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Total newbie here to the Forum. I wonder if I could ask for some advice please ? I wish to digitise some old negatives (some are 90-100 years old) plus some slides. I am reasonably proficient with PSE but only as far as things like cloning, cropping, photomerging, etc. etc. But I am struggling with the more difficult procedures. i.e. levels, gradient maps, etc. I have actually scanned a B&W negative on my Epson XP 900 printer/scanner and used PSE to invert it and got a quite decent photo after playing around with it and then printing it on my Epson. But it's a bit of a fiddle.

I realise that to more easily accomplish what I want to do I need a decent purpose-built negative/slide scanner that does have back lighting. And my reason for joining this Forum and asking the question is to gain the opinion of others about what I should be looking for. This whole exercise is just to digitise loads of family images so that, amongst other things, they can be backed up. I don't want to spend a fortune because, as I'm sure you all know, the quality of the negatives from that long ago aren't that good anyway.

Thanks to anyone who can just give me a few pointers, advice, or comments.
 
Something like an Epson V500 will do 35mm and 120 negatives and slides. You could buy one used, scan your negs then sell it again. You'll lose very little.

They seem to be selling on e-bay for about £150.

There's currently one in the forum classifieds but you won't have access yet, I don't think.
 
You don't mention budget, or whether everything is 35mm...

An Epson V550 would probably be the most balanced solution if you're just digitising the negs for screen use. If you want decent prints (A4 or larger), you'll struggle.
The V550 comes with a carrier to digitise 2 strips of 35mm (12 images) in one go, or 4 slides, so once your setup is sorted, it can be quite quick. I use it for making contact sheets and it's a very swift process to do 36 exposures.

Cheaper than the V550 are the standalone units you pull negatives through and scan 1 at a time. No idea if they're any good but they're cheap! If you're going down that slower route though is it worth considering DSLR scanning? If you have a macro lens and a tripod and an iPad and some tissue paper to diffuse it, you can scan pretty quick. It's the sort of thing that takes a while to set up but once you're set - it's quite quick. I have a Plustek 8100 which is more expensive than the V550, but I can print to A3 from a 35mm negative - the quality is definitely superior.
 
Thank you everybody for your quick responses. I appreciate that. I am looking on eBay because I know that when I have scanned my 300-400 negatives and slides I will probably never use it again. And thank you all for your recommendations. I will investigate. I also appreciate the advice re : DSLR scanning. This is where my ignorance kicks in. I have seen DSLR cameras but haven't got a clue as to what they are. My camera is a Canon Powershot A640. I do have an iPad and also a couple of tripods that I sometimes use with the camera.

Am I correct in thinking that the reason a lot of my negatives that I have tried scanning don't scan very well is that I am using a standard printer/scanner and to scan a negative and slides it really needs a back light such as you could do with a bright screen app. on an iPad and using my camera on a tripod ? I presume if I went down that route then I need some kind of negative/slide holder to place over the screen ? I have thought also that by using that method I could set the camera on a delay so that I'm not actually touching it when it shoots.

If I buy a purpose built scanner do you get the choice of modes, i.e JPEG, TIFF, PNG, etc ? And if you do which is the best to use ? Sorry, so many questions !!
 
Am I correct in thinking that the reason a lot of my negatives that I have tried scanning don't scan very well is that I am using a standard printer/scanner and to scan a negative and slides it really needs a back light

That's right, yes.

If I buy a purpose built scanner do you get the choice of modes, i.e JPEG, TIFF, PNG, etc ? And if you do which is the best to use ? Sorry, so many questions !!

Yes, you have a choice. Personally I use Tiff at 2400dpi. Others may choose something different but I'm very happy with the results I get after tweaking in Lightroom.
 
You're welcome!

My camera is a Canon Powershot A640. I do have an iPad and also a couple of tripods that I sometimes use with the camera.
Really all you need is the ability to fill the viewfinder as much as possible with the negative. It depends on the lens and how close it can zoom, and how close it can focus.
Using the iPad as a backlight works "ok". You get lines from the iPads display, and I've used greaseproof paper to act as a diffuser but it's not ideal.
Finally, I held my negatives down with stacks of coins... If you want speed, it's probably worth investing in a proper negative carrier from an old scanner. There might be things on eBay.
Finally.. again... it's a slow method.
Edit to add: You also need software that can flip the tones from neg to pos.

I think Simon covered the other stuff.
 
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You're welcome!


Really all you need is the ability to fill the viewfinder as much as possible with the negative. It depends on the lens and how close it can zoom, and how close it can focus.
Using the iPad as a backlight works "ok". You get lines from the iPads display, and I've used greaseproof paper to act as a diffuser but it's not ideal.
Finally, I held my negatives down with stacks of coins... If you want speed, it's probably worth investing in a proper negative carrier from an old scanner. There might be things on eBay.
Finally.. again... it's a slow method.
Edit to add: You also need software that can flip the tones from neg to pos. I'm a bit lost on that one. is that the same as when I "invert" an image when using PSE ?

