Reply With QuoteSomething like this is the go
Scanning negatives
I have a lot of old negatives I need to scan, some as old as WW2
Others a little newer but not by much
What is my best option ? Money is no object....oh , hang on, I dont have any. On the off chance I find some, whats the best choice of value and quality ?
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Something like this is the go
I am (maybe presuming) that not all is 35 mm, some negs are really small, some seem normal size, I dont know alot about film negs.
I think some scanners can do negatives of any size but they are pretty pricey. With the 35mm scanner, they come with an opening plastic holder for the negatives...perhaps a couple of piece of overexposed 35mm film could be used as a sandwich for the undersized negative film with a window cut for the film...fiddly but a cheaper way out
Looking at the shot showing the negs and the era... most probably aren't 35mm.
More likely 120, 620, 126, 127 as these were the common sizes back then (126 was for the Kodak Instamatic and was in a rectangular cartridge, all the others were roll film on a spool with a paper backing).
I've processed and printed all those formats in my time.
All cheap flatbed scanners produce very ordinary results compared to professional scanners, the latter also electronically removing dust spots and scratches automatically (up to a point of course).
You may find a cheap flatbed scanner will be sufficient for what you want, but if you plan on making prints larger than postcard, you won't get good resolution.
The bottom line is... how important is the quality of the scans to you?
If you are happy with just seeing the positive images and to make small prints, then a cheap domestic flatbed scanner should do what you want.
If you want high resolution scans to preserve the images and/or to make larger prints, then professional scans (by pro labs) are the go.
The quality is important to me. I had a quick play just by chucking a negative in the scanner on my Fuji Xerox laser printer and got a reasonable result after using a bit of photo software.
Its not brilliant, nor are my skills. Ones such as this and a few others are of Haifa, Palestine (now Israel) where my grandfather was stationed as a gunner with the 2/2nd Australian Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment in 1941 and these I really want to get best result so might try and find a professional place to do them for me. As I dont really know what all the others are, I am unsure whether to do the same or have a crack myself.
Any idea on how much a professional place would charge per negative or even suggest a place ? Obviously I wouldnt be trusting the 15 year old at K MartOr even suggest a professional scanner that might suit. I am also presuming most negs will be in better condition than the war ones.
Given the reasonably good result you obtained in the above post, I would persevere with that process and select the most significant images for professional scanning.
For most of my life, I lived a delusion
yeah, what Bibliophile said is what I would suggest
on another note, I hope admin hasn't got any fingerprint activated locks at home now
Looks like it's from a 620 6X9cm neg. eg: Kodak Box Brownie.
If you're going to use your scanner, ensure you have a white sheet of paper with as fine texture as possible behind the neg, as the platten cover is showing through with spots, kinks, etc.
No I dont, I dont even know if they are mine.Originally Posted by weirdo
yeah, what Bibliophile said is what I would suggest
on another note, I hope admin hasn't got any fingerprint activated locks at home now
But while on that subject, how can negatives safely be cleaned from fingerprints and dust ? I am not expecting them on 90%, but some like the one in this thread were sent to me by my auntie and have been handled and some previously made in to images.
Some discussion here >
mickstv (10-07-13)
The last post on the first page is worth reading.
For Admin, it might be better to repair fingerprint damage using photoshop or gimp rather than risk damaging the originals.
Kodak used to market a film cleaner, which worked well.
Just washing isn't usually enough to remove fingerprints, due to the oil content.
Depending on age, the fingerprints may have etched into the film emulsion and your only hope then is to retouch prints or digital scans.
Dust..... if it's stuck on the negs, washing and rinsing with something like Kodak Photo Flo will remove most dust particles.
When printing/scanning.... compressed air, like the cans, or highly-regulated cylinders and a suitable nozzle.
Yep, was just reading about that. My result was from simply chucking the negative in the scanner and pressing a button
Shit, I might be an absolute artist if I try using the right tools
i bought a film scanner from officeworks a few months ago, i don't like it as every photo is VERY red and needs touching up.
it seems to just have a 5mp camera inside a box to take a photo of the image.
i have thousands also, and going through them all, then editing in photoshop could be a little headachy
I thought I'd resurrect this thread to see if anyone has any more suggestions for scanning larger format negatives. I have quite a lot of old negs I'd like to scan for archival purposes. Not professionally, but just for the sake of keeping family history.
Unfortunately I am no use to you, its still on my gunna list
Yeah, I know what you mean LOL, I've got a stack of photos and negs from my dad and grandparents that I've been wanting to scan for a couple of years now. But that is on the list with converting my old VHS tapes to digital (family camera footage), converting tapes from the old mans super 8 video cam, and editing the wedding video from my daughters wedding (umm about 6 years old now).
cheers.
I am lucky in a way as I have done my family tree since then and a relative has had most of the photos from what I can see, which is why it hasn't been a major priority.
Its sounds like you have a LOT of work to do
Admin,
I use an Epson V300 for photos and 35mm slides - I believe the model is now V330, for around $240.
I've had very good results with this unit, and it comes with software for dust and scratches, although there are limits to how far you can go with this without affecting output quality.
This is a typical output from a 35mm slide scan:
Apparently these units can be used for medium and large format negs - there's a useful discussion about that here:
But, boy, you need plenty of cold, wet, long winter days for this past-time
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