Scanning?

[Bill N]

Hello,
I have two film cameras. A Bessa R and a Rollei 35 S. I only shoot B&W. There is not a darkroom in my future sadly. So, I am wondering about scanning and have no idea.

Do you get the film developed and then scan all your negatives? Then take the select ones and get them printed? Then why use film if it ends up digital? Am I missing something?

Any suggestions on a scanner and how to get started doing this would be greatly appreciated.

I would love to get some of my images on the forum for critique and this would do the trick for that eh?

Cheers,
Bill

 

[bmattock]

Common request here - we ought to have a sticky on this!

Many of us process our own B&W film; it is not hard to do, you don't need a darkroom, just a changing bag, a couple of items, and some chemicals. Then you can scan your negatives.

For those who shoot color or slide (aka reversals), you can have them processed at the one-hour place - I always have mine processed ONLY, no prints, no scans. They sometimes balk at this or say they can't do it, but they can - and I pay about $2 USD for a roll to be processed. Then I scan, just as with B&W I process myself.

Many of us use film even if it is going to end up digital because we enjoy it, or we prefer it, or we feel that film offers advantages that digital does not (yet) offer. For example, I often shoot 120 roll film. The sheer size of the negative (6x6 or 6x9) has no digital counterpart that I could ever afford - or none exists at all. If I want a 6x9 sensor, film is my only choice. Same would be true of large-format photographers. Nothing against digital, which I also use - just that there are no sensors that big (yet, if ever).

For prints, I always upload my scanned negatives or slides to either Mpix.com (for the high-quality large prints) or Walmart or Walgreens for 4x6 prints I can pick up in an hour - or arrange to have friends and relatives pick up at a store local to them an hour after I upload them from where I am. What a way to go! Cheap, too.

I will leave it to others to explain how to get started processing your own B&W and scanning. Leave it to say that there is an intial investment, but you quickly make that money back in saved film processing/printing/scanning costs if you shoot a lot of film. And it is more fun, you have more control, and all it takes is your time.

Above all, have fun.

 

[OldNick]

I use a local lab for processing, both C41 color and C41 B&W, and have them provide a CD and index print. This gives me a digital image that is fine for posting on the web, and the index print helps me keep track of the images. I recently purchased a used Konica Minolta Scan Dual II off *bay and I am learning to scan my own negatives and slides. Yes, even an old scanner produces much more detailed scans than the usual local lab.

Jim N.

 

[biomed]

- and I pay about $2 USD for a roll to be processed. Then I scan, just as with B&W I process myself.

Where do you have your film processed? My favorite lab raised the price to $4.50 for developing only.


Mike

 

[bmattock]

Where do you have your film processed? My favorite lab raised the price to $4.50 for developing only.


Mike

Walgreens, CVS, any one-hour joint. I'm talking about C41 here, nothing else.

I take my slide film (which I don't shoot much, but I have some left over) to a place I found on Woodward here in Michigan. They do a fine job, but charge me out the wazoo, even if I ask for no slide mounts. So they only get my 120 C41 and all my E6.

 

[biomed]

Bill,
If you are looking for a new scanner, Nikon makes some good ones. I have used a Canon FS4000us for the past few years. I have only one complaint - it is slow! Just recently it began to malfunction. I am looking at the Nikon and hope to be able to do a test scan at a local dealer to test the scanning speed. The Nikon scanners are supposed to be fast.

 

[mfogiel]

A very good reason for using film, is precisely if you want to shoot B&W. I feel a good DSLR beats the crap out of a colour 35mm film, although some neg colour films have a dynamic range and skin tones still beyond the reach of digital.

In B&W, digital still lacks in bit depth (tonal transitions) and is not quite there yet in terms of resolution when compared to slow B&W emulsions.

However, to get this film advantage through, you have to get the best film scanner you can set your hands on - Minolta 5400 or Nikon 5000 for example.

If you want to save some bucks on contact prints, you should also get a cheap flatbed, as big as possible, and with a transparency top, so you can do them by yourself.

I recommend to start off with Vuescan, and use XP2 as the film of choice - silver film is much harder to scan and a PITA to spot off, as it doesn't allow the use of digital ICE.

Here's a recent example of a sharp scan of mine: ILFORD XP2 @ ISO 250, BESSA R3A, C SONNAR 50/1.5 @ F8, Nikon CS 9000 at 4000dpi, Noise Ninja, some USM (I am afraid the file size will not show you how sharp this picture is)

 

[johnbay]

I am also planning on going the scanning route. I shoot almost exclusively B&W, most often XP2. My local CVS will develop only for $2.50. I am planning on purchasing a Nikon VED. I am interested in bmattock's workflow for printing, ie uploading to Mpix for larger prints after editing. My question as a beginner relates to duplicating the results on the monitor ie the uploaded images to print.

