Hi guys,
i'd like to know whats the best cost effective scanner for film, as the dedicated film scanners by nikon or minolta are so expensive..

Will the Epson flatbed scanners with film adaptors produce a quality output for hi res/large format printing? Are there other alternatives? thanks..:Grin:

We use the Epson 4990 but had to handcarry it from Bangkok since the model was not supported here. We have a review of the new Epson V700 in our Issue 02 and are trying to convince Epson to import at least a few models. I'd buy one for sure.

Back to your question. I would recommend the Epsons from experience. You won't need a 4990 or better to get decent scans. But note that I say decent. Scanning is an art form altogether and I have never been totally satisfied with what we get from the scanner scanning negs as compared to a straight digital capture. I personally feel that flatbeds are really made for reflectives and not transmissives like film negatives. You may want to explore Drum Scanning from Studio 58 if you don't plan to scan much. At least there you are assured of the resolution. If you are not happy with the scan quality, have them do it again.

thanks nick, tried nga a negative on an epson 2540 but you're right really didnt like the capture..

Actually its for a negative from mamiya 645 120 film. I agree about the quality of a straight digital capture but for a medium format digital back!! Wow its so expensive for a small studio..Unless theres one for rent here like abroad which is still out of reach :)

havent tried a drum scan or a nikon film scanner though ive seen the output it looks great naman..
il also look into the Epson V700 as you said..:)
Would you have the contact details of Studio58?

epson used their perfection scanners with built in film scanning capability to scan negatives in various sizes to output jun de leon's and xander angeles' images to 44x60 years back in that huge back to back exhibit in glorietta..

Anyone else here uses the Kodak RFS 3600 Film Scanner?

Bong

Anyone else here uses the Kodak RFS 3600 Film Scanner?

Bong

Hi Bong,

I've always wanted one - even if they say it takes 60 secs (or more) to get a decent scan from a neg. Did you buy yours new? From Digipower, perhaps?

Edwin

I'm not sure, but isn't this the film scanner that DPI uses?

Hi Bong,

I've always wanted one - even if they say it takes 60 secs (or more) to get a decent scan from a neg. Did you buy yours new? From Digipower, perhaps?

Edwin

Better, I got mine from Kodak themselves. They usually have this year end tiangge sale of used/surplus stuff. Got this really cheap (PM me to know the price) without power adapter or manuals. Yes, it takes a long time to scan with this, more than 60 secs. It took me a while to actually use it because it uses a high amp adapter not the kind you buy at True Value or places like those. I found the matching adapter from an old notebook in HMR.

Bong

I'm not sure, but isn't this the film scanner that DPI uses?

I don't think so, although I haven't seen the one DPI has. The 3600 looks like this (http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/scanners/rfs3600/specs.jhtml?id=0.2.22.14.30.16.24.4&lc=en). My Kodak contact told me that they had trouble selling the RFS 3600 because it was too slow for commercial purposes and that they had a faster model that they push. The only time I ever saw one of the faster model was in Kodak Photo Express (the one in Greenbelt 1) when they were still outside facing GB2.

Kodak was hoping to sell the 3600 to pro photographers but was a little late since a lot of pros shifted to digital thus the surplus.

Bong

Anyway, I'm curious if anyone else has any experience/tips with this scanner. Although I had mine for quite a while, it has only been recently that I got to put it through its paces (power supply issues etc.). Thus far, all I can say it that its slow but gives a greater than an 8 mega pixel scan. I scan for 8x12 which gives me a file with dimensions of 3596x2401 pixels. I haven't tried scanning it for anything larger.

Its an upgrade for me, since I retired my Nikon Coolscan II which I got when my computer was still on Windows 95. That only gave me something like a 3mp photo.

Bong

Bong

I believe that this scanner was made by Pacific Image (http://www.scanace.com/en/index.php) for Kodak. It uses the same 'Cyber-X' software which is also used by several PI scanners.

I have, though no longer use, a PI 1800U scanner. It was good and cheap. Not too fast- claims of 60 second scans hardly are so. Actual scan speeds depend on factors like resolution, film image density, and the computer it's tethered to. The 1800 U has 'half' the optical resolution of the 3600 (the numbers make this quite obvious :)).

For colour transparencies, colour negs, and chromogenic BWs, the PI 1800U did a great job. It has however a low Dmax range. This could spell trouble with silver image BW negatives, or even dense colour transparencies like Velvia or Kodachrome- causing plenty of noise in the dense areas.

Jay

Thanks Jay,

That explains some of the results I been getting, but I guess that those films are hard to come by these days that what is available in the drug store should be happy with the 3600 (or vice versa) ...

