35mm film scanner suggestions

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existrandom

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hello all,

this must have been raised quite often; but reading through previous threads make me more confused... need some light 😕

i am thinking of getting a film scanner; refurbished or new; i am saving up for a budget of US 400-450
my eyes are still good but my back is hurting, so i reckon 35mm is the format i stick with for some time

i have some experience scanning with an epson flatbed & processing with basic Photoshop; operating on a Window platform... may start using Mac sooner or later

i am inclined to start developing my negatives, and ultimately learn to print in a wet darkroom before the art dies; so it is more of a forwardability issue

would love to hear you guys' advice and suggestion; espcially on handling, workflow and software compatability, etc

great thanks!
 
I bought a flatbed scanner, an Epson perfection 3590, about $150. It is a flatbed with a separate door for scanning negs. Takes strips up to six negs in length. Works very well. Plus you can scan in photos on the flatbed. I think it works as well as any film-only scanner. No need to spend a lot of money the way the technology has gone on these things.
dan
 
The Canon FS4000US is good. It's pretty cheap used. It's not fast though so if you're going to scan many negs it may not be the best option.
 
wait for a couple weeks and see the results of my massive scanner test. We'll have a bunch of scanners all testing 35mm and 120 films.

If you want to just buy a good film scanner right now, I can say that the Konica MInolta 35mm scanners are fantastic. My mom has a Dual Scan IV or Dual Scan Elite or something, and it is really nice.

Way under your budget, too, if you look around. I have heard that the KM scanners are better than the Nikons in terms of reliabilty. Just opinions, though, I think
 
Flatbed scanners do a good job with medium format, but they're not as good as a dedicated film scanner for pulling out detail and nuances from 35mm negatives or slides. Canon and Minolta film scanners are good, and although I've never owned one, I've heard good things about Nikon scanners.

Gene
 
I just picked up a Nikon Coolscan III on eBay for about $75, shipped.

I used a Minolta ScanDual III prior to my current Canoscan 9950F. The flatbed produces decent results, but it still does not equal a dedicated film scanner.
 
For any kind of negative (colour or B&W) the Plustek OptixFilm 7200 does an excellent job and gives you the highest resolution on the market (7200 dpi) all that for half your budget new.
On the other hand the DMAX of just 3.4 will make scanning high contrast slides a bit of a challenge.

Here is what AP has to say about it:

"The 3.4 DMAX isn't the highest on record, yet despite this the 7200 still manages to deliver impressive results from negative film up to an A1 print size, and providing the contast isn't too high it does a good job with transparency film too"

I have one and I certainly agree that, depite the fact that the resolution and price may seem at odd with one another, the scanner really delivers.
 
Konica Minolta have left the film business and so they will not be producing any more scanners but there seem to be more people here with KM scanners than other brands so maybe that says something. I too have read that the Nikon 5000 is highly regarded and that may be your best bet in the long-term however.

If you just want to scan for display in a low resolution environment like the internet then an inexpensive model like the KM SD IV will do fine so long as you aren't doing color (no ICE with the bundled software). I have one and its fine, although it broke already and was repaired under warranty.

The other consideration is 3rd party software. Many here claim that independant software is much better than what comes bundled with the scanner. The two major brands seem to be Vuescan and Silverfast. I bought Viewscan but so far have been unable to learn how to use it correctly (it has a very poor user interface) so I can't really comment on its performance.

 
Scanners used by various different people with different levels of ability, knowledge and workflow techniques is going to tell you almost nothing.

Best to look over various online review sites where people wth vast experience discuss different features and aspects and to help you decide what is important to you. Pretty much any good quality scanner from a reputable company (Nikon, Canon, Minolta, etc.) are all capable of excellent scans.

I've seen good scans and poor scans from the same scanner. The operator of the scanner and his/her ability is far more important than the different brands or models. You will be mostly limited by your ability and technique, not by the model or brand of scanner you choose.

After you decide which one seems to have the features you find most important get a good book on workflow (I love the "Real World" series), go to www.scantips.com and the practice practice practice. Nothing like real experience to make yourself a good scanner---no matter what anyone else says or thinks about their own personal scanner.
 
Here is a scan of a trasparency (Provia 100) at 7200 dpi with my Plustek Opticfilm 7200, and a 100% crop
 

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fgianni said:
Here is a scan of a trasparency (Provia 100) at 7200 dpi with my Plustek Opticfilm 7200, and a 100% crop
Click to expand...

Francesco, are you using the Silverfast software that comes with that scanner?

Did you have to make many adjustments to the settings or is that delivered from Silverfast's "auto-exposure" settings?

Thanks,
Nick
 
I, too, have the Plustek Opticfilm 7200. It came with Silverfast, which I found far too fiddly, so I bought Vuescan, which is kind of nice as it takes over the scanner and runs it. I am still learning how to use it. I know I'm not doing it properly yet as I scanned a 5X7 print on my rather old HP Scanjet 3570c, resized to 8X10, then printed it on my Epson 820; then scanned the neg with the Plustek, made it 8X10 and printed it. I could not really see any difference and I feel there should have been.

Ted
 
I'd second the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED works very well with Ed Hamrick's Vuescan software
 
nksyoon said:
Francesco, are you using the Silverfast software that comes with that scanner?

Did you have to make many adjustments to the settings or is that delivered from Silverfast's "auto-exposure" settings?

Thanks,
Nick
Click to expand...

I use Vuescan, cheap ($49 standard, $89 pro version) and top-class, with silverfast I do get reasonably good results, but it fails miserably on chromes.

See https://www.hamrick.com for vuescan
 
rich815 said:
Scanners used by various different people with different levels of ability, knowledge and workflow techniques is going to tell you almost nothing.

Best to look over various online review sites where people wth vast experience discuss different features and aspects and to help you decide what is important to you. Pretty much any good quality scanner from a reputable company (Nikon, Canon, Minolta, etc.) are all capable of excellent scans.

I've seen good scans and poor scans from the same scanner. The operator of the scanner and his/her ability is far more important than the different brands or models. You will be mostly limited by your ability and technique, not by the model or brand of scanner you choose.

After you decide which one seems to have the features you find most important get a good book on workflow (I love the "Real World" series), go to www.scantips.com and the practice practice practice. Nothing like real experience to make yourself a good scanner---no matter what anyone else says or thinks about their own personal scanner.
Click to expand...


I think this is the reality. A scanner is only as good as the operator. However, a good operator can max-out a scanner, so if you're going to get one (and you're going to use it a lot) get a decent one— because you're sure to get good at it.

It might be more beneficial to ask what features experienced operators look for in a 35mm film scanner.


🙂
 
What about epson 4490? Any kind souls to show any sample scans? I have tons of negatives to be scan, but still deciding on which flatbed scanner.
 
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