Scanner for home use

thawkins

thawkins

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I have thousands of great negatives (most of the B&W) I would like to scan and then work over in a digital dark room program. So I am asking all you sharp cookies out there to recommend a good scanner and a good photo program for the computer. I know photoshop is good but I also have been told it is expensive and has a steep learning curve. The main requirement is ease of use and to produce a good result with both scanned negatives and digital files from my D90. I eagerly await your responses.
 
gshybrid@blarg.com said:
Most of the decent Epson film scanners come with photoshop elements which should suit your needs.... the v500 is less than $200.
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Ditto. If you are interested in doing it on the cheap, I'm using an Epson 3170 I picked up used for $30 and Gimp (free) for my PP. Feel free to give it a try. You might be satisfied, you might gain a greater appreciation for the $200 v500 PS elements package.
 
Like Proteus617, I use the GIMP. Have done from the beginning. As with any software package, it needs learning time and effort. If your digital work is in raw format like mine, you'll need to install UFRaw also.

I have an Epson V100 scanner. It does negatives and slides, but its working is slow. If you have many negatives, then I think you will get both quality and comfort with a dedicated negative scanner.
 
I just bought a v500 for $160USD from BeachCamera and they have free shipping. I read so many good things from the others on this forum about the scanner.
 
If you have 35mm negs only, and don't plan on going MF, then buy a dedicated film scanner. A Plustek 7400, 7500 or even 7600 aren't at all expensive, and are more convenient and yield better results than most any flatbed scanner. I'm going to pick up my Epson v500 today, but then I'm shooting larger formats on film.
 
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Or a Reflecta Proscan 7200.

Both the Plustek models, and the Reflecta have an effective max DPI of between 3250 and 3500. That is more than twice what you can expect from a flatbed (e.g. V500 etc). However the Reflecta has a nominal DPI rating of 3600x3600 vs 7200x7200 for the Plusteks. This is an advantage. Since the real rating is the same, scanning at 3600 rather that 7200 will yield smaller files, but with just as much detail.
 
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I have the epson V300(only takes 35mm) but realize I should have gone for a V500 or better since I'd like to shoot medium format and be able to scan when I cant fire up the makeshift darkroom. The V300 was a deal at $100.00 off of amazon with free shipping
 
There is a refurb v500 is on clearance sale for $149 at the Epson online site. It includes Photoshop Elements, which should meet quite a bit of your digital darkroom needs.

If you want new, it's $199 ($50 more).
 
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