Bong

I'd like to scan some old negatives for archival purposes. What negative scanner I can purchase that has the software that scans either a B/W or color negative and renders AUTOMATICALLY in positive?

Thanks in advance for any input.

If you're shopping for a dedicated film scanner, go with the Nikon Coolscan LS-V or the LS-5000. It comes with software (NikonScan) that will automatically convert the images for you. It also has a batch scanning feature (6-frames for the LS-V, and single-roll for the LS5000 with the bulk roll accessory).
I have the the LS-IV and slide scans are just beautiful I don't have to do any color adjustments in Photoshop.

is there a scanner available that's below 10k and can scan 135 and 120 films?

I'm at lost here... how do these things work? I remember almost a decade ago, I tried to scan a strip of B&W negative on a flatbed (without any holders) and I can't get teh positive image out from it.

Are there decent, but affordable (Php5-7K) flatbeds around with holders?

I'm at lost here... how do these things work? I remember almost a decade ago, I tried to scan a strip of B&W negative on a flatbed (without any holders) and I can't get teh positive image out from it.

Are there decent, but affordable (Php5-7K) flatbeds around with holders?

Dave, the Issue 19 has a review on scanners. :D

Dave, the Issue 19 has a review on scanners. :D

You know i'm handicapped in that regard, bro hehehe.

You know i'm handicapped in that regard, bro hehehe.

How much is the maximum maximum budget can I squeeze out of you?

david, there are scanners out that can scan negatives properly. there has to be a light source from the back of the film plane. epson has a lot of these scanners. check out their perfection series.

or if you have the moolah, you can buy the nikon super coolscans :)

david, there are scanners out that can scan negatives properly. there has to be a light source from the back of the film plane. epson has a lot of these scanners. check out their perfection series.

or if you have the moolah, you can buy the nikon super coolscans :)

the perfection series is really really good. the high-end V700 should hit you for 31,995 retail, philippine price. or you can go V500 also, but i don't know the price for that.

also check out the plustek scanners, i hear they're also good. there might be some available in sg :)

the perfection series is really really good. the high-end V700 should hit you for 31,995 retail, philippine price. or you can go V500 also, but i don't know the price for that.

@Nino, throw me a budget goal, I'll work hard to meet them hehehe... @Otep: Thanks for the lead... will research on that and check US prices vs SG prices...

@Nino, throw me a budget goal, I'll work hard to meet them hehehe... @Otep: Thanks for the lead... will research on that and check US prices vs SG prices...

Found it in The Epson in Amazon... (http://www.amazon.com/Epson-Perfection-V500-Photo-Scanner/dp/B000VG4AY0/ref=oor_dp_e_rp) for $220... not bad... Is this the one you guys are referring to? Is there a Canon counterpart? Not being a brand-freak, just wanna make some comparisons.

dave, the v500 is pretty good. but if you can score the v700, then go for it already.

nino: ok... will give that a try... (eek 700 bucks hehehe). How about the Canon 8800F? It's about 300 bucks SGD here... (Canon's showroom is just 5mins away from my place)... Note that i'll only be scanning 4r prints (probably about 4000 of them eek... mom kept all our photos from the early 70s to early 90s in prints, not negatives), and my film snaps from next week onwards (when film cam arrives)... Nothing serious...

aha so you're scanning prints as well. flatbed scanners would be the only option for you. :)

aha so you're scanning prints as well. flatbed scanners would be the only option for you. :)

Yes, flatbeds are my preference... :D

nino: ok... will give that a try... (eek 700 bucks hehehe). How about the Canon 8800F? It's about 300 bucks SGD here... (Canon's showroom is just 5mins away from my place)... Note that i'll only be scanning 4r prints (probably about 4000 of them eek... mom kept all our photos from the early 70s to early 90s in prints, not negatives), and my film snaps from next week onwards (when film cam arrives)... Nothing serious...

I did a lot of research on this department before... I was about to buy a V500, when I saw the difference between the V700 and V500... So I deciced to save up for a 31K V700 (28K there in SG i believe)... Unfortunately, several film rolls later, I still haven't bought one primarily because I can't justify the cost of buying one if I'll just post 'em on the internet (which the Digiprint scans are good enough). Also, when I do need to print them, not really sure if I'll go with the scan and print route. I rather have them print "optically"...

The Epson Perfection series is I think the benchmark now for consumer film scanners (my opinion). I also heard the Plusteks are quite competitive, while I heard aweful comments on the Canon film scanners. