[flyingkiwi_06]

Has anybody been through this task ( Scanning old 35 & 120 colour & B/W Negs)
I have many to do and are a old film man from way back The situation is this what is a good Std to scan at, IE is a large file of max DPI the way to go in other words does one get more infomation within the file by maxing the scan or am i barking up the wrong tree My scanner is a high end model so can perform any help much appreciated

[stepheno]

Sorry FK - I can't help here, no experience. Hang on in and someone else might be able to help.

[Dabhand16]

From what little I know about this thorny subject, dedicated film scanners would appear to be the best bet. However, a decent flat bed scanner will be able to do the job, but results can be variable. Most top-end flat bed scanners either have negative or transparency frames suppied or available as extras. Some people also use a wet, yes WET system to optimise results

Scanning software also seems to be a huge factor, but don't ask me what is best. The options are using your editing software, software supplied with the scanner, or dedicated software such as Vuescan or Silverfast. Resolution appears to be the biggest headache.

I've tried to scan prints and have had many a frisky session ending in deleting the lot! The transparencies I've scanned havd not been particularly good.

Negative and film scanning is an art in itself. Good luck, and when you have cracked it, tell us how you did it.

[flyingkiwi_06]

Originally Posted by stepheno

Sorry FK - I can't help here, no experience. Hang on in and someone else might be able to help.

Thanks guys I think ill just jump of the bridge now and save someone having to push me,hope the scanner is heavy enough Tch Tch. Stepheno no worries about the lack experience somebody will know from there personal experience Im happy with the way its going but just need to finalise the file Ver Quality situation so will wait for the magic comment from somebody who is still Sane & Wise

Cheers Muzza F/K

[flyingkiwi_06]

Originally Posted by Dabhand16

From what little I know about this thorny subject, dedicated film scanners would appear to be the best bet. However, a decent flat bed scanner will be able to do the job, but results can be variable. Most top-end flat bed scanners either have negative or transparency frames suppied or available as extras. Some people also use a wet, yes WET system to optimise results

Scanning software also seems to be a huge factor, but don't ask me what is best. The options are using your editing software, software supplied with the scanner, or dedicated software such as Vuescan or Silverfast. Resolution appears to be the biggest headache.

I've tried to scan prints and have had many a frisky session ending in deleting the lot! The transparencies I've scanned havd not been particularly good.

Negative and film scanning is an art in itself. Good luck, and when you have cracked it, tell us how you did it.

Graham thanks for responding yes the Variables are the major Headache but time is on my side (its only taken 25yrs to get to stage ) your PM was helpfull and has given me a lead as to wot direction to take: So im going to scan a given neg with Various setups at a set resolution then post for everybody to comment. This way everybody can see and let me know technically what they think or any constructive comments they feel can help

Regards Muzza F/K

[RichB]

Here are my rambling thoughts:

I've had a negative scanner for a few years, 35mm only, a Canon Canoscan FS2710, and I usually scan at the highest resolution; then manipulate the image in Photoshop, as required. You can always reduce the DPI, and resolution/information of the scan, but it's difficult to go the other way and increase it, unless you're a Hollywood/TV film maker, or a government agency, with big pockets!

As with most things, it depends on what you intend to do with the scans. Archiving, I'd recommend the highest possible resolution to capture as much information; especially as data storage is now so cheap, and you don't really want to be repeating the scanning process. Printing, well, you don't actually need a scan resolution higher than the printer can handle, unless you want to safeguard the scan image for whatever printer you may have in the future; in which case you're back to the maximum again!

It also depends on the film speed that was used, e.g. 25ASA would need a higher resolution than 400ASA, to capture the information down to the grain of the film layer.

Hope this helps.

Richard.

[stepheno]

Hi Rich - thanks for helping out with this thread and to Pixalo. Hope to hear more from you

[flyingkiwi_06]

Originally Posted by RichB

Here are my rambling thoughts:

I've had a negative scanner for a few years, 35mm only, a Canon Canoscan FS2710, and I usually scan at the highest resolution; then manipulate the image in Photoshop, as required. You can always reduce the DPI, and resolution/information of the scan, but it's difficult to go the other way and increase it, unless you're a Hollywood/TV film maker, or a government agency, with big pockets!

As with most things, it depends on what you intend to do with the scans. Archiving, I'd recommend the highest possible resolution to capture as much information; especially as data storage is now so cheap, and you don't really want to be repeating the scanning process. Printing, well, you don't actually need a scan resolution higher than the printer can handle, unless you want to safeguard the scan image for whatever printer you may have in the future; in which case you're back to the maximum again!

It also depends on the film speed that was used, e.g. 25ASA would need a higher resolution than 400ASA, to capture the information down to the grain of the film layer.

Hope this helps.

Richard.

Hi Richard and a warm welcome to you its great to hear from people who share there experience's Im using a Canon Flatbed Scanner not a dedicated film scanner you have: but its specs are v/good and is user friendly Yes i agree high res scans are the order of the day and so far have 4 set ups for diff ASA Rated Films, 3 B/W & 1 Col all my files are Tiff due to the high resolution i use then use PS2 to correct any little tweaks im still setting up for other types of negs & slides that i will be scanning . One thing ive noticed is that the negs dont always seem to sit flat after being in the film holder ( Heat Build up ) the focus seems to be slightly of
in the middle (its not the negs as ive got prints showing good focus ) so thats something im working on to everbody so far thanks for you input and i hope to post my results in the near future
Regards Murray F/Kiwi

[Angus]

Brings back happy memories of scanning photo negs B+W & colour, I done mine with flatbed scanner + attachments, took my time ( gave myself a week ) using highest resolution, then tarted them up with Elements 2 ( a couple years ago when ver 2 came free with my Canon 10D ), and obviously output depends on what you want to print or slideshow at, not very clear am I, hope you get the gist, and best of luck, after a while you get to enjoy delving into the past, and saying to yourself, did I really take that, and wasn't your aunt a stunner in those days.

[Dabhand16]

I've now heard of someone using a slide copier on a digital camera to copy slides. Could be that the principal would work for negs too? The claim is that the results were pretty good, and it was sooooooooo quick.

Must be worth investigating.

[flyingkiwi_06]

Angus thanks for your input all this scanning is to bring my photographic neg collection onto modern storage so it wont happen in a couple of wks unfortunely Yep have found some golden oldies allready (have to rember to hide them from my other half ) as a mater of interest its taking between 3 to 5 Mins to scan 1 b/w neg frame the 120 col & b/w i haven't started yet 35 slides 2 to 4 mins depending on picture info so its going to be a long but injoyable process.

Catch U later
Murray