Scanner help for 35mm slides and negatives (1 Viewer)

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I have many old negatives that I would like to digitalise then store them on a hard drive or similar. There are a selection of different scanners that will do this, do you have any suggestions on which scanner I should purchase to give the best possible results. Thanks......:thumb:
 

JeanLuc

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Send a PM to Thehutchies.. he was throwing one away (10th post ) on this thread

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Thanks Jim, I too cant imagine throwing old photos away, my biggest problem is that the kids have helped themselves to a number of photos so I hoping to find the negatives for copy's.
It's more information on scanner quality than finding one just yet, but thanks anyway. I will let you know when I find the right one. :thumb:
 

hilldweller

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It's more information on scanner quality than finding one just yet, but thanks anyway.

Never mind the scanner quality, I've done this exercise and I'm shocked at what I thought were good quality 35mm pictures. Pretty crappy when seen next to a modern digital.

I've got an Olympus camera adaptor, just screw on front and photograph, the results are as good as the camera it's screwed on.
 

scotjimland

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Never mind the scanner quality, I've done this exercise and I'm shocked at what I thought were good quality 35mm pictures. Pretty crappy when seen next to a modern digital.
.

likewise.. spend hours and hours scanning 35mm slides.. but it's better than losing them altogether.. crap quality.. but priceless memories..

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thehutchies

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Send a PM to Thehutchies.. he was throwing one away (10th post ) on this thread

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I genuinely couldn't remember whether or not I'd dumped it. Old age! ::bigsmile:

Anyway, the kids just found it under the bed.
5MP scanner, takes 6x35mm strip or 3 mounted slides.
Usb connection.
All software and stuff with it.

Free to a good home :Smile:

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(Photobucket won't reorient the picture - modern technology, indeed)
 
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likewise.. spend hours and hours scanning 35mm slides.. but it's better than losing them altogether.. crap quality.. but priceless memories..
I thought this was going to be easy:cry: like the look of Philip's Nikon Coolscan but £500+ is a bit more cash than I anticipated spending but will have to see what else is about. While you are on the subject of crap quality, I also have a number of 110 negs that I would like to transfer, any ideas.:Sad:
 
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Never mind the scanner quality, I've done this exercise and I'm shocked at what I thought were good quality 35mm pictures. Pretty crappy when seen next to a modern digital.

I've got an Olympus camera adaptor, just screw on front and photograph, the results are as good as the camera it's screwed on.
Thanks Brian, as Jim says even crappy is better that losing them. Afraid my digital camera would not do your clip on gizmo justice. :winky:

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If you have no luck with 'the hutchies' I have a Nikon Coolscan IV (not for sale) but can recommend the quality of the product and output. No longer available new, but here is a selection for sale on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=nikon+coolscan&_sacat=0&_from=R40
Thanks Philip, silly question I'm sure but what are the benefits of going for a pucker unit like yours. I guess that speed would be a big advantage and of course quality.:thumb:
 

magicsurfbus

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I've got a fairly old Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III which does a respectable job and scans up to 5 Mpixels.

Aldi sell reasonably-priced 35mm slide scanners from time to time, and they haven't done one for a while - try signing up for their e-mail alert list.

If your slides have got even the slightest bit dusty, every single speck will show up on a scanned image. Also the surface of the slide can deteriorate over time. Don't expect earth-shattering results.

I'm not sure if you can get a 35mm slide copying mount for a digital SLR camera (ie slide holder that sits in front of the DSLR lens), but I'd be surprised if they didn't exist anywhere. Only problem there is the quality/source of the light behind the slide.
 
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You can make reasonable scans with some flat bed scanners. I use both a flatbed and Nikon Coolpix and there isn't a lot of difference when scanning some of my old photos (due to the indifferent quality of my early cameras). One thing is for certain, whatever you use, it is a slow process.

