Film Film scanner advice

[ph.]

I have used a flatbed with a light-attachment for scanning some of my ancient 6x9cm negatives and got a filmscanner for the 35mm negatives. The "Vuescan" program was excdellent, but scanning (and especially multiple passage scans for the quite dense Kodachromes) took a long time, so to speed up the process of digitizing snaps I liked, I rigged a bellows (Novoflex and Olympus provide negative carriers) with an old enlarger lens (Rodenstock Apo.something) and succeded in getting copies about 5 times as fast. Daylight as light source. To be recommended.

p.

 

[boojum]

I am thinking of scanning a large box of slides which would cover about 50 years of camera foolishness. There are some good ones in there from a trip to China in '88 and I am sure other good ones, too. And lots of memories. I have looked at the camera, bellows, macro lens route and the scanner route. The scanner seems most practical and the V600 the best compromise of quality and money.

What do you folks think?

 

[John King]

I have both an Epson V700 Photo (with the clip in film holders for slides and negatives) and a Konica-Minolta Elite 5400 for 35mm slides and negatives.

The Konica-Minolta has no drivers for OSes after Windows XP Pro, so I am considering Vuescan software. I need to download a test version.

 

[agentlossing]

Things have changed since I posted the stuff about the Epson V550. I was never really satisfied with that scanner for 35mm format, it does not have autofocus and was never really perfectly in line with the film plane, so combined with the low effective DPI it was able to put out, not sharp images at all. I've since acquired a Pacific Image XAs, which is an expensive dedicated 35mm film and slide scanner, but I don't know that I'd recommend that to anyone except a diehard with an ongoing need to scan film - for a single, even large, project, you might not get the full return on investment versus having it scanned somewhere for you... and it takes a LOT of time.

I think the V600 and above may autofocus? If so, rather than being fixed focus, you may get much better results.

 

[boojum]

The V600 is fixed focus. The XAs is gone and the XEs is fixed focus.

 

[gordo]

I've been working on scanning personal and family photos, slides and negatives for a while now. Slides and prints are being done first. Negatives will be last. I've been using a V600 and a FastFoto FF640.

Some things I've noticed that may or may not help:

My V600 seems to be properly set for focus on images in the holders. Prints tend to be a little less sharp than slides (as long as they were properly focused when taken). I'll see how the negatives look sometime later down the road.

I seem to get more accurate and consistent color from slide scans than prints on the V600.

If you have a large number of prints, especially if they have identifying info on the backside, the FastFoto scanner is a huge timesaver. It can scan front and back on the same pass and saves the files as "a" and "b". If you also have documents to be scanned it can do those as well, and save a stack on papers into one pdf in one easy step instead of individual pdfs that have to be combined. Again it can scan front and back on the same scan pass. My prints are sharper when scanned by the FastFoto. However, super glossy prints from the '90s onward seem to have a slick plastic film on the paper that can slip when feeding through the scanner and cause distortion issues. I have to do those images on the flatbed.

edit - I tend to not use automatic color correction on either scanner. Might just be my copies, but the corrections are all over the map. Sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good, sometimes clown world. Plus, slides from the '50s and '60s seem to hold their color well.

 

[John King]

I've been working on scanning personal and family photos, slides and negatives for a while now. Slides and prints are being done first. Negatives will be last. I've been using a V600 and a FastFoto FF640.

Some things I've noticed that may or may not help:

My V600 seems to be properly set for focus on images in the holders. Prints tend to be a little less sharp than slides (as long as they were properly focused when taken). I'll see how the negatives look sometime later down the road.

I seem to get more accurate and consistent color from slide scans than prints on the V600.

If you have a large number of prints, especially if they have identifying info on the backside, the FastFoto scanner is a huge timesaver. It can scan front and back on the same pass and saves the files as "a" and "b". If you also have documents to be scanned it can do those as well, and save a stack on papers into one pdf in one easy step instead of individual pdfs that have to be combined. Again it can scan front and back on the same scan pass. My prints are sharper when scanned by the FastFoto. However, super glossy prints from the '90s onward seem to have a slick plastic film on the paper that can slip when feeding through the scanner and cause distortion issues. I have to do those images on the flatbed.

edit - I tend to not use automatic color correction on either scanner. Might just be my copies, but the corrections are all over the map. Sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good, sometimes clown world. Plus, slides from the '50s and '60s seem to hold their color well.

What scanning software, Gordo?

