scanner recommendation

whitewash

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i need to buy a scanner predominantly for negative scanning, we already have a scanner that will do documents in the house so thats not a problem.

my budget is around £100 preferably less, i know this wont get me a brilliant scanner but its only for fun.


recommendations please :)

thankyou!
 
A little over your budget but the Epson 4490 seems to get pretty good revies for the price and can be had for £130 at most online retailers. Haven't found anything cheaper that scan negatives myself.
 
I have one of these ( Link )for scanning in old negatives and slides, it works suprisingly well, the driver install can be a little fiddly till you suss it out (it either goes smooth or pear shaped) but on the whole the scanner is pretty good for what it is.
 
What size negs ?

I don't even know what camera you're shooting:bang:
 
looking on ebay there are a lot of half decent dedicated film scanners on SCSI connection knocking about, would one of these be worth looking at as uposed something new, would i be getting more for my money?
 
oo, I had an orrible time with scsi, not being a pc geek.
after buggering about getting the right scsi card, installing it, then getting the correct drivers, then the scan software, it was a bit of a mare, but I gotta say it works pretty much the same as my usb scanner.
If I get a new pc, I don't think I'll bother with all that crap again.

All in this thread
 
so something with a usb or firewire connection would be better then

anyone got any experience of those that CscottMcqueen recommends above, they appear to have a reasonable scan resolution for around £150 on ebay.


the other option is something like the plustek range i see on warehouse express/jessops etc, they seem reasonably cheap, anyone got any experience of them?
 
Stay clear of Kodak Pro scanners, unless you're running a PC with Windows 3.1 they won't work on anything newer.
 
am i right in thinking at a 4800dpi flatbed scanner wont yeild that resolution when scanning film/slides due to the area being scanned being only a fraction of the entire scan area of an a4 scanner.

so i would be better with a 35mm negative scanner as this will yeild a much higher scan area?


is that correct?


has anyone forked out for one of these plustek scanners they sell at jessops/warehouse express, they seem to be reasonably good for the money but for all i know they could be *****!
 
It should be the same, the ratings are per sq inch

The neg scanner i got will create a 90mb tif on full resolution and has Kodak Ice, Gem and Sho filters built into the scanning software.
 
so it is Cscott, silly me Dpi

ive spotted that scanner you recommended, seems like a nice bit of kit and the ICE seems like something to have, theres only one on ebay though and i think it;ll go for quite a high price looking at the bids on it!
 
Chuffed with my Epson V700 I have to say.

I scanned this old 35mm neg which is around 20 years old.

2516580709_87ea7bf64a_o.jpg


Just for the buzz, I then scanned it at 9600dpi and ended up with a 311 mb file. Windows didn't like it one bit! I don't think I'll be doing much scanning at 12800 dpi. :D
 
I’ve been looking for a “cheap” film scanner as well but for £100 I think you may be disappointed as flatbeds are really designed for A4 documents. They don’t tend to have the resolution you would want for film and more importantly they tend to lack a wide enough contrast range (Dmax).
As an alternative you could spend your £100 getting negs professional scanned or hiring a good film scanner, I think Calumet do this. Once you have cleared the backlog getting a CD with film developing is quite cheap.
Not as good as having your own film scanner but possibly a good alternative to scanning negs on a flat bed.
 
I have been looking at the cheap epsons (v200/v350) as well. Would it be possible for one of the people who have recommended them to post a sample? Not a full tiff scan but a resulting processed postable size jpeg. I almost bought one a couple of years ago and saw great reviews but when I saw a sample I didn't think it was up to much. Interested to see if the newer models are better - they seem to get good write ups.

I have a collection of prints/negs/slides so a flatbed which could handle all would be ideal. Limited budget and not after 'pro' standard results but the end product has to be worth doing.

thanks
 
I'm looking for a negative scanner too. Does anyone know if the Epson Perfection V200 scanner is able to scan 35mm negs with the sprockets left in the image?

Thanks in advance.
 
All I would say is avoid the two canon's. I've got the 4400, the 8800 is the same optics in a better chasis. The results are basically rubbish and it takes 20 mins per frame.

Since I shoot on film I now just get a photo CD from Boots with them, and the results even though the res is only 2MP, are brilliant, especially when compared to the Canon's output. The output from the Canon lacks clarity and (surprisingly considering they're negatives) all shadow detail is completely missing. The results are dull shots, with no detail, particularly around mouths and eyes, which are the most important bits IMHO!

There is a 5MP neg scanner on ebay under various brandings for about £60. Reading the bumf it seems to be basically a 5MP camera sensor and projection mechanism internally, anyway doubt it's great quality but it is only 5s per frame at 5MP so might be worth a go. Gets positive feedback anyway.

On the other hand my 4400F is for sale if you're interested!!

Hope that helps!
 
Heard nothing but bad things regarding Canon scanners, stay clear.

If you can stretch the extra 60 or 70 quid for the Epson V500 I don't think you'll be dissapointed. Dedicated film scanners are o.k. for 35mm but what if you fancy doing a bit of 120 or 4x5 or scan some old prints?

I'll concur with CT, the V700 is the dogs BTW, well worth every penny.
 
I've got one of them, seems alright so far but I've not had a chance to get to grips with it properly yet.
 
What's the problem with the Canon's guys? I've got the 8800 and use it for the MF negs from the Mamiya and it fine! Been printing up to A4 so far and not had a problem.
 
What's the problem with the Canon's guys? I've got the 8800 and use it for the MF negs from the Mamiya and it fine! Been printing up to A4 so far and not had a problem.

There seems to be mixed opinions flying about the 'tinterweb about scanners at the mo. Seems everyone has very different standards.
 
My nikon coolscan 8000 is still wanting a new home, so stop faffing about and buy a proper scanner boys...
 
*Bump*

Not worth it's own thread. Just wondering if anyone has experience with wet mounts on flatbed scanners. I'm looking at getting the variable height one from 'Betterscanning' and wondering if it's worth the 80-odd quid investment?
 
Just my opinion - but I wouldn't bother. Yes, you'll get slightly better resolution in the very fine detail, but you'd have to be very discerning to notice the difference. As far as the Epson wet scanners go, Epson don't supply the fluid either, you'll have to source it elsewhere. It sounds a very messy troublesome procedure to me for very little return. 80 quid is a lot of money too for a bit of glass, when you could probably source your own and use another scanner. ;)

Edit.

There has to be a risk of introducing Newton's Rings too with the glass I'd have thought?
 
Yes, it does seem a bit of a faff, probably worth it for MF and 4x5 though or if you want to squeeze the last drop of resolution out of 35mm. I also like the idea of being able to fine tune the height of the holder, much better than the Epson plastic shim things. It comes with a piece of AN glass, but you have to buy the Kami fluid and mylar sheets separately, it seems most suppliers of these devices are s**t scared of being held culpable for drenching your flatbed scanner in fluid.
 
I'll leave you to find out if it's worth it then. :D
 
I think glass holders are worth trying, dunno about wet mounting, I don't think its worth the hassle either.
The flatter the film is the better, this Minolta Multi I have, has carriers that have anti-newton ring glass in them, they look sorta opache, but with film pressed between them they look perfectly clear, you can't get any flatter than pressed between two pieces of glass.
 
I had a very small budget so used a epson v200. I was more than happy with the results from scratched slides there were more than 40 years old.

its a bit slow when you have to scan a lot but it got the job done

here are a couple of samples.

250943463_F6fHd-M.jpg


251160753_wkDoS-M.jpg
 
I have an Epson 3490 Photo and I've scanned a few films with it. So far, it's been pretty good, I just need to set it to 1200 DPI or higher to get decent resolution.
And you'll know how good the lens + scanner combo used was when you view it up close.
 
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