Converting lots of negative film to digital?

JMC39

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody advise me on the best way of converting images, probably 2000+ images, to digital? Is it better for me to just take the images to a photo shop, or are negative film scanners any good? Obviously getting 2000+ converted is going to cost alot, so I would be willing to spend high-ish amounts on my own scanner. Possibly something like http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN/CSIV/C4A.HTM

BTW, the images I want to convert are upto 30 years old - don't know if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the help

bcl999

There's been a thread on this topic recently which you may find useful. Use the search forum facility.

totalsolutions

Nikon coolscan very good not cheap look for a s/h one. What neg sizes? 35mm?? Takes a few minutes each to load scan and save

JMC39

bcl999 wrote: »

There's been a thread on this topic recently which you may find useful. Use the search forum facility.

Sorry, I admit I was bad this time - didn't use the search

whitewing

This isn't the answer to what you were asking but it may be an alternative solution for a smaller quantity of important ones.

My DH has recently received a lot of old images from his family. He has used his digital camera to take actual digital photos of the photos, and imported them to the computer to edit and enhance them. We're pleased with the result.

bcl999

jmc39
Hope you found it and it was useful. I am thinking about doing the same thing and remembered reading the previous thread. Haven't got round to doing anything about it yet, though.

bookduck

whitewing wrote: »

My DH has recently received a lot of old images from his family. He has used his digital camera to take actual digital photos of the photos, and imported them to the computer to edit and enhance them. We're pleased with the result.

I'm glad you were please, however generally it is not the correct way to do it as you (a) loose much of the information (say a camera is 12MP and a scanner does 4800x9600 dpi . A 4×5-inch 24-bit true color images scanned in as 3,200dpi at such a high resolution is that you would produce a 10 Gigabyte file - before jpeg and electronic wizardry squishes it. (b) you often get distortion around the edges on cameras (c) scanners have way better colour/brightness/hue etc resolution. I do use a camera as a photocopier though

Moneymaker

Buy a second-hand scanner. Sell it when you're finished.
See info here: http://www.glodark.com/epson.htm

buglawton

Isn't dust on negatives when scanning a major issue? Anyone had the experience?

Moneymaker

Dust can be an issue. Depends how fussy you are. If it's for "holiday snaps" it's generally not an issue. I had some slide films scanned professionally on a rotating drum and still ended up with dust and hairs, which had to be "PhotoShopped" out by hand. A tedious task that gave me wrist pain for 3 weeks!

buglawton

Hmm wonder just what kind of photos you were retouching!!:rotfl: