Old Black and white negatives from the 1950s

My father has a load of B&W negatives from the 50s that he was hoping to have developed. Its larger than 35mm, possible 120mm. Are the printers that scan film any good?
What would we need to do it ourselves? Would it be cheaper to go with a film scanner?

mathias

Yes , there are some very good film scanners out there , but they are not exactly cheap or fast , so it depends how many negatives you have and how much spare time you want to spend on it.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=315229

This one in the link is considered one of the best , comes with all the software you need , ICE Software takes scratch marks and dust away , which is very good for scanning negatives.

This scanner comes with all the film adapters you would need , there are cheaper versions and more expensive ones on the site too. This one is currently the best mid range model pricewise.

The other options are dedicated film scanners , but you can double the price at least for one of those.

Heres a review ,

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson%204990/Page%2013.htm

DaireQuinlan

If you're talking medium format then a dedicated film scanner will set you back the better part of 2 or 3 thousand euros unfortunately. The epson 4990 or the more up to date 700/750 are meant to be quite good. Medium format isn't as exacting to scan as 35mm, and negatives are in general considerably easier to scan than slides so an Epson flatbed ought to do the job nicely. I have a Nikon Coolscan for 35mm and a flatbed (canon 8600) for my medium format stuff.

magicbastarder

yeah, i paid €175 for a canon flatbed (the 8400f) which can take medium format. it does grand on b&w, and is pretty piss poor on colour.

thefizz

Roughly how many have you got and how many would you like printed?

Peter

At least a hundred, want to print them all

311

I'm kind of in the same position.

I need to get scans of photos from the 1800's.

I won't be scanning negatives much though , just photos

This is what I was looking at
http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1373736

DonkeyStyle \o/

I've got the epson 4990 (as mentioned previously in the thread), it does an excellent job, no doubt about it.
Hope you're not the one who's getting roped into doing all the scanning :eek:
What ever about the speed of the scanner, carefully swapping out negatives between scans can get pretty tiresome... plus all the waiting around.
I've scanned almost 3,000 photos from negative since I started with the great idea of backing up the family photo collection... I know all about the monotony of scanning... it's not the kind of thing you want to do more than once, so make sure you get it right the first time!

We are under no pressure time wise, I take it you would recommend the epson 4990 then? What size negatives were you using? What software?
Also does it cater for non standard size negatives?
i.e 120mm instead of 35mm. Can it only be loaded in set sizes or can you "fit it to size" for want of a better term?

Thanks everybody for your replies!

minikin

not thinking logically here people....

100 medium format negatives needed to be printed.... hmmm if only there was such a thing as a "darkroom" with an "enlarger" and two or three boxes of "8"x10" paper" (cost aboout €100) Join a local photo soc (dublin camera club if you're near it - perfectly adequate darkroomering facilities...)

Why bother spending all that money and time doing something as mindnumbingly boring as scanning negs? Only to have to print them (more expense/time anyway?

The digital prints won't last as long as silver prints (unless you get them professionally printed), you won't have half as much fun and you won't learn half as much...

DonkeyStyle \o/

You don't have to use the holder for negs at all if the included holders don't fit (though it's a lot faster since you don't have to worry about their orientation, ie. a few degrees crooked)... I've scanned some really odd sized black n' white negs... I'm not sure what size they were, but they were from the old box cameras... huge feckin things... I just set them on the scanner bed without the holder. (there's a setting specifically for this)
You can crop the scan area to anything you want, so it's not really an issue.

The 4990 comes with a third party scanning app (silverfast or something, and photoshop elements lite or whatever crap)... I just used the included Epson scan utility, which is sufficient to get most of the things you want done.
Then paintshop pro to resize and tweak further if nessesary.

It's handled anything I've thrown at it beautifully.
If I could go back, I'd buy it again... no regrets.

DonkeyStyle \o/

minikin wrote:

The digital prints won't last as long as silver prints (unless you get them professionally printed), you won't have half as much fun and you won't learn half as much...

Yeah, but they'll live forever as bits
Personally, that's why I've scanned our lot.

minikin

minikin wrote:

Only to have to print them (more expense/time anyway?

Hang on - I thought with a film scanner you could scan the negative and using software turn it into a positive? No? Am I wrong ? A jpeg file might even be good enough - may not need them all printed.

minikin

i'm just making the point that the most direct, long lasting, educational (great for gaining a better understanding of controlling exposure and contrast in photoshop), cheapest and most enjoyable route is 'analog' photography on this occassion.

Bits only last as long as the storage device or medium on which they're stored. disks get scratched, hd's fail... and there's always obsolesence, viruses, electronic armageddon... (the print in your wallet never needs batteries)

_Whimsical_

_Brian_ wrote:

I'm kind of in the same position.

I need to get scans of photos from the 1800's.

I won't be scanning negatives much though , just photos

This is what I was looking at
http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1373736

I recently scanned some tiny black and white photos from the 1940s and 1950s on a scanner I bought in Aldi for E35 and they came out extremely well. They were all 1.3x1.3 inches and covered in sellotape and assorted crap. I cleaned them up and I managed to increase them in size and print them at 8x8 in one instance without loosing quality and up to 5x7 with most.(some of the 5x7 were cropped images come to think of it and they're perfect quality).It was definitely worthwhile. I couldn't believe how quaint but incredibly charming they were. It would've been such a pity if they had been left to rot as they were too small to do anything else with. I tried a more expensive Canon scanner and my Aldi scanner and found the Aldi scanner was just as good as the dearer one on black and white images (useless on colour though). Kindda off topic but thought I'd mention it in case anyone was tempted to try this but was put off by not having the money for a very expensive scanner. The cheap one might be worth a try.

DonkeyStyle \o/

minikin wrote:

Bits only last as long as the storage device or medium on which they're stored. disks get scratched, hd's fail... and there's always obsolesence, viruses, electronic armageddon...

Sure, but it costs basically nothing to duplicate them.
I've got the (still in progress) archive backed up on two harddrives and a DVD... I feel safe enough for the moment.
As I give copies of it to people, I'll practically be creating off-site backups.
If one media fails, it can be restored from another... rinse/repeat.

minikin

that's all very well but where will you be when electronic armageddon comes with severe climate change... we go back to candle light?
You can fit out an enlarger with some really big candles (can be stolen off your nearest altar around christmas)... and keep on truckin

mathias

I thought with a film scanner you could scan the negative and using software turn it into a positive?

Correct.

Almost any scanner with a film adaptor will do this with the supplied software, and do a pretty good job too , there are options for whatever type of film you throw at it , 35mm negative or positive , mounted or unmounted , 120mm , .... pretty much anything you can get.

DonkeyStyle \o/

minikin wrote:

that's all very well but where will you be when electronic armageddon comes with severe climate change... we go back to candle light?

I think at that stage looking at photos will be the least of my worries.