Scanner for colour negatives - do they work?

usignuolo

Some years ago now I purchased a Black Widow scanner and software, which claimed to scan in the negatives of colour photos and turn them into positive digital images to store on your PC. Although it worked on my friends PC, we could never get it to work on mine and so it languishes in the back of a cupboard somewhere. Meanwhile I still have a lot of colour prints which I wouldn't mind storing digitally. Only it means scanning them in individually.

Then at the weekend I saw a colour negative scanner advertised, claiming to do the same thing as the original Black Widow, scan in the negatives from colour prints and turn them into positive digital images for storage on your PC. It was much more compact than my original kit too.

Has anyone used the latest version of this technology (sorry can't recall the exact name) and does it work?

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andygb

usignuolo wrote: »

Some years ago now I purchased a Black Widow scanner and software, which claimed to scan in the negatives of colour photos and turn them into positive digital images to store on your PC. Although it worked on my friends PC, we could never get it to work on mine and so it languishes in the back of a cupboard somewhere. Meanwhile I still have a lot of colour prints which I wouldn't mind storing digitally. Only it means scanning them in individually.

Then at the weekend I saw a colour negative scanner advertised, claiming to do the same thing as the original Black Widow, scan in the negatives from colour prints and turn them into positive digital images for storage on your PC. It was much more compact than my original kit too.

Has anyone used the latest version of this technology (sorry can't recall the exact name) and does it work?

First of all, you must mean "scan negatives", not scan negatives from colour prints surely. The negatives are the building block for a good print, and they contain a vast amount of information.
I am also looking to buy a scanner soon, to transfer my best negatives and slides to digital format.
The top buy seems to be the Epson V (forgotten the model number), for around £150, which will scan at the highest level (resolution) - 4800 x 9600, and a lot of photographers recommend it.

Zazen999

I'm also looking for a good scanner; I mainly need it for 120 film rather than 35mm, which narrows my options. The Epson Vs are the best for the price; I've scanned loads with one of these and the scans are fab - but I haven't got access anymore and really don't want to buy one for the small amount of 120s I use in a year.

isofa

Covered many times, including these recent discussions:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2066237

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2040743

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1903187

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1349577

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=710325

usignuolo

Yes I meant I want to scan the underlying colour negatives OF colour photos and store them as digital colour images. The device I saw is not your conventional flat bed scanner with a special handling device for colour negatives, instead it looks rather like an old style enlarger in shape and you feed the film negatives through it in strips. I know this has been covered before but I have not seen a device like this and wondered if it was any good.

Zazen999

usignuolo wrote: »

Yes I meant I want to scan the underlying colour negatives OF colour photos and store them as digital colour images. The device I saw is not your conventional flat bed scanner with a special handling device for colour negatives, instead it looks rather like an old style enlarger in shape and you feed the film negatives through it in strips. I know this has been covered before but I have not seen a device like this and wondered if it was any good.

Have you got a link to this product?

isofa

Zazen999 wrote: »

Have you got a link to this product?

They are dedicated slide scanners, if you read the threads I'd posted above you'd get plenty of advice and information. :rolleyes:

The best models/brands are the Canon Canoscan and Nikon Coolscan, these are dedicated boxes which scan 35mm pos and negs, mounted and strip, and some have APS adapters, larger ones can handle medium format. The quality is in a different league to that produced by a cheap flatbed.

Cheaper small types as seen in newspaper adverts, "innovations" and such like aren't worth the hassle, you might as well just use a flatbed with a transparency adapter.

Zazen999

isofa wrote: »

They are dedicated slide scanners, if you read the threads I'd posted above you'd get plenty of advice and information. :rolleyes:

I've not seen any that look like an old style enlarger.......I know which scanner I need as I have 120 film [not 35mm] and there's only one type that does this [The V500].

isofa

Zazen999 wrote: »

I've not seen any that look like an old style enlarger.......I know which scanner I need as I have 120 film [not 35mm] and there's only one type that does this [The V500].

There are various specialist scanners which can handle this format, from cheap flatbeds to more expensive pro-quality ones... CPS, Linotype, etc.

Various "consumer" flatbeds can handle 120 film with a holder including Canoscan 88xx and 99xx with strip holders, and some of the Epson Vs previously mentioned.

The "old style enlarger" ones are classic "newspaper" and "innovation" type catalogue offers, they've been around years usually under £100, and produce quality not a tenth of a good flatbed+tranny adapter.

ler01kjh

isofa wrote: »

Covered many times, including these recent discussions:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2066237

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2040743

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1903187

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1349577

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=710325

If you are fed up with people asking the same questions (as you see it), then STOP using the forum. The word 'forum' defines its purpose - it is not an index!

wci43x

I have had some very good results using an Epson Perfection V500 Photo