Scanner for Contact Sheets-Which one?

ornate_wrasse

ornate_wrasse

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Hi all,

I recently purchased a Nikon 9000 scanner. When I get it up and running, I intend to use it to scan both my 35mm negatives and my Medium Format negatives.

A friend suggested I buy a scanner for the purpose of making a contact sheet, which apparently the Nikon 9000 cannot do.

Does everyone use a separate scanner for contact sheets? If so, which one should I buy? I recently read about a new, low cost scanner that Epson is coming out with and wondered if that one, or a different one, would be a good one to buy. Of course, another question is do I even need a separate scanner for contact sheets?

I'd appreciate hearing from others about this.

Thanks.

Ellen
 
Brian Puccio said:
Well, are you going to be the type who scans every single frame on the 9000? If so, just generate a contact sheet with those images.
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt I would scan every single frame on the 9000. It would be nice to see what each negative looks like, much like what happens when I do a contact sheet in the traditional darkroom. If I can view a contact sheet, it would help me to better determine which frames I should scan on the 9000.

Ellen
 
Any epson flatbed that will scan film over the whole bed area. V750 is top of the range, but lower models will also do what you want.

For 35mm you can roll scan ona 5000 with the SA30 adaptor or rig your SA20 to do it.

Mike
 
ornate_wrasse said:
I seriously doubt I would scan every single frame on the 9000. It would be nice to see what each negative looks like, much like what happens when I do a contact sheet in the traditional darkroom. If I can view a contact sheet, it would help me to better determine which frames I should scan on the 9000.

Ellen
Click to expand...

I find that looking at the negs with a light box and a loupe gives me more information than I used to get looking at a wet darkroom contact sheet. And a whole bunch more than I ever got from a digital contact sheet.

It is simply a matter of your brain acknowledging that you can do it. Of course if you are already convinced that it will not work, no use trying.
 
I use a Microtek i800 for making contact sheets, which I do at 600 dpi. That's big enough to get a good look at the picture to determine if I want to print it or not. At that resolution, the scan is quite fast.
 
Bob's idea is definitely the number one in the bang for the buck and it has one hidden priority - it is also the fastest - just be sure to get a nice loupe that is comfortable to use (hey! you have just saved a lot of mony on a scanner 😀).

While the flatbed scanner can definitely work - the scanner is not too fast and you will need to develop some workflow to get acceptable low-res scans with minimum effort. Still it will be a time consuming process.

I have recently got a Microtek F1 and was scanning most of my 120 films (about 90) - lot of work indeed. Now I will keep scanning every time I shoot something so it will not be that bad. Still - scanning is the least enjoyable part of the process (OK, comparable to dust spotting of 2400 spi 4x5 scans 😉 )

One more solution could be to have the film scanned at some lower resolution by a lab.
 
I can use my Epson NX515 and load a SD card with scanned images on it and make a contact sheet.
OR
In Paint-shop Pro X3, there is a contact print option in the "Organizer" module. with adj collums and rows and image size with name.
 
Matus said:
Bob's idea is definitely the number one in the bang for the buck and it has one hidden priority - it is also the fastest - just be sure to get a nice loupe that is comfortable to use (hey! you have just saved a lot of mony on a scanner 😀).

While the flatbed scanner can definitely work - the scanner is not too fast and you will need to develop some workflow to get acceptable low-res scans with minimum effort. Still it will be a time consuming process.

I have recently got a Microtek F1 and was scanning most of my 120 films (about 90) - lot of work indeed. Now I will keep scanning every time I shoot something so it will not be that bad. Still - scanning is the least enjoyable part of the process (OK, comparable to dust spotting of 2400 spi 4x5 scans 😉 )

One more solution could be to have the film scanned at some lower resolution by a lab.
Click to expand...

The more I think about it, the more I like Bob's idea. After all, who wants to buy another scanner if I don't need to. I'm going to get pretty darn good at figuring out which negatives I want to scan on the 9000. I already have a nice light table and a quality loupe.

My friend who suggested I get another scanner is retired and has time to scan all day if he so chooses. I don't have that kind of time, so I think it's best to have a different approach.

Thanx for pointing out "the other option".

Ellen
 
I used to batch scan them and make contact sheet in photoshop, then I print them for free from snapfish since they always have promotions.
I am pretty lazy lately so no contact sheets...
 
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