Device for putting 35mm negatives on a PC

dory

Hello.

Picked up a device today in some electronics store in Cork. It's not too bad, but I imagine it could be a lot better. Does anyone know of a good one to get old negatives on the computer?
The one I have is an Arcsoft, ION Film2PC yoke, can't find it on the net, it's not the one with a built in display.

Does anyne have any experience with this? Wouldn't even mind getting a professional to do it if it's possible.

dazftw

You could bring them to a lab to be scanned for you?

Or buy a film scanner depending on how much film you have the scanner could work out cheaper but take alot longer.

civis_liberalis

Aldi or Lidl seem to stock them every so often. Haven't seen it in the last month though.

TJJP

Canon make very good film scanners, far better than those suggested here, but of course there is a cost involved. I have a Canon CanoScan 8800F and I can't fault it.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Scanners/Flatbed_with_Film_Scanning/canoscan_8800f/index.asp

katiemaloe

TJJP wrote: »

Canon make very good film scanners, far better than those suggested here, but of course there is a cost involved. I have a Canon CanoScan 8800F and I can't fault it.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Scanners/Flatbed_with_Film_Scanning/canoscan_8800f/index.asp

I agree, I use this scanner at work and its fab. You can scan slide, negative- 35mm and 120. I have even scanned 110 negs with it no bother. Well worth the money. I think it was around €200 or so. You can scan photos and documents with it too.

dory

Great, thanks people.

I like the look of the Canon one. Is there any shop you know that sells it? I'm very impatient waiting for things to get delivered. Currys don't seem to do Canon, Argos don't do scanners that high end. Where else does electrical?

I think I might give up on the machine I bought and see if I can bring it back. The quality really is terrible.

magicbastarder

i have the canon 8400f, which seems to be an older model of the 8800f? i paid €175 on komplett for it a few years ago.
anyway, i don't bother scanning my colour 120 with it, because the colours come out so muddy. it's grand for b&w though. maybe they've fixed that on the 8800f.

dory

I hope it's been fixed, because I'll be working in colour.

I have two HP all-in-one printers. Is the scanning, just of normal photos, really that much better in this to warrant the 200 Euro? My aim at the end is to print these in a photobook for the parents anniversary. So won't be blowing them up massive, but would like good quality.

magicbastarder

you won't get 'proper' film scanning till you hit about €600 and upwards, i'm afraid...
also, devices like that tend to hold their value well, and there's not a huge secondhand market.
i'm still using a nikon i paid IRL£650 years and years ago.

dory

Well film scanning isn't something I'm mad about, it's mostly photo scanning.
I just wish I could use this scanner once on a normal photo and see if it's worth the extra.

Attached is an example of what the device I bought yesterday got me. I'm still unsure about whether or not I should return it. I have photoshop and I'm sure if I was more technically able I could make it better using that. Maybe the hardware I have and photoshop could get me good enough photos for what I need?

The file was a wonderful 10mb after being scanned by my device, so this is a slightly modified version.

DublinWriter

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'm still using a nikon i paid IRL£650 years and years ago.

Was that a Coolscan?

I was looking at the latest Nikon Coolscan and they're silly money > £2,500 GBP.

magicbastarder

yep, coolscanIII.
the one you saw is probably the one that can take 120.

magicbastarder

dory wrote: »

The file was a wonderful 10mb after being scanned by my device, so this is a slightly modified version.

that's truly appalling, assuming the original neg was in good nick.

DublinWriter

magicbastarder wrote: »

yep, coolscanIII.
the one you saw is probably the one that can take 120.

Is that the one with the SCSI I/F?

Would you recommend it? I've a load of 35mm negs I want to scan.

dory

magicbastarder wrote: »

that's truly appalling, assuming the original neg was in good nick.

I wouldn't say 'good nick', it is 30 years old and has been sitting in a box. But it's not great. I couldn't afford the 2.500 one now, but seeing as this is so terrible, I think I'll return it if the shop will take it. I paid 60 Euro for the device, was down from 100 in the sales. I wasn't expecting great things, but I thought it would look decent enough.
But as I said, my main thing will be normal photo scanning.

DaireQuinlan

DublinWriter wrote: »

Is that the one with the SCSI I/F?

