Scanning 35mm Negatives

[cmort666]

I've got a bunch of 35mm negatives and slides from college, Korea and here in Ohio.

I can get a Canon scanner (CS5600F) that will scan them, for $99 on Amazon ($150 from Microcenter here).

On the other hand, I found a place that will scan them to a CD or DVD for $0.29 a piece. I'm not sure that I have enough of them that would equal the price difference between buying a scanner and paying someone else to scan them. I haven't counted the ones I REALLY want scanned, but there probably aren't 200 on the outside.

The odds are that I will never shoot another roll of 35mm film, although I have two 35mm cameras.

I have a very old HP Scanjet 2300C scanner which I had to downgrade to because there are no Windows 7 drivers for my almost as old Scanjet 5900C.

Now that I'm working full time, I won't need to scan consultant timesheets and email them anymore, but I'd still like to have a decent flatbed scanner, better than the hand me down I'm using now. The Canon would get used, just not all that much after the negatives and slides are scanned.

Suggestions?

 

[loutent]

Check out Scan Cafe online. They often have sales that will beat the price that you mentioned - I am always getting e-mail offers and one of these days I will get my slides/negs together and do it. They have a neat system where you send all the slides you want and they post them online for you to select the ones you want - you have to agree to buy at least 50% of the ones you send in. They take a while because the scanning is done in India - maybe 4-6 weeks or so. Worth a look.

 

[zoom6zoom]

I had a similar problem with no current drivers for a decent scanner. I could probably load XP in a virtual machine on my 7 PC, but had other reasons not to. I had the need for a wireless printer, so got a Brother all-in one laser with a nice scanner and autofeeder.

 

[oldman45]

My problem is about like this as well. I have about 15,000 photos I would like to scan. My scanner is a flatbed and I am not into lifting the lid that many times.

Does anyone make a quality scanner where I can just feed the photos into it and let them come out the other side so all I have to do is feed them while I am sitting here reading the posts from all the intelligent members.

 

[Stonecove]

I'm interested in a solution too. I have hundreds of slides I'd like to do.
Stonecove

 

[Steve in Vermont]

I think the computer you're considering would work well for scanning slides and prints as well as other uses. I went to a Windows 7 system and a HP Scanjet G4010. Found the enclosed CD would not support W 7 and had to go to HP support for the fix. And $ 99.00 seem like a fair price although, sometimes, places like Staples have a "back shelf" area for discontinued items with prices up to 2/3 off (as was our scanner). And one other word of caution. I had a photo store scan slides to a CD for me years ago (some of Korea) and they did a good job. I hand delivered the slides and picked them up in person. I suggest you NOT send them via the mail if they are irreplaceable. I hope this helps.

 

[cmort666]

I think the computer you're considering would work well for scanning slides and prints as well as other uses. I went to a Windows 7 system and a HP Scanjet G4010. Found the enclosed CD would not support W 7 and had to go to HP support for the fix. And $ 99.00 seem like a fair price although, sometimes, places like Staples have a "back shelf" area for discontinued items with prices up to 2/3 off (as was our scanner). And one other word of caution. I had a photo store scan slides to a CD for me years ago (some of Korea) and they did a good job. I hand delivered the slides and picked them up in person. I suggest you NOT send them via the mail if they are irreplaceable. I hope this helps.

Unfortunately, to scan negatives and slides, you need a scanner designed to do that, and the local Staples has nothing like that.

There's a local photo place. I've got twenty+ year old undeveloped film, so I've been meaning to call them. I suspect that they're going to want a pretty penny to scan the negatives and slides I already have.

 

[LouisianaJoe]

I have an old Epson 1200 Photo scanner that has a slide adapter and a negative adapter. It works with XP but I have not tried to get it to work with Vista.

Google "35mm slide scanner" and you will find pc scanners and stand alone scanners such as the $57 ION Amazon.com: Ion 35mm Photo Negative and Slide Converter to PC (SLIDES2PC): Camera & Photo

Be sure to read the reviews to see if this is what you want.

Here is an $80 pc scanner with slide adapters Amazon.com: Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black): Electronics

 

[cmort666]

Google "35mm slide scanner" and you will find pc scanners and stand alone scanners such as the $57 ION Amazon.com: Ion 35mm Photo Negative and Slide Converter to PC (SLIDES2PC): Camera & Photo

There are (at least) two versions of the ION. One of them only scans to SD cards, which is to put it lightly, an inconvenience.

The reviews for both of them are mixed.

If I decide to do the scanning myself, I'll probably stick with the Canon, since I've had very good luck with Canon products, from printers to DSLRs.

