Whatcha using to scan negatives?

rpadula

rpadula

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I've got the typical box of photos sitting in the closet and read that scanning the negatives is actually better, so I'm looking for a scanner.

Majority of negs are color 35 mm. I also found many B&W negatives in my defunct darkroom box. I think they might be 120 or some similar square format.

Needs to work with Mac OS.

Any recommendations?
 
While folks are at it, I have a very large negative (105mm x something like a foot), B&W - same question.
 
rpadula said:
I've got the typical box of photos sitting in the closet and read that scanning the negatives is actually better, so I'm looking for a scanner.

Majority of negs are color 35 mm. I also found many B&W negatives in my defunct darkroom box. I think they might be 120 or some similar square format.

Needs to work with Mac OS.

Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

My HP ScanJet (flat bed scanner) has an adapter and software to scan negatives. I did a few with an older ScanJet and there seemed to be a lot of "Blue" in the scanned image. I have not tried my new one.

My ScanJet is the $200 variety. I've been told that to get really good quality from scanned photos and negatives spend the bucks for a higher end model. Then you can always eBay it when you are done.
 
Minolta/Konica Dimage Scan Elite 5400. I've run about 7500 frames through it (color neg., B&W neg. color slides) with good results. I use VueScan for the scanning program. Takes a little work to get the settings right. It's an older scanner - out of production for some time.

If I were to buy now, I might look for a used Nikon FS9000.

As for large format negs, if you don't require super resolution, find an even source of backlighting (light table, etc), and photograph the negative with a high-end DSLR. Then reverse the resulting digital image in Photoshop, Lightroom, or another photo package.
 
wsuffa said:
Minolta/Konica Dimage Scan Elite 5400. I've run about 7500 frames through it (color neg., B&W neg. color slides) with good results. I use VueScan for the scanning program. Takes a little work to get the settings right. It's an older scanner - out of production for some time.

If I were to buy now, I might look for a used Nikon FS9000.

As for large format negs, if you don't require super resolution, find an even source of backlighting (light table, etc), and photograph the negative with a high-end DSLR. Then reverse the resulting digital image in Photoshop, Lightroom, or another photo package.
Click to expand...

I've had some minor success using a little white card stock reflector box on top of my scanner... but I haven't been able to get rid of the tinting properly (in addition to reversed colors, there's that amber tint). This was with the GIMP, following an online tute... didn't work very well. Is there a program that has a "one click" solution to get rid of the tint?
 
BillTIZ said:
My HP ScanJet (flat bed scanner) has an adapter and software to scan negatives. I did a few with an older ScanJet and there seemed to be a lot of "Blue" in the scanned image. I have not tried my new one.

My ScanJet is the $200 variety. I've been told that to get really good quality from scanned photos and negatives spend the bucks for a higher end model. Then you can always eBay it when you are done.
Click to expand...

Your windows comes with the photo gallery program, which you can use to make color corrections.
 
I use a Nikon Coolscan 8000, which will also do medium format. It makes very big files that are also very sharp, and works great.
 
I've got an Epson Perfection 2400 Photo, an older low-to-mid range consumer scanner with a slide/negative carrier. Works fairly well, quite a bit different from one of those $100 dedicated units I got as a gift.

Ron Wanttaja
 
My wife bought a little hand-held slide and negative scanner last year online for just a bit over $100, iirc ... her iPhoto album is over 3000 images now ... she does Creative Memories scrapbooking.
 
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