Digitising 35mm negative

sep9001

sep9001

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Kev
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Hi

Apologies in advance if I am posting this in the wrong section.

I have quiet a few 35mm negatives that I want to digitise and looking at a cheap lens I can use with my Nikon D750.

I have seen the plustek film scanners can be bought for around £200 to £300, but I do not want to spend that much.

The pictures are from my school days so not family memories, and does not have to be of the best quality.

I did try using my Nikon 28-105 which has a macro switch (not true macro) and they were not as clear, again they were a quick grab hand help, with the negatives on an iPad.

I will try using a tripod when I get a chance.

Thank you for any help or suggestions.
 
A short extension tube with a standard prime, or a lens that covers standard prime ranges. I digitised negs successfully with a 50mm f1.8 & 16mm extension tube. It was more of a faff getting clear images of the negs. I ended up taping them to the window and tripod shooting them.

But as Terry says, if you can get a cheap flatbed that will be a much less hassle free option - esp if you have a lot of negs!
 
The Nikon 55mm macro AI-s lenses (f2.8 and f3.5) are both excellent and have a very flat field, so work perfectly for scanning negatives. You may also need an extension tube, so worth checking the specs.

There's a huge 'scanning with a digital camera' thread over on RangeFinderForum which should provide you with all the info you need: https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161028
 
Thank you all with the suggestion.

Have been looking on eBay for a flatbed scanner and the plustek film scanners and I think as a lot of people are home and thinking the same, the price have all shot up.

May be I should just keep an eye to see a scanner or the plustek 8100 come up.
 
You could always contact somewhere like https://filmdev.co.uk/ and ask for a price for scanning. They can certainly do an entire pre-developed film (it's one of the examples on their order form), and might be able to do some number of non-consecutive pre-cut strips of 5 or 6 if you ask nicely (doubt they'd want to pick out individual frames).
 
Just looked at Epson V500 scanners on Evilbay, nearly fell over. I have no idea what people are thinking charging what they do.

How many do you want to scan, I'd be quite happy to do them for you if there's not millions.
 
ChrisH said:
Just looked at Epson V500 scanners on Evilbay, nearly fell over. I have no idea what people are thinking charging what they do.

How many do you want to scan, I'd be quite happy to do them for you if there's not millions.
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Thank you for the offer Mr C, but want to try and do them my self. May invest in a 60mm lens and give it a go.
 
ChrisH said:
Just looked at Epson V500 scanners on Evilbay, nearly fell over.
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I'd been looking too at 2nd hand - I'd be better off buying a new V550 with its years warranty. I'd seen some people mention previously getting a cheap 4990 but no bargains around currently!
 
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Harlequin565 said:
A short extension tube with a standard prime, or a lens that covers standard prime ranges. I digitised negs successfully with a 50mm f1.8 & 16mm extension tube. It was more of a faff getting clear images of the negs. I ended up taping them to the window and tripod shooting them.

But as Terry says, if you can get a cheap flatbed that will be a much less hassle free option - esp if you have a lot of negs!
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Have you tried using a macro lens as well? I’m curious how an extension tube works vs a macro lens. It’s my understanding that macro lenses are made to have far less distortion than normal lenses, I might be wrong! I switched from a flatbed to using a macro lens a while ago but the only macro lens I have is an old canon fd 70-210 f4 which has some distortion in the corners
 
Retune said:
You could always contact somewhere like https://filmdev.co.uk/ and ask for a price for scanning. They can certainly do an entire pre-developed film (it's one of the examples on their order form), and might be able to do some number of non-consecutive pre-cut strips of 5 or 6 if you ask nicely (doubt they'd want to pick out individual frames).
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I guess it's not what you want, but for interest Photo Express in Hull used to scan an entire roll already devved and cut into strips (of 4 IIRC) for the same price as a dev and scan (£5 last time I did it). You can also get a 50p discount as a TP member (but there's a minimum order). Pretty reasonable scans on a Fuji Frontier. So I'm guessing others will do it too, depending on workload.
 
Ben johns said:
Have you tried using a macro lens as well?
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No. I didn't have one at the time, nor did I have the cash. The 50mm I'd had for a while and the Kenro extension tube did the job fine for me. Today I use an 8100 for 35mm and the V550 for larger. DSLR scanning is not for me with the amount I shoot.
 
