for each strip, you can do the whole strip at once but it's still very time consuming. I only use it occasionally so it's not a hassle for me.

A quick tip, get some air in a can like you use to clean the dust from your computer to blow off the dust on the negatives... You may not even be able to see it but even this will show up in the scan.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Never had a negative to play with .. so I had to play ChuckE's .. Happy Birthday Chuck.
The first attachment is the Image reversed with the freeware Irfanview... http://www.irfanview.com/
The second attachment is the Image "quickly" adjusted with Photoshop Elements.

You might want to take some of your Funds, and get a good Image editor like Photoshop Elements ~$79...
If you don't have something already.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Also &#8230; One of our club members was talking about this subject. 
He shopped around and found a photo service that would do it.
His slides were in a carousel .. and he was instructed to bring the carousel.

He said the price was reasonable .. perhaps less than the Equipment and Ink required for him to do it.
I think he said he had it done at Walgreens &#8230;. Perhaps they&#8217;ll do the prints and provide a CD.

Have you shopped around for a photo service ???


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## Tika4 (Jan 22, 2005)

Thanks for all the information, I'm going to start looking around and comparing suggestions. I just wanted to be sure I didn't buy the wrong one and end up disappointed. I have Photoshop already, been playing around with that for a while now.  

As for a service, I did check around but so far the cheapest I found for 35mm negatives was around $1.19 per negative to have a picture made. In the end that would end up costing me way more than getting a scanner and doing it myself. Besides, I need a project for this coming winter anyway.  

Thanks again for your suggestions and assuring me that this can be done. 
Mel


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

I could have tweaked the IrfanView controls to arrive at pretty much the same result. But you don't know how my original subject was lighted. Those tweaks, no matter what tool you use to revert a negative, can be purely subjective.

For the few things I do, I have to weigh FREE with the cost of any other tool.


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

I don't know what kind of image *ChuckE* attached, but it is not an uncorrected scan of a negative. Color negatives have an orange color that is a bear to correct. You can't just inverse a color negative and get anything resembling a decent picture. We had a method in the old days of sampling the lightest orange and subtracting it before inverting the image. It always required some tweaking. I attached an uncorrected negative scan I found online along with the VueScan correction. It is fun to play with but you have to be reasonably competent with an image editor to get it right. I doubt you could come very close in Irfanview. This has both the source photo and instructions for converting in Photoshop: http://www.macedition.com/feat/film/feat_film_20030626.php

Fortunately modern scanners designed to accommodate negatives and slides have software to take out the orange when you select "negative" as your source. They also invert the image after removing the orange, so the output is in normal color. You can get the uncorrected orange negative by setting your source to transparency. Specialized scanning software like VueScan and the full Silverfast will let you import a negative image in JPG or TIFF format and both correct for the orange and invert. The only time I can think of you might want to do that with modern equipment would be if you modified a digital camera to copy film strips. Otherwise anything that can give a decent film scan already has the conversion software built in.

If you have the patience to do one strip at a time you can get a good dedicated film scanner at a decent price. The Nikon CoolScan V ED is about the same price as the Epson V700 flatbed and will give better scans than any flatbed. People often scan their entire film collection after converting to digital and then put them up on Ebay. A couple less expensive ones you might look for are the Canon 4000 and Minolta Dual III.

My film scanner automatically feeds the strip, but one strip at a time requires a lot of work for a large collection. The two Epsons I listed above take 4 strips at a time and the Canon 5 strips. And the quality is better than lower end dedicated film scanners. Few flatbeds have that kind of film scan quality. Scanning a large film collection is a lot of work. I'm not about to do it one strip at a time with my film scanner. And spending all that time to scan my collection with a lower end flatbed is out of the question.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

There is a heck of a lot to color photography and negatives than just inversing the color plate, granted. Whether or not your negatives have a high pronounced orange tint to them may have a lot to do with the gels or emulsions used in the film, or even the subjects being photographed. There is even a lot of difference in the lines of film within the same company (Kodak has many different color film lines.)

IrfanView is not a photoshop. It does not have the tools to correct for varying histograms. I do not profess to know anything at all about photography and film developing. All I mentioned was what to look for in scanners to scan in negative film stock.

I only off-handily, and regrettably, mentioned that there are tools, like IrfanView, that can do a reversal of a negative. If you need professional results, get professional tools.


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