January 25, 2005

Film scans

Speaking of equipment...

I was wondering how all of you scan your film to digital. Right now I use the so-so film scanning services of CVS because it is convienient (in the same building that I work in) and inexpensive. I've also used Wolf, Ritz, and even Wal-Mart. I only trust them with C-41, so I still need a method to scan in slides. Unfortunately, it is economically infeasable for me to spend $1000+ on a dSLR for a while.

I was currently thinking of picking up a dedicated film scanner for myself, and I was thinking of the Minolta Scan Dual IV, which can be had for $260 online. I have used the Nikon Coolscan LS-2000 when I worked for the newspaper at the University of Illinois and I was pretty happy with the results - it can be found on ebay for the same price as the Minolta but will be very used...BUT has digital ICE. Does anyone have any suggestions for a relatively inexpensive means of scanning film or want to sell me their old film scanner?

posted in Digital by roderick

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Comments

Right now, I'm using a Nikon Coolscan IV LS-40. It's got a decent dmax (3.6) and is relatively fast. It comes with a slide scanner accessory as well as one for 35mm film. (The new version is the Super Coolscan V ED which scans to a max of 4000 dpi and has a dmax of 4.8. It has a USB 2.0 interface.) I normally scan my film or slides at the maximum 2900 dpi and then drop the output down to 2500 dpi. I don't use the software that Nikon provides, prefering Hamrick Software's VueScan (available in both Mac in Windows flavors). I don't do any processing during the scanning except to turn DigitalICE and grain reduction on to its lowest level. I also turn restore fading and restore colors on. Once it's finished scanning, I have VueScan set to automatically open the scan in Photoshop, where I do all of my postprocessing. According to photographic.com's review (http://www.photographic.com/digitalperipherals/604minolta/), the Dual IV doesn't use DigitalICE but something similar. Personally, I'm lusting after a Nikon LS-9000ED so I can get better scans out of my Holga shots and my Horizon 202 panoramic camera but that's a tad out of my price range for now.
Posted by: Bill (aka mr bill) | January 25, 2005 04:28 PM

I use an Epson Perfection 3170 flatbed scanner with a built-in film adapter. It comes with three negative carriers (120, 35mm, slide) and the software is pretty good. It works fairly well for a cheap-ish multi-use scanner. I'll scan negatives in at the highest resolution if I'm going to print, but usually scan at a lower quality if I'm just going to post online. My one gripe is that the transparency adapter in the lid is only as wide as 2x35mm negative strips or 1x120 negative strip. Not that I use any film larger than that, but it would be nice if it were larger.
Posted by: kelly belly | January 25, 2005 09:58 PM

The Minolta Scan Dual series is great value for the money. Yes it doesn't have digital ICE and so you may spend more time cleaning up the dust with the clone tool. But the price jump up to digital ICE is pretty steep. I have the Scan Dual III and it's perfect for my needs.
Posted by: phule | January 27, 2005 03:04 PM