Film scanners and Linux anyone have any experience ?

BADGER.BRAD

BADGER.BRAD

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Hello all,

I intend to purchase a film/slide scanner one to digitize a large number of slides from my family history (a winter project) and two to scan film I have processed myself in the future. Has anyone any experience of using these in Linux ? I'm questing my best bet will be to use a self contained one which saves file to it's own memory.

Any ideas ?

Cheers.
 
No experience with linux but I understand Vuescan runs well with it.

I think you need to bottom your scanner purchase before anything else, and that will require answering a million and one questions relating to budget, intended use and workflow.

You will probably get a more substantial response if you post film questions in the film section..:)
 
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Can I assume 35mm? What are the anticipated end uses for the scanned images? Digital only, small prints, large prints? As always, you need to define these things.

The main issue with slide scanning is pulling detail from the shadow areas without excessive digital 'noise'. So you need to balance your budget against the quality you find acceptable.

And oh yes, Vuescan is the thing. Have a look at it (download the free trial). You might not like the interface, but persist. And though it seems to support most scanners, do check it against the scanner you're thinking of getting.
 
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Thanks, much appreciated. As far as the slides I'm not looking for super quality just really a method of preserving them and allowing access to my family through our family photobucket account. But of course I will need something pretty good for the future film photos as I may wish to have them printed at a fairly large size. Do you know if I have photos enlarged do most processor/printers use the scanned file ( I presume this is the case) or would they use the negative.

Thanks again
 
I once asked a similar question to the person at VueScan and the answer was, with 35mm buy a used Nikon scanner, copy the slides and, either keep it or sell it. I bought a Nikon Coolscan and still have it. I use VueScan with the iMac and have used it with both Windows and Ubuntu.
 
Littletank said:
I once asked a similar question to the person at VueScan and the answer was, with 35mm buy a used Nikon scanner, copy the slides and, either keep it or sell it. I bought a Nikon Coolscan and still have it. I use VueScan with the iMac and have used it with both Windows and Ubuntu.
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Well I'd tend to agree, but make sure the scanner is recent enough to have a usb connection unless you want to tangle with the arcane world of scsi ...

Vuescan installs fine on Linux, and will provide a scanner driver automatically for any Nikon scanner as far as I know.

If indeed you feel competent enough to go the scsi route, I have some experience ... as far as I know the scsi Nikon scanners only play with certain Adaptec host adapters that need an old-fashioned pci slot on the mainboard.
 
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Regarding your possible future route with film, if you were going to use medium format or larger then maybe a flatbed with a lighthood (Epson V550 et al) would perform well enough, and whilst being a bit challenged for 35mm might suffice for the current task if big prints weren't required. But for biggish prints from 35mm and no need for mf scans, a dedicated 35mm film scanner is the way to go. And even used, I'd say that you get what you pay for.

Film scanner connections over time were scsi, firewire and finally usb.

As John said above, this thread might have been better served in the film section?
 
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