 

[Rule3]

I have a Epson Flat Bed scanner(2400 Perfection Photo) that will scan negatives, it has a plastic "jig" to hold them. I never used it for that but have scanned lots of things. If you want, send me a few test negatives and I'll scan them for you.

 

[cmort666]

I have a Epson Flat Bed scanner(2400 Perfection Photo) that will scan negatives, it has a plastic "jig" to hold them. I never used it for that but have scanned lots of things. If you want, send me a few test negatives and I'll scan them for you.

Thanks.

I'll probably just get the Canon.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to shoehorn everything into the bedroom. I've got a lot of stuff and not a lot of space to put it in. I'm looking to replace the 19" conventional TV that a club member gave me for free with a flat screen, so that I can fit the TV, cable box, DVD recorder and stereo receiver in one vertical space. That'll give me more room for a decent computer desk on which the scanner will have to fit.

 

[Rule3]

Look here:

Clearance Epson Scanners - Epson Clearance Center - Epson America, Inc.

I have purchased a few printers here when I ran out of ink. It is almost cheaper to get a upgraded printer than to buy the ink depending on what they have at the time

Same warranty and free shipping

 

[JohnnieB]

I ran into the some of the same issues with existing scanners and dye-sublimation printers not working with Win-7.
My solution was a separate XP computer to run the devices I don't use/need often enough to update.

I've got an old Tamarack Technologies 2400FS Film Scanner that does 35mm negatives and a Canon CS9950F flatbed that does prints.
It also takes care of my copy and fax needs, which are minimal now that I'm retired.

One thing to watch out for when digitizing 35mm negatives and slides is DPI of the scanner.
Generally speaking, anything less than 1200dpi will start pixelating if you try to print at anything larger than 4x6.

Slowly, but surely, years of my 35mm negatives are ending up on CD and DVD.

 

[BE Mike]

There are (at least) two versions of the ION. One of them only scans to SD cards, which is to put it lightly, an inconvenience.

The reviews for both of them are mixed.

If I decide to do the scanning myself, I'll probably stick with the Canon, since I've had very good luck with Canon products, from printers to DSLRs.

I've been thinking of getting a scanner for my slides and old photos as well. I also like Canon products. I have been thinking of getting the Canon 9000F.

 

[cowart]

Suggestions?

Learn how to clean the negatives without hurting them before you scan them. Its much easier to get rid of dust and dirt beforehand. I would not recommend the flatbed plus adapter technique unless you only want to do a few at a time.

Scan at a considerably higher resolution than you think you will actually need, otherwise you will end up redoing them later on.

 

[Stonecove]

What resolution do you recommend?
Stonecove

 

[dickttx]

I have a Cannon I bought about 10 years ago for scanning my slides and negatives. It would IIRC scan 4 slides, or a strip of negatives at one time with the adapters included. It did an excellent job. I was really amazed at the quality of the slides and negatives from about 1956 on. The program actually scanned each of the slides and each of the frames on the negatives individually. My daughter is using it now so I can't give you the model number. It is the only one I have actually seen myself that would work like that.

 

[cowart]

What resolution do you recommend?
Stonecove

A good goal is to obtain about 300 pixels per inch on the print. Since the image on a 35mm negative or slide is about 1"x1.5", a 4"x6" print would need about a 1200x1800 scan, an 8"x10" print would need 2400x3600, etc.

If you plan to crop your pictures, increase your scan sizes in proportion.

If you only plan to view the pictures on a computer, scan to the same size as your largest monitor's resolution.

If you will be putting pictures on the internet, note that most computers display pictures at about 72 pixels per inch. You can store them as JPG files with quite a bit of compression to enable them to download quickly.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

I did all of mine and also did my families and my wifes families. There were over 35,000 in total and it took me years to complete the task.

I bought a top of the line canon scsi unit and used the canonsoft scanning software.

I just checked my files and they were scanned a 3888 by 2592 pixels and the resolution was 2720 DPI. 24 bit color and each tiff file is around 16 megs.

Make sure you get a good scanner and then experiment before you start. I worked a long time to figure out the best settings. It would take about 2 minutes per slide to do and my goal was a 100 slides a night every night. Weekends I tried to do 500 a day if I was lucky. I got a dual monitor screen going and 2 computers so I would scan on one, surf the web and forums on the other and transfer over my network on the 3rd scrreen.

In the end the scanner had an indexing problem. I think I wore it out.

 

[5Wire]

Nikon CoolScan will handle positive or negative color and black & white, mounted or in strips, with specific film settings, all at very high resolution. Go for the highest, that way you wont have to do it again for a tight crop or larger print.

Anti-static brush and possibly a film cleaning solution, lots of cotton balls, cotton gloves, and hold the film only by the edges. Don't trust most commercial places to respect your film.