Ladybird12345 said:
How does a flat bed scanner turn negative to positive
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It doesn’t, the software does. When you scan it’s just as though it’s in an enlarger. There’s a lamp in the lid of the scanner and the sensor picks up that light. When you scan a photo it does the opposite and shines light up onto the picture.
 
Another option is to buy a Slide Duplicator with the negative holder, similar to this one being sold on Ebay. The quality is supposed to be better than cheap flatbed scanners, but not as good as the high end Epson scanners. It's quicker to use than most flat bed scanners. Make sure you get one with the 4x35mm negative holder as a lot are sold with only a holder for slides.
This one being sold on Ebay includes 35mm and 110mm negative holders, though you can sometimes find them cheaper,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jessop-Zoom-Slide-Duplicator-Boxed/224002384963
 
Thank you all for the suggestion and help, I will give it another go this weekend using my 28-105 lens and tripod and then go from there.

At the moment I am going towards the 60mm lens option so will see how I get one and decide.
 
Canon brook said:
Could you explain the process using the scanner as in starting from a Negative to a printable photo......
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There's a ton of info here:

ChrisR said:
Would the big scanner thread help? https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/a-big-film-scanner-thread.709453/
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But tl;dr, if you're using a scanner that is designed for scanning negatives, it will come with software that flips from neg to pos. With so many different scanners and different types of software it's not possible to go into more detail.

The scanner create a file (jpeg or tiff) which you can then deal with as you would a normal digital image.
 
Canon brook said:
Could you explain the process using the scanner as in starting from a Negative to a printable photo......
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As said it's basically simple, but it's a bit more involved in that everything has to be clean from dust and when you get your JPG from the scanner (and probably adjust in Photoshop or whatever to how you like it) you might have to adjust the printer to get the best photo...I don't know if digi guys have this problem with their JPG's but for me if I don't get the JPG right e.g. contrast, colours etc sometimes I can get colour casts..but then I'm using old inkjet printers.
B\W is easier with less problems but as said watch out for dust (on the neg and scanner) as you will get many white spots on your print.
 
ChrisH said:
Just looked at Epson V500 scanners on Evilbay, nearly fell over. I have no idea what people are thinking charging what they do.
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How do you mean?

Just checked amazon and Currys pc world for prices - the Epson V550 is only 20 pounds more expensive than when I bought mine (new from Currys) in 2016. One of my best photography purchases ever, by the way - highly recommended.

If you think 200 pounds for a great multi-format scanner is a lot, wait until you get deeper into threads like the one suggested above, with people urging you to use a 4000 quid mirrorless DSLR-based setup to 'get the best' out of your negatives.
 
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trypdal said:
How do you mean?

Just checked amazon and Currys pc world for prices - the Epson V550 is only 20 pounds more expensive then when I bought mine (new from Currys) in 2016. One of my best photography purchases ever, by the way - highly recommended.

If you think 200 pounds for a great multi-format scanner is a lot, wait until you get deeper into threads like the one suggested above, with people urging you to use a 4000 quid mirrorless DSLR-based setup to 'get the best' out of your negatives.
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I have an Epsom V500 but looking at EBay and they are going for £150 used. I personally think that’s expensive for a 10+ years old scanner. Your correct that it’s not a fortune but it’s still a lot for a scanner that old. Well in my opinion it is
 
mdpF2 said:
I think most were suggesting that you use existing digital cameras and lenses...
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Not everyone owns a digital camera, unfortunately.

It laregely depends on what quality you want from your negative scans. Having owned/used a V500 myself, they provide decent results for the price and IMOM, £150 isn't expensive at all for something you can integrate into your workflow, especially if you are shooting a lot of film. I have ended up with a V700 which i got for a decent price which has the capacity to scan more images so the workflow is quicker, however I have never been fully happy with my scans compared to those I get from a lab using a Fuji SP-3000. I bought it primarily to scan 4x5 which I never really did but having been lent one, I will probably have to pull it out the box at some point. I have seen folk on here and a friend spend the time to adjust their scanners using the better scanning holders to get really good results. Me, I haven't got the patience to do that and then start dust spotting, colour adjusting. I would rather let a professional lab handle that whom I have built a good relationship with. I also wouldn't want images for clients to be left to home developing and scanning (going back to how quality is important to you).


