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Film: scanner recommendations

Nigel Allan

Member
I have read that some people use Nikon Coolscan for converting film to digital so started to look at the different models.

I just spoke to Nikon UK and have been told that ALL production of all scanners has been discontinued. HELP!

It appears that Canon too no longer offers a high quality film-to-digital scanner.

So Any recommendations what I should be looking to buy if I want to convert old photos and slides to digital?

Budget is a consideration but so is quality. Ideally I would like to spend less that £1000

Ideas? Suggestions?
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
The Nikons are the best scanners below the Imacon/Hasselblad Flextight range (which is way above your quoted budget)

There has been a lot of discussion about whether Nikon have ceased production of all scanners, but certainly the Coolscan V is discontinued. The Coolscan LS-5000 doesn't appear to be listed anywhere, but the LS-9000 is still listed in some places. The 5000 is 35mm only and the 9000 also covers medium format.

Ebay has scanners through from time to time. Given the situation I probably ought to consider a 9000 if I want to have any chance of doing mf in the future...

Mike
 

Nigel Allan

Member
Nikon just told me on the phone they will not be making any more; all production has ceased. I doubt I will ever need medium format as I never used it in the past apart from the rare occurrence of borrowing someone's Hasselblad once and don't shoot that kind of photo generally, so I need something that will do a great job with 35mm.

So unless there is another manufacturer worth considering it might be an idea to buy a 5000 if anyone has one in stock or look on eBay...this doesn't bode well for film
 

Nigel Allan

Member
I just missed a second hand 5000 ED on eBay uk which went for for £1010 - seems they hold their value and I guess they are going to become as rare as hen's teeth
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
I just missed a second hand 5000 ED on eBay uk which went for for £1010 - seems they hold their value and I guess they are going to become as rare as hen's teeth

Nigel

There are some in the states on ebay that are less than that, though you'd get to pay import duty and vat on the total cost.

Mike
 

Nigel Allan

Member
might be worth it. I have a bid in right now on a Coolscan V ED which would probably be more than adequate for my needs anyway, so we'll see how that goes
 

Nigel Allan

Member
I have bought a Coolsscan 5000 ED from the USA on eBay so I look forward to some experimentation and possibly bringing some very old Ektachrome and negatives back to life. watch this space
 
So Any recommendations what I should be looking to buy if I want to convert old photos and slides to digital?

Hi Nigel,

Hardware aside, as you have by now made a good choice for a Nikon 5000ED for film scans, I recommend having a look at VueScan as engine to drive it. With dedicated filmscanners being phased out of the manufacturers offerings, so will be the support for drivers.

VueScan, while under the hood very powerful, also offers a simple user interface. But when you really want to extract the most out of the film/scanner combination, VueScan is the (only) way to go (besides drumscanning by a good operator). Long ago I made the decision to go for the Professional version with its life long free support and upgrades/updates, and consider it to be amongst the few programs that deliver superior value for (a modest amount of) money (Qimage for printing is another one).

Cheers,
Bart
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
I second Bart's recommendation for VueScan. It's an acquired taste but it's remarkably powerful for such a low-priced scanning utility. Plus, it seems to be compatible with just about every scanner on the planet.

If you're just starting your monotonous journey of film scanning you might be interested in Scanning Negatives and Slides, by Sascha Steinhoff. (According to the book's author profile Steinhoff is a computer techie by vocation with a "passion" for photography.) Like all of the Rocky Nook books (that I've owned or reviewed) this is fluffed with plenty of non-nutritive filling, such as self-evident truths and stale technology reference facts. But, also like other Rocky Nook books, it has some good morsels, too. Since film scanning is becoming a (thankfully) fading art good sources for support and reference are evaporating. So if you're serious about doing some serious scanning you should at least consider this book, as it's rather unique. (Yes, I own it.)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I add my vote for Vuescan, especially the ability to select film type and control numbers of scans to build your file with the least noise.
 
