Scanner or CD

Getting a photo CD, your frames will often (usually) be cropped by the software used in the store. Also, if the store gives you a resolution option, the higher resolution will be expensive.

I scan my store-developed film on an Epson V700, and am happy with it. I am free to scan the whole frame rather than have it auto-cropped in each instance. The first few weeks of learning to adjust the scanner software settings involved a lot of trial and error, but since then it's been very straightforward.
 
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I've a couple recent negative experiences (pun pun pun) that lead me to say "scanner."

One issue that I have discovered is that the box stores and such aren't really training their employees how to use their equipment. The equipment is good enough at doing its job. I've had bad scans because an employee scanned the negatives while they were still wet. Another time the employee took it upon himself to bump up the exposure on available light images that he deemed too dark--besides the fact that he scanned ALL of the negatives upside down so I had to flip 'em about after. He also had the nerve to tell me I made his job more difficult because he had to adjust all of my images.

Owning a scanner and scanning your own images is time consuming, which is a good thing. You start to think about which images really matter and which images are cool but not worth the effort. I'm sure some people will disagree, but I think there is something to be said for involving yourself in the process as much as possible--at least initially.

My 2¢

DB
 
If you've got the time, a scanner. To get decent resolution scans on CD from developers is often pricey, and then it's just a JPEG, no RAW or TIFF options.

A used Canoscan FS4000 is cheaper than £300, and very good.
 
If its really cheap I'll get a low res CD when I'm having 35mm C41 developed but only to use as a proofs. Generally load the images from the CD into LR then delete the ones I don't like and then find the negs/frames of the ones I like a scan them at Hi res 16Bit. after which I delete the low res files.
 
My experience is that unless you have the funds for a dencent scanner (Coolscan V or at least the latest Plustek models - either of then with a SilverFast Ai) and LOT of time (count more than 1 hour to get one 36 frame film scanned) to do the scanning yourself, it may pay to find a lab that offers scanning services. I have a scanner myself (flatbed Microtek F1 as I shoot 4x5" too) but still send many of my films to be scanned with some of the Coolscans (5000 or 9000) and I can get very good scans for about 0.2€ per 35mm frame and about 1€ for 6x6 frame HERE. I am sure you should be able to find similar service in UK.

Bottom line - shooting film is not cheap and keeps getting more expensive, unfortunately.
 
Matus said:
My experience is that unless you have the funds for a dencent scanner (Coolscan V or at least the latest Plustek models - either of then with a SilverFast Ai) and LOT of time (count more than 1 hour to get one 36 frame film scanned) to do the scanning yourself, it may pay to find a lab that offers scanning services. I have a scanner myself (flatbed Microtek F1 as I shoot 4x5" too) but still send many of my films to be scanned with some of the Coolscans (5000 or 9000) and I can get very good scans for about 0.2€ per 35mm frame and about 1€ for 6x6 frame HERE. I am sure you should be able to find similar service in UK.

Bottom line - shooting film is not cheap and keeps getting more expensive, unfortunately.
Click to expand...


No, I've not found a suitably affordable high quality commercial scan option in the UK🙁
 
infinitydreams said:
Are there any scanners for about £100 you could recommend, second hand is fine?
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James. I see you're not far from London. There are places in town where you can rent access to decent scanner. Depending on how much you scan, you may find this a good option. I have a 35mm scanner but hire time on the scanners at Four Corners or Photofusion for 120 and large format scans.

http://www.fourcornersfilm.co.uk/

If I was a better and more confident editor of my 35mm stuff I probably wouldn't even have a scanner at home and would rely on rental imacons. I find scanning tedious. Only scan the stuff worth scanning.
 
I bought a second hand old (1992) prepress flatbed scanner for £470. It scans at 8000 dpi optical, is remarkably quick, has extremely good work flow and really delivers. I have to use an obsolete mac to operate it, the only drawback though, maybe also that it isn't really a small thing, it weighs in at a hefty 155 kilos. But o baby, it's soooo worth it. It blows the imacon I used before right out of the water. It can do a complete roll of 35mm in batch mode and I can mount more negs while the unit is scanning, can put three 4x5s for batch scanning too. F*n fantastic.

Second hand is the way to go really, if you know or are capable of a lot of googling you can end up with the deal of the century. Old printing industry stuff is really marvelous and is available for cheap. I did a paid job with my M6. Imagine that for a while. Getting money back on your RF investments.

I also started scanning for other photogs and artists (on a small scale though) and it didn't take long before it had paid itself.

(sorry for not really adding to the thread, just so happy)
 
For color negative scanning, nothing I've tried can beat my local CVS. My old plustek and v750 could only come reasonably close after spending hours on a single image. Resolution is a different story, I'm just talking about getting accurate colors. I know a lot of drugstore mini labs have horrible pricing/processing/scanning, but If you search your area for a reliable, reasonably priced mini lab at a pharmacy it's the only affordable solution for color negatives that I've found.

I pay an extra $2 for a photo cd with scans of about 1500x1000 which is fine for the internet. If I want a good print I just take my negs to the local professional lab and pay for an 8x10 or 8x12 c print. If I absolutely need a hi-res scan of an image I'll use the epson v750 at my work, and usually I can get a result that I'm happy with after about an hour of work. In my opinion, it's really just impossible to scan c41 yourself if you plan on doing anything else that day and you want to get accurate colors.

If I shot black and white, I'd be perfectly happy with a v700 or similar flat bed.
 
James, for your Holga, any current flatbed will do fine. I use an Epson V500 and I think I get good sharp prints from sharp negatives up to 6x the linear dimension of the film.

35mm is harder. You'll want a Coolscan IV, V, 4000, or 5000 or a recent Plustek in order to get better scans than from the minilab.

Here is the US, Precision and NCPS deliver good quality very high resolution machine scans, much better than your minilab, for $12/roll from 135 and 120 films. For the 35mm, I can make a better scan with my Coolscan V, but it takes time and attention.

My biggest concern with a minilab is damaged film. Quality, training, and attention are highly variable here. I had one roll come back with many many small scratches (film fell on the floor?). I don't use a minilab for film I care about, but I do for testing cameras, lens, etc.
 
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