As for the digital camera option, I HAVE seen lots of people I follow on Instagram, etc using digital cameras to scan with very good results indeed, but if you don't own one it is quite a big outlay to just use to scan negatives/positives.
 
Yes seen that
 
sep9001 said:
Thank you all for the suggestion and help, I will give it another go this weekend using my 28-105 lens and tripod and then go from there.

At the moment I am going towards the 60mm lens option so will see how I get one and decide.
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I reckon there are two big questions you need to answer:

1. How many negatives you have to scan
2. How much time you want to spend scanning

Flatbeds are great for medium and large format, and for a small number of negatives, but they are slow. Dedicated 35mm scanners such as the Pakon are fast and produce superb images, but are double your budget. If you have a lot of negatives (say 300+) I'd suggest the digital camera, macro lens and copy stand/tripod route would be the way to go, because you already have the camera, which is far and away the biggest expense. Once you get into a routine, you can whip through a large number of files very quickly with a digital camera and with 35mm produce higher resolution files than many flatbeds. I'd then suggest batch processing them with Negative Lab Pro (https://www.negativelabpro.com/) if you're dealing with colour negatives.
 
FujiLove said:
I reckon there are two big questions you need to answer:

1. How many negatives you have to scan
2. How much time you want to spend scanning

Flatbeds are great for medium and large format, and for a small number of negatives, but they are slow. Dedicated 35mm scanners such as the Pakon are fast and produce superb images, but are double your budget. If you have a lot of negatives (say 300+) I'd suggest the digital camera, macro lens and copy stand/tripod route would be the way to go, because you already have the camera, which is far and away the biggest expense. Once you get into a routine, you can whip through a large number of files very quickly with a digital camera and with 35mm produce higher resolution files than many flatbeds. I'd then suggest batch processing them with Negative Lab Pro (https://www.negativelabpro.com/) if you're dealing with colour negatives.
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Going on from Fujilove's thoughts above, a possible alternative might be to hire a suitable lens for a week or so (if you are in lockdown) and do it that way? Lensesforhire is a member here and it might be worth checking out the cost of hiring. :thinking:
 
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Peter B said:
Going on from Fujilove's thoughts above, a possible alternative might be to hire a suitable lens for a week or so (if you are in lockdown) and do it that way? Lensesforhire is a member here and it might be worth checking out the cost of hiring. :thinking:
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I dipped my toe into digital camera scanning last year, and bought everything 2nd hand from eBay. I decided I didn't like the workflow (I don't even like digital cameras when used as scanners!) so sold it all back on eBay. I'm pretty sure I made a profit :)
 
Tried a few today using an iPhone and tripod and they were a bit better, although I am struggling to keep them flat as had to raise them a bit so that I do not get the pixels from the screen.

Will keep and eye on the scanner from the earlier link and also trying to see if I can buy a cheapish 60mm macro. If I do go via the lens route I will have to invest in some holders.

Thank you all for the help and suggestions.
 
Sorry can anyone confirm if the v550 comes with the slide scanning trays please.
 
FishyFish said:
Mine did. You get two holders with it. One that holds a single strip of 120 film, and the other that holds two strips of 135 or four mounted slides.
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Thank you, thinking of ordering one from currys for £200, looking at what used ones sale for I could sell in on.[emoji3]

Not sure I have the patience to wait for the ebay ones.
 
sep9001 said:
Thank you, thinking of ordering one from currys for £200, looking at what used ones sale for I could sell in on.[emoji3]

Not sure I have the patience to wait for the ebay ones.
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I've just ordered one, Thanks for the heads-up. They are £30 off currently.
 
Have a look on YouTube, lots of videos showing various ways to digitise negatives, from high end drum scans to using your mobile phone.

View: https://youtu.be/65lT7o2oEnc


I use my Fuji XT3 a vintage 55mm lens, extension tube an LED light and the lomo negative holders.
 
sep9001 said:
Sorry can anyone confirm if the v550 comes with the slide scanning trays please.
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Yes but if you get offered one without you can get Chinese copies of Ebay for £14. My scanner was in the loft when I had a fire last year, but I lost the trays in the fire. Took a week or two to arrive but work as the original ones do.
 
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