Would you recommend it? I've a load of 35mm negs I want to scan.

I have a coolscan V, updated model of the above, USB interface. I got it for about the same price second hand a few years ago. They're probably the best scanners you can get for under a couple of thousand euros. If you have a ton of negatives though it'll take you a while, 6 strip batch scanning only. The 5000 is similar to the V but adds the ability to scan an entire roll at once. Probably not too useful to you given that your negs are probably cut and sleeved.
If you have a LOT of negatives and you're willing to compromise on quality a bit then a new epson 750 might do the job. They can scan a whole roll (of 24 or 36, can't remember exactly ) in one batch.
I have a canonscan 8600 for 120, never used it for 35mm and it has some trouble penetrating dense slides but it does okay at 2400 dpi for medium format.

davmigil

Another option, if you have one already, is to use a macro lens and a light box.

magicbastarder

i've just taken the coolscan III (aka the LS-30) out of a drawer for the first time in over a year (was doing work on the house, everything was packed away), and it gave me a bit of a heart attack; making strange noises and refusing to work. i think it just needed a bit of limbering up.

i have the automatic strip feeder, which can scan six negs automatically, but never really used it - i heard stories that unless you keep it scrupulously clean, it can scratch your negs.
given it's a ten year old machine, it's a great workhorse. 2700DPI, so it puts out 8MB greyscale/24MB colour uncompressed.

magicbastarder

have just done a side by side scan of the two scanners - will try something green soon too, it seems to be the colour the canon struggles with most. but it didn't do too bad here:

nikon coolscan:


canon 8400f:


both shots scanned more saturated than the original slide; but the cast (visible on the rocks behind) is spot on in the nikon, and too warm in the canon.

Ghost Train

dory wrote: »

Well film scanning isn't something I'm mad about, it's mostly photo scanning.
I just wish I could use this scanner once on a normal photo and see if it's worth the extra.

Attached is an example of what the device I bought yesterday got me. I'm still unsure about whether or not I should return it. I have photoshop and I'm sure if I was more technically able I could make it better using that. Maybe the hardware I have and photoshop could get me good enough photos for what I need?

The file was a wonderful 10mb after being scanned by my device, so this is a slightly modified version.

Any chance you could do a raw scan of the negative and post it? If the scanner allows it. Might give a better indication of the performance of the scanner and what you get out of it

DaireQuinlan

magicbastarder wrote: »

have just done a side by side scan of the two scanners - will try something green soon too, it seems to be the colour the canon struggles with most. but it didn't do too bad here:

both shots scanned more saturated than the original slide; but the cast (visible on the rocks behind) is spot on in the nikon, and too warm in the canon.

Also shadow detail on the nikon is considerably better. More detail apparent (even looking at it screen size) on the nikon scan aswell, despite its alledgedly lower DPI.

magicbastarder

the nikon has a collimated beam, so will pick out more detail - one being dust, which is more obvious on the nikon scan.

pixbyjohn

dory
This is an old negative scanned with an ION film 2 PC like what you are using.
Its reasonable quality

Ghost Train

Decided to do a comparision between fuji lab scans and £100 plustek film scanner I got a while back.
If I was back again, I'd probably go for something like the Canon 8800F, just for the ability to scan more frames at a time and to have IR dust removal.

Fuji lab SP-2000

Plustek 7200 processed from raw scan

Fuji lab

Plustek 7200 direct from scanner

Morrisseeee

Here's one from a friends Plustek OpticFilm 7300 ( a dedicated 35mm scanner), and we're still trying to figure out the best possible settings to scan at !! (Pic was taken with an Olympus OM10 & 50mm lens).

TJJP

dory wrote: »

Great, thanks people.

I like the look of the Canon one. Is there any shop you know that sells it?

Conns is an option: http://www.connscameras.ie/Scanners-!45-cat.html

(Sorry, just realised you might be in Cork so Conn's won't be much use. A good camera store should have it though.)

Ghost Train

Morrisseeee wrote: »

we're still trying to figure out the best possible settings to scan at !! (Pic was taken with an Olympus OM10 & 50mm lens).

I have the same problem or did, the silverfast software is great but can be tough to find the best balance with so many settings