I think Simon covered the other stuff.

Thank you again. I think I'm leaning towards the purpose built scanner. With the quantity that I am proposing to do I think it will be quicker. Are you able to edit on a scanner or is it always going to be better putting them into PSE to get the photo after scanning the negative/slide ?
 
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the only thing I can say about dedicated slide scanners is that once you have finished scanning the slise , it will be of no use to you, where as a good flatbed will still be of use
Thank you for that. At the risk of sounding a total ignoramus what would I be likely to use a good flatbed scanner for that I can't do with my Epson XP900 printer/scanner ?
 
Thank you for that. At the risk of sounding a total ignoramus what would I be likely to use a good flatbed scanner for that I can't do with my Epson XP900 printer/scanner ?
I think the point was that they’d include a neg carrier with backlight, which your printer scanner doesn’t
 
I think the point was that they’d include a neg carrier with backlight, which your printer scanner doesn’t
Yes, but my point was that my Epson is, as far as I can tell, a perfectly good scanner so I can't see why I would want an additional scanner in the form of a flat bed machine after I've finished scanning my negatives and slides. Unless of course a flat bed machine is a better option for my project in the first place. I assume that all negative/slide scanners have backlights and a means of holding the source.Having said that, I am an Epson man through and through (I still use an Epson FX 850 dot matrix - that's going back a bit !) and so if a flat bed scanner is a better tool for my project I would always consider it. A couple of other questions if I may. Some of my negatives are very small, 46mm x 66mm, am I ever likely to get a decent photograph out of those ? And at what DPI should I be looking at to do my scanning. I have currently scanned at 4800 and 9600 DPI using my Epson and can't see any difference.

Thanks again folks for all your help.
 
Some of my negatives are very small, 46mm x 66mm

That's bigger than 35mm (24 x 36mm) and bigger than 645! (55 x 40mm). "A decent photograph" is very subjective. You need to be much more quantative if you want help with that!
 
As I mentioned before, you can buy a used scanner, do your scanning then sell the scanner.

If you don't want to buy a flatbed neg. scanner, you will need to buy a dedicated 35mm neg. scanner. Will you use it again?

I'm not sure if they can do slides. Someone else will know.

If you have any negs bigger than 35mm you will need a flatbed.

As I said earlier, I scan at 2400 dpi
 
Yes, but my point was that my Epson is, as far as I can tell, a perfectly good scanner so I can't see why I would want an additional scanner in the form of a flat bed machine after I've finished scanning my negatives and slides. Unless of course a flat bed machine is a better option for my project in the first place. I assume that all negative/slide scanners have backlights and a means of holding the source.Having said that, I am an Epson man through and through (I still use an Epson FX 850 dot matrix - that's going back a bit !) and so if a flat bed scanner is a better tool for my project I would always consider it. A couple of other questions if I may. Some of my negatives are very small, 46mm x 66mm, am I ever likely to get a decent photograph out of those ? And at what DPI should I be looking at to do my scanning. I have currently scanned at 4800 and 9600 DPI using my Epson and can't see any difference.

Thanks again folks for all your help.
For scanning slides / negs, a dedicated scanner would be first choice, a flatbed with a neg carrier and backlight second choice, and a flatbed without a poor 3rd choice.

If I had a project, I’d buy a dedicated machine s/h and then sell it when I’ve finished.

But in reality, about 15 years ago I bought a pro dedicated neg scanner, which I sold after about 10 years having never used it. We also bought a flatbed to use that died before we’d scanned a single neg (lack of motivation)

We recently bought a flatbed with a carrier and the Mrs has scanned all her grandads slides and all my old negs of the kids. Finally!
 
That's bigger than 35mm (24 x 36mm) and bigger than 645! (55 x 40mm). "A decent photograph" is very subjective. You need to be much more quantative if you want help with that!
Yes, sorry, wasn't thinking properly. The slides that we have (taken by Father-in-Law) are 34mm x 22mm. I'm not sure that I can be more explicit about a "decent" photograph. The photographs that I have that were processed from the same film at the time aren't brilliant but then the sort of photographs that the man in the street took 80-100 years ago with his camera, and Mother's Brownie 127 camera were nothing like the kit that is available today.
 
We recently bought a flatbed with a carrier and the Mrs has scanned all her grandads slides and all my old negs of the kids. Finally!
I am warming to that idea. Ideally a stand-alone unit that lays the images onto an SD card I think.
 
As I mentioned before, you can buy a used scanner, do your scanning then sell the scanner. As I said earlier, I scan at 2400 dpi
Yes, that may be thw way to go. Thanks to everyone again. I appreciate all your help.
 
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