Getting film shots into digital

jamesoliverstone

jamesoliverstone

Messages
2,145
Name
James
Edit My Images
No
Hi all, more stupid questions ;)

I have been shooting more and more film recently and I would like to find a simple way of getting my film shots onto my computer.

Is it best to either give the films to a local lab and get them to produce me a photo CD at the end of it, OR, get a lab to provide the negs and buy a good negative scanner to get them onto my PC myself?

I know there is additional cost from a lab to produce the digital files, and I wonder how long it would take to get the investment back from buying a neg scanner...

Also, is buying my own negative scanner and having control of the process going to produce better images, or when a lab gives you them on CD are they good enough anyways?

Sorry for questions, but I am not even sure what a good scanner to buy is, let alone working out whether I need one or not!
 
It usually depends on what lab is scanning the negatives... but a lot of the time you'll get a higher res better quality image from a home scanner. I have the Epson V700 which pretty much scans any negative. Have samples on my flickr or if you want me to link them I'll do so.

You could probably pick up a V700 for about £400 - £450. So if the lab is charging you £5 a go per scan you'll get the price back after 100 ish scans.
 
It's a lot quicker to get some low-ish res scans from a high street lab than to go to the expense (of time and money) of purchasing your own scanner and doing it yourself. If you want specific frames that you like to be scanned, there are places that will scan for you on drum scanners or high end dedicated film scanners. Buying a scanner yourself is a bit of a minefield in itself and will be dependent on how much you wish to spend, what format you shoot on and how much time you want to dedicate to the whole process.
 
I do as Mr_T says I get them scanned when I get my films developed. I tried a negative scanner (a cheapy one admittedly) but couldn't get anywhere near the standard of my local Tesco. So I took the negs down to my local shop asked for some prints and asked her to put them on cd at the same time, it cost me a quid for the CD. A Bargin imho.
 
I've got a reasonable quality flatbed for scanning negatives (Epson4490) but I'm not happy with the results. Add that to the fact the every time you do a scan it's a little bit of your life wasted and a little bit of your soul taken away;) I jest, but it's a **** job.

If you send your films to a decent lab for developing (peak imaging for example) then they can scan using a decent scanner, probably a drum scanner which will surpass all home scanners.
 
pepper said:
I do as Mr_T says I get them scanned when I get my films developed. I tried a negative scanner (a cheapy one admittedly) but couldn't get anywhere near the standard of my local Tesco. So I took the negs down to my local shop asked for some prints and asked her to put them on cd at the same time, it cost me a quid for the CD. A Bargin imho.
Click to expand...


...and you have to put a Epson V750 into "advanced mode" to beat a Tesco machine scan. And would also add:- a few times I just can't equal or beat the colours in a Boots print by scanning and using Photoshop and I call these negs "Unscannable"......and you can never get the glossy look and deep colours (as in a print) on a computer screen.
 
excalibur2 said:
...and you have to put a Epson V750 into "advanced mode" to beat a Tesco machine scan. And would also add:- a few times I just can't equal or beat the colours in a Boots print by scanning and using Photoshop and I call these negs "Unscannable"......and you can never get the glossy look and deep colours (as in a print) on a computer screen.
Click to expand...

If you're having problems with the colours in your negative scans I suggest you give ColorPerfect a try. The trial version should give you a good idea of the its capability.
 
Mr_T said:
If you're having problems with the colours in your negative scans I suggest you give ColorPerfect a try. The trial version should give you a good idea of the its capability.
Click to expand...

Thank you I'll try it........but I haven't bothered to find out why some of my shots are unscannable as it's only a problem now and again (maybe it's a combo of out of date film, development and scanner), In fact IIRC these un-scannable shots first appeared last year when using a cheap Epson scanner when I also scanned the very good print (from Boots) and got an inferior scanned jpg for overall balance of colours, and when I scanned the same neg using a V750 I was getting the same problem. Damn annoying being beaten by a shop/supermarket machine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top