Thanks,

JohnBay



































4

 

[bmattock]

I am interested in bmattock's workflow for printing, ie uploading to Mpix for larger prints after editing. My question as a beginner relates to duplicating the results on the monitor ie the uploaded images to print.

I wish I could help you on that, but being color-blind, I have no idea. I use the TLAR method (That Looks About Right). I've never calibrated my monitor, would not know how to go about it - since I can't *see* the colors I'm supposed to match.

 

[johnbay]

That sounds good to me Bill. By the way, I just visited the Mpix forum. Lots of great information. Thanks for the tip on the other thread.

JohnBay

 

[clintock]

Where do you have your film processed? My favorite lab raised the price to $4.50 for developing only.


Mike

Costco will do the develop only and/or develop with CD and no prints.

 

[JNewell]

I have had stunning success with our local Costco, and the price is 40% of what I used to pay for Kodak. I just have them develop and give me a CD. I am uploading the CD images and using those to sort for scanning (Coolscan V). The Costco CD scans ain't bad, either, for their size.

 

[Rhoyle]

I also use Costco fairly often. At my local store the work is pretty good compared to most (if not all) the other places I've been to. I have them develop only and burn to CD. I load the CD images into my computer to view them, then scan the ones I want to print, as my scans come out better than any of the consumer commercial ones I've gotten.

 

[amateriat]

Bill nails it. For me, it's the vast difference in experience between working a film-based camera and it's digital counterpart. The "capture" experience when shooting film is, IMO, less amporphous than digital (even given digital's near-instant feedback...it's almost like jazz: if I had to explain it, you mightn't understand). And, a good film scanner can extract a ton from a piece of film, and the resulting print therefrom can be highly pleasing. For conventional b/w film, it's no huge deal doing it yourself, and very pleasurable in the right frame of mind. For C41 (color and chromogenic b/w), I often go no farther than the local Rite-Aid, which normally turns my film around in as little as a half-hour (uncut, no prints), two rolls for a fiver, tax included. Sometimes I make an enlarged contact sheet via my flatbed, sometimes I do the index-scan thing with my film scanner, but the bottom line is that there are lots of good ways to deal with film that bring out the best in the medium, and without driving yourself nuts in the process.


- Barrett

 

[alexz]

My approach is nailed years back - since last 5-6 years what I do is lab processing only for my E6 and then home scan for archive/printout/web/whatever on my ancient Nikon LS-40 (IV ED). Similar for C41 though occasionally, for kind of family events - I shoot a roll or two of C41 with the intention of direct printing by lab for family/guests satisfaction...But nevertheless, my scanner gets the most of the job always, leaving to the lab the required minimum.
Now, since venturing into B&W with home manual development, I see even more sense in high quality home scanning - from the very beginning (shooting) to the final step (image as a file ready for printout/archive/web...) - all is done an home convenience (for B&W), no high pitched lab B&W prices and uncontrolled processing involved, no wasting your valuable time driving through the city to the lab and back, much more econimical to your wallet...

 

[JNewell]

This is heresey, but the digital endproduct has got me moving from silver emulsions for B&W to chromogenic and probably ultimately to color C41s with B&W conversion. The silver doesn't clean up as easily in the scanner (dust), and if I'm shooting C41, why not use color for the negs...this is my current thinking...I may change...

 

[bmattock]

Interesting. I actually believe I get better scans from my home-processed B&W negs than I do my store-processed C41. No scratches, no dust. Except for the wet strip I dropped in the cat box accidentally. Sigh.

 

[40oz]

I shoot almost exclusively in traditional B&W, develop it at home, and scan using a HP PhotoSmart S20 USB. If I shoot color, I typically just pay for processing the negatives and scan at home. Occasionally I pay for prints as well. I can make decent B&W & color prints on my PC, but generally print B&W with my enlarger. Before I had an enlarger, I would take the negatives to a local pro lab for B&W prints.

 

[JNewell]

Your technique and workflow are probably much better than mine!!!

Interesting. I actually believe I get better scans from my home-processed B&W negs than I do my store-processed C41. No scratches, no dust. Except for the wet strip I dropped in the cat box accidentally. Sigh.

 

[visiondr]

Except for the wet strip I dropped in the cat box accidentally. Sigh.

I bet it wasn't a "sigh" that you uttered when that happened! Ouch!


I too develop B&W at home and scan at home without any problems with dust or problems with negatives. If you're careful in your processing, you should have good results.