I need to buy something that supports my Konica-Minolta Scan Elite 5400, as it stopped at Windows XP Pro. I am thinking Vuescan, but am yet to move the scanner, or download the trial version.

 

[gordo]

What scanning software, Gordo?

I need to buy something that supports my Konica-Minolta Scan Elite 5400, as it stopped at Windows XP Pro. I am thinking Vuescan, but am yet to move the scanner, or download the trial version.

Just the standard software shipped with the scanners. My primary concern has been getting the images digitized. I'll deal with post processing on the better images mostly at a later point.

I've already scanned 20 photo albums, 3 slide briefcases plus a bunch of loose and boxed-by-the-roll slides, and 4 or 5 plastic storage tubs filled with prints. Still have 3 albums, several cardboard boxes with odd-sized prints, and 6 more plastic tubs filled with slides, prints and negatives. And then there's the important family paperwork that should be kept in some form for genealogy. And my military files and other important paperwork.

 

[John King]

Just the standard software shipped with the scanners. My primary concern has been getting the images digitized. I'll deal with post processing on the better images mostly at a later point.

Interesting. My V700 Photo has its own scanning software.

I've already scanned 20 photo albums, 3 slide briefcases plus a bunch of loose and boxed-by-the-roll slides, and 4 or 5 plastic storage tubs filled with prints. Still have 3 albums, several cardboard boxes with odd-sized prints, and 6 more plastic tubs filled with slides, prints and negatives. And then there's the important family paperwork that should be kept in some form for genealogy. And my military files and other important paperwork.

Well done, mate.

I've done the first step, moving my Konica-Minolta scanner downstairs. Not yet connected.

Will download the trial version of Vuescan after I connect the K-M to my new PC.

 

[PacNWMike]

I have a Canoscan FS4000US. Works great. I use Vuescan with it and can do multiple passes. Any scanning is really slow though. No getting around it.

I have a different scanning question. I have a bunch of old 8mm movies that I'd like to digitize. I have been considering the Wolverine pro or the Kodak Reels. Leaning toward the Kodak for the added MP and accepting larger reels. Any experience with either of these?

​

 

[gordo]

Interesting. My V700 Photo has its own scanning software.

Well done, mate.

I've done the first step, moving my Konica-Minolta scanner downstairs. Not yet connected.

Will download the trial version of Vuescan after I connect the K-M to my new PC.

Red - every scanner I've bought has had it's own basic software, not sure if that's the same everywhere. For my use of just ingesting images, well it works for me. I'm sure I could get better results with other software and spending more time on images, but this has dragged on for several years already.

Blue - thanks, still a lot to do. The amount of money to box and ship the stuff to a scanning service was going to run more than purchasing the scanners. Plus the risk of damage or loss of irreplaceable family photos during shipment or at the scanner shop. And to be honest some of the negative scans I've received from "professional" shops was way below what I'm capable of doing myself with my non-pro gear. "Best" quality scans were a significant price increase and a much longer turn-around time. After some I figured the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, so to speak.

Best of luck getting everything moved and set up. It can be a chore, but a relief once done and multiple backups are floating around several places.

 

[gordo]

I have a Canoscan FS4000US. Works great. I use Vuescan with it and can do multiple passes. Any scanning is really slow though. No getting around it.

I have a different scanning question. I have a bunch of old 8mm movies that I'd like to digitize. I have been considering the Wolverine pro or the Kodak Reels. Leaning toward the Kodak for the added MP and accepting larger reels. Any experience with either of these?

​

Sorry, no help with movies or video, I've never done any of those.

 

[boojum]

@gordo big thanks for the advice garnered from use. I will probably just be doing Kodochromes and Agfachromes. It is good to know that the V600 focuses on them correctly. This will just be a drag up the big box, get another about the same size and start scanning and moving the scanned slide packs to the new box. I may even enjoy it. And it will be fun to see all of those old scenes again. Thanks again.

 

[John King]

Number the slides and scans with the same batch/item number ...

 

[gordo]

@gordo big thanks for the advice garnered from use. I will probably just be doing Kodochromes and Agfachromes. It is good to know that the V600 focuses on them correctly. This will just be a drag up the big box, get another about the same size and start scanning and moving the scanned slide packs to the new box. I may even enjoy it. And it will be fun to see all of those old scenes again. Thanks again.

You're welcome. I can only vouch for mine, hopefully yours does as well. It is fun seeing all the old slides again.