I have just started scanning my 6x17 slides on a Epson 2450 flatbed, and I find the process, as well as the results far from satisfying. First of all, the process is very slow, but of course, the resulting files are very big. More annoyingly, the software, Epson's TWAIN driver version 5.71 for Vista, gives no manual control over either the physical size of the scan, at least not that I could find, as help is not accessible under Vista. On dark slides, it chops them up into several lighter bits. A night scene with neon lights is interpreted thus as three or for small (like 35mm) slides of neon lights. Highlights look washed out.

Is anybody on this forum scanning 6x17 slides, or other larger formats? What would you recommend that I do to improve my setup? I am willing to put some money into it, but not to the point of haveing several hundred slides drum-scanned or going out to order an Hasselblad X5 with the latest and greatest Mac. I still have to weigh scanning improvements against financial and marital peace of mind.

So, what would give me the most improvement? New software, like vuescan or silverfast? A new flatbed or a used filmscanner (Nikon or Polaroid)? Anything else I have not thought of?

Thanks everybody for sharing experiences and recommendations.
Christoph
 
So, what would give me the most improvement? New software, like vuescan or silverfast? A new flatbed or a used filmscanner (Nikon or Polaroid)? Anything else I have not thought of?

Hi Christoph,

Vuescan (Pro) is definitively going to allow you to pull everything out of the image that the scanner hardware (virtually any scanner hardware) can deliver. A higher resolution scanner will also allow to retrieve more information from an image. Flatbed scanners usually don't deliver as good a result as a dedicated film scanner does, but there are not many affordable filmscanners that handle your size of film.

When you go the flatbed route, it's important to figure out the correct position above the platen to achieve best focus since most scanners don't allow to change focus, and also film flatness can help a lot. For a number of popular scanners there are custom filmholders that optionally even allow wet mounting, e.g. from http://www.betterscanning.com/.

The Epson Perfection V700/750 models are very popular, deliver quite decent results, and are reasonably priced. They are also functional as scanner of reflective objects, so they are multifunctional and can be used for all sorts of chores.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Christoph,

Vuescan (Pro) is definitively going to allow you to pull everything out of the image that the scanner hardware (virtually any scanner hardware) can deliver. A higher resolution scanner will also allow to retrieve more information from an image. Flatbed scanners usually don't deliver as good a result as a dedicated film scanner does, but there are not many affordable filmscanners that handle your size of film.

When you go the flatbed route, it's important to figure out the correct position above the platen to achieve best focus since most scanners don't allow to change focus, and also film flatness can help a lot. For a number of popular scanners there are custom filmholders that optionally even allow wet mounting, e.g. from http://www.betterscanning.com/.

The Epson Perfection V700/750 models are very popular, deliver quite decent results, and are reasonably priced. They are also functional as scanner of refelective objects, so they are multifunctional and can be used for all sorts of chores.

Cheers,
Bart
I agree with Bart. But the 2450 is still a very good scanner for sizes such as 6x17. Even if you use a scan resolution of 1200-2400dpi, you'd still end up with a huge file in the end. The only thing I am not certain of is whether the 2450 has a smaller scan area on the flatbed for transparencies, like my 1650 does. In that case you have to take care to place the transparency at the right position.

Anyway, Vuescan will bring the best out of your 2450. I still use Vuescan with my old 1650 for reflective document/photo scanning and it delivers perfect results. If you are in the market for a new flatbed scanner, there is nothing better than the V700/750 as Bart wrote. There is a new V600 too but it seems to be not so good in transparency scanning.

For a lot of reviews and discussions on scanners and film scanning, take a look at the photo-i.co.uk site and their forums.

HTH,

Cheers,
 
Thank you, you both have helped me a lot. So I will try if I can obtain better results with vuescan, before taking the plunge for more euipment.

christoph
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
I have downloaded vuescan, already on the first try it seems to perform better than Epson's offering. Thanks again!

Christoph
Thanks for the feedback Christoph. I would urge you to persevere with VueScan and not give up early on due to it's unconventional GUI, which may throw one off as being awkward. The rewards are worth the effort.

Cheers,
 
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