How do you scan your 35mm B&W film?

How do you scan your 35mm B&W film?

  • I use a flatbed scanner - i.e. Epson V750 photo scanner

    Votes: 313 35.6%

  • I use a dedicated 35mm scanner - i.e. a Nikon Coolscan V

    Votes: 360 41.0%

  • I use a dedicated multi-format film scanner - i.e. a Nikon Coolscan 9000

    Votes: 86 9.8%

  • I use a professional scanner - i.e. drum scanner

    Votes: 27 3.1%

  • I send mine away to be scanned

    Votes: 62 7.1%

  • I don't care - I wet print!

    Votes: 31 3.5%
  • Total voters
    879
welshzorki said:
Ok i'll try this then, when shooting negs do you just do a reversal in photoshop or is there a better way to convert negative to positive to keep the correct tones, i'm talking bxw negs here
Click to expand...

I have done the inversion with Affinity Photo, Photoshop and Lightroom. All work equally well for that purpose. Recently I have been shooting my B&W negatives in RAW with an X-E2, batch converting to DNG, pre-sharpening and renaming the files with Iridient X-Transformer, batch inverting and doing an auto-levels in Affinity and exporting as JPG to Apple Photos which I use to make a proof print. Once I have the proof print in hand I discard all of the other files and save only the DNG's for making display prints of the keepers.

All of this can also be done with Photoshop or Lightroom, and I've tried them, but I like my results at every stage better with this oddball lineup of software. YMMV.
 
welshzorki said:
Ok i'll try this then, when shooting negs do you just do a reversal in photoshop or is there a better way to convert negative to positive to keep the correct tones, i'm talking bxw negs here
Click to expand...

Yup, I just reverse (I use LR) then play with the tone curves the way I would would with any image. As it is a reversed image, they go the opposite direction!
You can do one for the first image on that film, then save it as a preset so your next ones will just need a tiny tweek.

If you do colour negs it is the same thing BUT the most important bit is to use the eye dropper to set the white balance before you reverse. C41 films have a serious orange base and this removes it in an instant. I've seen online tutorials that say to set the WB manually to as cold (blue) as possible to counteract this but they are so wrong, as then your shot will be blue. Just use the dropper when u process.

Your Sony's resolution is something like 7400x4400, which is far higher than a lab scan. Plus the Sony's sensor has incredible DR. Use it.
 
Ok thanks for the help guys, here's my first old neg scanned with my Sony A7RII, converted in lightroom.
turkey_exp_001.jpg
 
I voted dedicated film scanner when this thread first opened but have changed to a V600 with my renewed interest in film.
 
I don't know why anyone would buy a scanner if they have a decent digi cam. I'm getting better results using my D750 + macro lens than from a pro lab using Noritsu or Frontier machines.

It also takes me about 15 secs per image.

For mf film, I just take a couple of shots and use the merge function in LR :

Plus there is none of that 'scanning is an art' required. Take shot of the film, done. Then process in LR etc. The way you would with any image.
 
Does it require any special attachments? I know it can be done but hadn't a clue how and I know how to make the scanner work. As an aside, I got rid of my macro lens for my DSLR. Other than the time involved I'm pleased with the results and wasn't with what I got from a Lab.
 
Huss said:
Nikon D750 DSLR + macro lens , then..

1/ If scanning 35mm film, I use the Nikon ES-1 slide duplicator with a film holder.
Illuminated with a slave flash, camera pointing directly at it.

2/ If scanning 120/220 film, same camera and lens, but I use a copy stand and light pad. With that I got this:

If you have any decent digital camera you can do this. Using the 35mm slide copier it takes me about 10-15 secs to take a shot . So I can do a roll of film in about 10 minutes. Using the copy stand, as there are 8-15 shots per roll (depending on whether it is 6x9, 6x6, 6x4.5) I can do a roll in 3-5 minutes.
Click to expand...

Huss said:
Yup, I just reverse (I use LR) then play with the tone curves the way I would would with any image. As it is a reversed image, they go the opposite direction!
You can do one for the first image on that film, then save it as a preset so your next ones will just need a tiny tweek.

If you do colour negs it is the same thing BUT the most important bit is to use the eye dropper to set the white balance before you reverse. C41 films have a serious orange base and this removes it in an instant. I've seen online tutorials that say to set the WB manually to as cold (blue) as possible to counteract this but they are so wrong, as then your shot will be blue. Just use the dropper when u process.

Your Sony's resolution is something like 7400x4400, which is far higher than a lab scan. Plus the Sony's sensor has incredible DR. Use it.
Click to expand...

Darthfeeble said:
Does it require any special attachments? I know it can be done but hadn't a clue how and I know how to make the scanner work. As an aside, I got rid of my macro lens for my DSLR. Other than the time involved I'm pleased with the results and wasn't with what I got from a Lab.
Click to expand...

See above.

Film holder available here. Scroll down until you see Nikon ES-1

http://www.negative-solutions.com/assets/inventory.pdf
 
I have a Pakon F135 and a Fujifilm Frontier SP-500

Higher Dynamic Range on the Pakon but only 6 MP
Stronger Contrast on the Frontier but 19MP

Pakon can scan RAW, Fuji can't.
So I use either or depending on the project/film/etc.
 
ptpdprinter said:
What RAW format (extension) does the Pakon save as, and what RAW converter do you use to open the resulting image? How is that different from, say, a 16-bit TIF?
Click to expand...

The Pakon can export as .TIFF as well as .RAW but it's .RAW file is proprietary and programs like Photoshop cannot read it. So I use this program: https://alibosworth.github.io/pakon-planar-raw-converter/comparison/
to convert them to .TIFF

Follow the link at the top of the page to download PPRC (The Raw Converter) I'm currently running Mac OS X El Captain and run it from a terminal command. Although, there is a Windows option available as well.

For images with heavy contrast (especially skies) this method seems to work better than simple .TIFF export.
 
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