Cheap dedicated film scanner or DSLR with bellows and enlarger lens?

[VF101]

Having used my extremely cheap Epson V330 flatbed scanner for several years, I want something better. Especially since the Epson is now producing white spots on the scans, which seem to come from dust inside the scanner, because on consecutive scans, they move around. (look here for some scans)

I'm now undecided – should I get a dedicated film scanner or use my DSLR (EOS 1100D) with a bellows and the 50mm enlarger lens I use for my wet prints. A cheap film scanner seems to give decent results, but I've read a lot about banding issues, dust problems and the likes. I could get a used M42 bellows with a slide duplicator. Getting a M39-M42 adapter should be easy.

I'll continue the Epson scanner for contact prints. So the film scanner or DSLR-bellows-combination would just be used for scanning the real keepers. Doing mostly black and white and slide film, the orange mask problem of the color films shouldn't be a problem with the DSLR.

Is anyone using a DSLR and an enlarger lens for scanning films? Or are the dedicated scanners just to easy to use to resist?

 

[Ansel]

I am very happy with my Plustek 8100. I think I picked it up for about 130€ new.

 

[JRminox]

Minolta bellows and NEX-7. I've done my 9 x 11mm 1960 vintage Minox films. Worked very well.

 

[marek_]

I'm using a Ricoh GXR + M-mount kit with bellows and a Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S 2.8/50 enlarging lens. This setup is multiple times better then scanning my 35mm b&w negatives and slides with my Epson V600. In my opinion, to fully see what's on your film you need to wet print b&w and project colour slide. But to digitalize, the setup I've got working is good.

Out of curiosity I stuck a Summicron 50 onto the bellows to see how that would worked - the enlarger lens was a lot better. Flat field, even across the field - no fall off at the edges. Does what its designed for - copying.

Mark

 

[cmc850]

for 35mm or smaller the dedicated film scanner will generally offer the best scans. The copystand arrangement offers more flexibility in terms or original size, but needs a very good flat field macro lens, as suggested. it can also be a challengs without dedicated scanning software to scan color negative film, though it can be done with some work. Flatbed scanners are flexible too, and great for medium and larger format, but can't match the real optical resolution of the other methods, so small originals are tougher. You mentioned yu don't shoot mush of that.

For dust and scratches on color film, the dedicated scanners with IR dust removal are the way to go, though those systems don't work with conventional bw film. You suggest the copystand arrangement would have some dust advantage - not sure how that could be, unless the light source offers more diffusion and the resolution/sharpness is less than adequate. The best film scanners need IR (ICE) because they are so damn sharp - everything shows. Much like a condenser vs diffusion head thing as it relates to enlargers.

I have a Primefilm 7200 and can't find a flatbed to match it for 35, and would need some pretty good copy equipment to come close if I went that route - I'd spend more than the scanner. I worked in the commercial photo lab business for years so the copystand arrangement is intriguing, but mostly for chromes and bw, as you mention, and possibly for medium and large-format, where the dedicated film units are very costly.

 

[JRminox]

Incidentally, I used a Leica C-Plan lens to scan the 9x11mm Minox films. A flat bed scanner won't do a comparable job. Some of these films were occasionally good enough for 11x14 inches (28x35 cm) prints with small grain size.

 

[VF101]

Thank you all for your hints. In the meantime I found a really good deal on a Plustek 7200 scanner including Silverfast 6 SE. I'm surprised this software runs without any problems on my Windows 7 notebook. And the quality even with this old Plustek is so much better. It's not only the sharpness (see below), the files need less work in PP.

Some crops as a quick comparison:

Plustek 7200 with Silverfast 6


Epson V330 with Epson software


The complete picture where the above crops are taken from is here.

And the scan shows, that you really can nail the focus with a scale focus camera (Minox 35) and aperture 2.8 ...

 

[charjohncarter]

I used this for years:

It's image quality was just as high as a scanner (maybe higher), but there were a few problems. One was light piping which were difficult to track down. Another was doing color. I had to use a electronic flash to get consistency, and tweaking everything was difficult. So, for B&W is was perfect but for color inconsistent.

By the way, that is a 50mm Macro lens, a normal 50mm doesn't work.