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Campercaillie

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I've spent the last 2 or 3 winters digitising my slides - around 7,000 in number and for this, bought a Canon 8800F scanner. This is a flatbed scanner with a piggy-back style adapter which accepts 4 colour slides at a time. When I bought it it had been top of the ComputerActive scanner charts for months on end. I've just Googled it and it appears to have been superseded by the apparent equivelant Canon 9000F. Having now completed the slides, I'm halfway through doing the same with my old colour photos, and I just cannot fault it. If you're tempted, take a look at the 8800's reviews below before looking at the newer 9000F. (Amazon shows the 8800F unavailble/not in stock)

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-2168B008AA-CanoScan-8800F-Scanner/dp/B000X5UE2Q/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_t_1_TRAH"]CanoScan 8800F Film Scanner: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories[/ame]
 

JeanLuc

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Thanks Philip, silly question I'm sure but what are the benefits of going for a pucker unit like yours. I guess that speed would be a big advantage and of course quality.:thumb:

The Coolscan IV is not hugely fast - for that you had to go for the semi automatic version that cost a lot - about £3,000 if I remember correctly. At the time, the Coolscan was a top-end scanner but as others have pointed out, modern digital cameras have greater resolution. However, a scanned 35mm tranny or neg still has a great deal of detail in it - the output contains 2,900 pixels per inch and is produced as a tiff file.
The Coolscan IV came with a mounted slide holder and a naked film holder: the former takes one slide at a time and the latter takes strips of up to 6 or 8 negatives (or uncut slides). The software packaged with the scanner (Nikon Scan 4) includes facilities to recover faded slides and restore original colour and a noise-reduction function to minimise scratches and dust. The scanner also auto-focuses and sets exposure automatically too.

As an example, I have posted an image from a scanned slide that I took about 12 years ago. This is just a small version of it but hopefully you will see that there is little noise in the sky - a difficult thing to accomplish. I think I may have done a bit of post-production on it with Photoshop to remove any remaining blemishes but the starting scan was pretty good.
 

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The Coolscan IV is not hugely fast - for that you had to go for the semi automatic version that cost a lot - about £3,000 if I remember correctly. At the time, the Coolscan was a top-end scanner but as others have pointed out, modern digital cameras have greater resolution. However, a scanned 35mm tranny or neg still has a great deal of detail in it - the output contains 2,900 pixels per inch and is produced as a tiff file.
The Coolscan IV came with a mounted slide holder and a naked film holder: the former takes one slide at a time and the latter takes strips of up to 6 or 8 negatives (or uncut slides). The software packaged with the scanner (Nikon Scan 4) includes facilities to recover faded slides and restore original colour and a noise-reduction function to minimise scratches and dust. The scanner also auto-focuses and sets exposure automatically too.

As an example, I have posted an image from a scanned slide that I took about 12 years ago. This is just a small version of it but hopefully you will see that there is little noise in the sky - a difficult thing to accomplish. I think I may have done a bit of post-production on it with Photoshop to remove any remaining blemishes but the starting scan was pretty good.
Thanks Philip, that is a fantastic copy, I guess you get for what you pay. I'm not totally off the up market solution yet but it is on back burner until I can make a case for spending that sort of cash.:winky:

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I've spent the last 2 or 3 winters digitising my slides - around 7,000 in number and for this, bought a Canon 8800F scanner. This is a flatbed scanner with a piggy-back style adapter which accepts 4 colour slides at a time. When I bought it it had been top of the ComputerActive scanner charts for months on end. I've just Googled it and it appears to have been superseded by the apparent equivelant Canon 9000F. Having now completed the slides, I'm halfway through doing the same with my old colour photos, and I just cannot fault it. If you're tempted, take a look at the 8800's reviews below before looking at the newer 9000F. (Amazon shows the 8800F unavailble/not in stock)
Thanks Campercaillie, I think we could be onto something here. The strange thing is I actually do already have the much older version that I purchased some years ago that had a separate section that replaced the scanner lid but could never get on with it was far to fiddly. This latest version could be the answer.:thumb:
 
C

Chockswahay

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We bought one of these a few weeks ago..........the results have exceeded my expectations

Quality is quite good and you can then see which one's you might want to have professionally scanned afterwards. The quality is very go for 'lap top' viewing

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00365E1NS/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00365E1NS/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00[/ame]



As it happens we have scanned everything we want so it's on Ebay soon :winky:

:thumb:
 
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