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First, let"s start by searching Ebay for Negative Slide Scanner:

Question: Does anyone know of any good 35mm film/slide/negative scanners that are affordable?

I've got literally boxes of photographs - and their negatives - that I would like to scan into "digital" format... I don't want to scan the pics, because the image quality isn't as good, so I'm looking for a decent, affordable scanner that will scan 35mm slides and negatives. I've seen these ones advertised

http://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?pid=582544&wid=100&cid=59&sid=688&search_type=subcategory&prodtemp=t1#MyReviewHeader

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/jump.jsp?itemID=4108&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C703%2C708&KickerID=2383&KICKER

The problem is that I don't know anything about them - if they've got decent image quality or not... Has anyone used a slide/negative scanner, and if so, how well do they work?

Answer: The problem with scanning transparent material such as film and transparencies is that these are small materials. So you need a high resolution scanner that also provides a light source with a fixed colour temperature from above the scanning sensor.

Another issue with this kind of scanning is that it can be very time consuming. If you have Digital ICE software included with the scanner (and you should not buy a scanner without this) and you use it to remove dust and scratches at the time of scanning, it can take you two to four minutes to scan a single image. The problem too is that you pretty well have to use this kind of software otherwise you'll spend even more time removing dust and scratches after the scan.

The way these scanners work is simple enough. They have a lens that is designed to take the curvature of a slide or negative into account so you get a sharp image from corner to corner. Above the film they have a lamp that shines a light through the film or slide that is a known and fixed colour temperature to ensure that you get accurate colours with every scan. They usually also use a Foveon sensor rather than the more typical matrix sensors you find in the digital cameras. As a result each of the three primary colours has its own pixel to capture the data which leads to much sharper, more accurate scans than are normally possible.

The professional scanners also come with a very sophisticated driver that gives you absolute control over all elements of the scanning process.

At the bottom of the price range are a variety of flat bed scanners on the consumer market that will do 35mm films and slides by using an adaptor that holds the film and illuminates it. Generally these are of minimal value, you will not like the results if you're the least bit critical about image quality. Post scan processing is also onerous as you separate the images and try to get rid of dust and scratches as well as improve detail in the shadows. It can also be a real pain loading slides and films into the adaptor. What you save in money on the scanner you lose being chained to the computer for hours on end after to try to fix what you just scanned.

Next in the price pecking order is one flat bed that's relatively new, the Epson V700 (consumer model) and the Epson V750 (professional model). These flat beds have had excellent reviews that come very close to the quality of a professional dedicated film/slide scanner at an affordable price, well sort of affordable. The advantage of the Epson, over most dedicated film scanners, is that it will handle other film formats other than just 35 mm, it comes with a variety of film holders for that purpose. And they bundle sophisticated software with it (more with the V750) to enable you to get outstanding scans. Loading their film holders isn’t as onerous as with the adaptors but this too can be time consuming none the less. So that's a reasonable compromise between a consumer version and a professional dedicated version.

Nikon has the best answer for film and slide scanning with their Coolscan series. The series comes in three flavours and as a result three prices. The cheaper one is identical to the middle one but takes twice as long to scan an image and has no accessories available. It’s handy for occasional scans and for people who don’t have to do thousands of images. Loading it is easy but you are loading one at a time for slides and a strip at a time for negatives. The high end model also has no accessories available such as a slide feeder, but it’s designed to handle the most common film formats other than just 35mm. It’s a very fast scanner but again you have to feed it one image at a time which can be a pain.

I personally use the middle version, the Nikon Coolscan LS 5000 ED to scan 35mm films and slides. It produces 4000 dpi scans that are amazing. It scans in half the time of the cheaper sibling but even at that you’re sometimes looking at one to two minutes a scan depending on whether you’re using Digital ICE and other image correction software at the time of the scan. It also has an optional slide feeder which is expensive but priceless when you're doing huge numbers of slides, something I do. You can also get a roll film adaptor to handle those large 250 exposure rolls of 35 mm film that some SLRs in the seventies could take.

I’ve had this scanner for a couple of years now and have scanned about eight thousand slides so far each producing outstanding results. However the scanner is expensive which is ok if you've got thousands of images to scan as I do, but if you've got only a few that's a lot to pay for a few scans.

Now if none of these choices excite you, there is another option. Use a service. There are many companies both online and in most cities that will do such scans for you. In fact they usually use the Nikon scanners to do the job. The cost per slide or negative is not very much and you can usually get quantity discounts. I don't recall what it costs however I do remember doing the arithmetic when I bought my Nikon scanner. I had to scan about 2,500 slides to break even when compared to a service. Fortunately for me that wasn't a problem, I have about 25,000 to do from my film days.

The only problem I have with a service is trusting them with my originals. I shot only slides years ago so if a slide is lost there is no way to recover it since there’s no print to fall back on if necessary. As a result I’d feel very uncomfortable trusting my originals to the mails were I to use an online service. However if I were to use a local service where I can carry them in, that would be ok. That’s something to think about too. The advantage of a service is that you don't have to spend days and weeks mastering professional software to be able to optimize your scans, you simply carry in your originals and a few days later take them home again scanned to a CD.

Since I have a very few other film formats too I do occasionally use a local service to have those scanned.

And if this doesn't do it for you either, there is one remaining option. In my film days I had a gadget (a slide and film holder) that would go on the front of a macro lens that would hold a slide or film. With that gadget I could photograph the image to make a copy of it by pointing it into the sun or some other light source. These gadgets still exist. The only problem with them is that you need a macro lens for starters which isn't a problem if you do a lot of macro work, and, depending on the focal length of the lens, you may need extension tubes and/or a bellows unit. Extension tubes for a digital camera aren't an issue, there are several kinds available, but a bellows can be. I've yet to find a bellows unit that will work effectively with a digital SLR but perhaps eventually there will be one that does work. the other problem with them is that the copy isn't usually perfect unless you can focus very accurately and unless your light source has a proper colour temperature. Thankfully the digital cameras allow you all kinds of white balance options these days so colour isn't a big issue, and with practice you can usually get the focus right too.

So those are your options for scanning films.

In terms of the links you provided to a film and slide scanner, personally I wouldn't spend the money on that model. I would seriously question the quality of the scans it produces. I accept it's convenient and little, certainly easy to use, and very affordable, but frankly you get what you pay for. To me that model is just a toy and would not compare favourably at all to the Epson or Nikon scanners. However that's not to say it's no good, if you only want an approximation of the image and you like what comes out of it then by all means go for it. Not everyone demands or needs perfect scans after all and especially if the original images aren't necessarily that good to begin with.

I hope this helps a little.

Another excellent place to find Negative Slide Scanner is on Amazon... They have way more than just books!

Question: Negative Scanners - Question UK?

I want to buy a negative / slide scanner to scan and save all my dear old film negatives and slides of years ago. I have researched on line, but some come with indifferent reviews and poor, unless, it seems, spends € 200 - € 300 more. Can someone please recommend a particular model they have used / full? Appreciate the advice and experiences here ... Cheers ...

Answer: i just http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/741382/?camp_id=ppc_google_long_tail_scanners_canon_lide600f buying one of these explorations is pos or neg film 6 at a time and the cultures of cars to individual images also scans photos 4 at a time and crop 4 pictures to if you mail me a copy of some of the results

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