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35mm Film Scanners ?

frankc

Member
Hi , I'm new and looking for advice on scanning 35mm film negs. I had a Nikon coolscan for colour negs which is hopeless with tranny and B&W. Anyone have any suggestions of current/recent scanners that handle film and tranny (inc B&W) well. Thanks
 
Frank,

I popped your thread over to the photo room, as more people will likely see it here.

Joe
 
Frank,

The Coolcans are good film scanners, so I'm a bit puzzled why you didn't like the output. Granted, scanning is a bit of a black art, and I've never liked the results straight out of the scanner, but the Coolscan are not crap. Have you tried fiddling with different settings or adjusting the colour, contrast and brightness in Photoshop?

Cliff Patterson, one of the photo nutters here, has a Coolscan 9000 so maybe he could give you some tips to try. Several other people here are hardcore flatbed scanners and I'm sure they can help you, too.

Joe

P.S. You might want to upload an example of a duff film scan, as it would help identify where the problem is.
 
Hmmm, photo nutter ?

I bought a coolscan 2000 in about 1998 or 9 and used that for a while and found it was great on colour negatives provided they weren't too scratched, but eventually I got fed up with maintaining a PC with Win2K and a SCSI adapter and upgraded to the Coolscan 9000 ED. This scanner works with real B&W, all kinds of transparencies including Kodachrome, fake B&W which uses C41 process and all kinds of normal colour stock. If you use the Digital Ice and Scan Image Enhancer features then the images come back with perfect colour rendition and zero scratches. Unfortunately ICE does not work with real B&W film owing to the silver compounds in the film

cheers
Cliff

PS the 9000 does 35mm and 120
 
This is an example of 35mm transparency - Kodak e100VS

2931635790_a5ec6abe43_o.jpg
 
Thanks Joe , I've no problem with colour negs just B&W and Tranny. But the coolscan is an early model. Looks like I may need to splash some cash to get good results from B&W. I like the look of the B&W scans sent to me. Thanks again. Frank
Frank,

The Coolcans are good film scanners, so I'm a bit puzzled why you didn't like the output. Granted, scanning is a bit of a black art, and I've never liked the results straight out of the scanner, but the Coolscan are not crap. Have you tried fiddling with different settings or adjusting the colour, contrast and brightness in Photoshop?

Cliff Patterson, one of the photo nutters here, has a Coolscan 9000 so maybe he could give you some tips to try. Several other people here are hardcore flatbed scanners and I'm sure they can help you, too.

Joe

P.S. You might want to upload an example of a duff film scan, as it would help identify where the problem is.
 
Frank

I'm pretty sure the Coolscan 5000 does the same stuff as the 9000 but without the 6cm wide capability - it should be more than enough for your needs.

Cliff
 
Hi Cliff , thanks for the reply and the scans. I like the look of the Neopan scan. My B&W are a mixture of traditional B&W film and some C41 process, although the bulk are Ilford films of the traditional kind. I think the 9000 option may be a little pricey for me at the moment. The task of editing and scanning a huge number of old negs is daunting and may never get done but I retain the hope that one day I will be able to do so. I was offered a flatbed scanner Canon 8800f as an option, have you any knowledge about flatbed capability?

I too tired of my old coolscan requiring old software and scsi etc, so have cast that scanner to the depths of the cupboard. Thanks for your help, it is appreciated. Frank
 
I was offered a flatbed scanner Canon 8800f as an option, have you any knowledge about flatbed capability?

I don't know the Canon, but several people here get good results with the Epson flatbed scanners, notably the 4490, V500, or V700 although that is mostly with bigger B&W negs. A simple search on flickr yields some good results with Ilford Stock on the V500 using Leica 35mm cameras - eg here

A similar search with the Canon shows some decent shots too (here)
 
The canon would do fine, especially if it's a cheap offer. I've never had one to compare side by side, but I bet it's as good as the Epson 500 / 4490
 
Frank,

Probably your only sensible new quality 35mm option is the Nikon (unless you can affprd 8 grand for a Hasselblad!). Another option includes the Minolta Dimage 5400 (two models - both good) - use it with Ed Hamrick's Vuescan. I use this set-up and it ain't far off the Hassalblad (which I've used at work).

Don't bother with a flatbed if you want high quality 35mm scans. They're ok (but not fantastic) for MF scans.

Charlie
 
Don't bother with a flatbed if you want high quality 35mm scans. They're ok (but not fantastic) for MF scans.

I've made A3 exhibition prints from 35mm negs with my Epson V700 flatbed, and they look excellent. I don't buy this argument any more, I think the latest generation of flatbeds are more than good enough for 35mm.
 
I have a nikon 2000 running on on vista with vuescan. Good results for colour and b&w.

Only small issue is that the scsi doesn't detect the scanner as you turn it on so i put an 'add new hardware' shortcut on the desktop and that works fine.
 


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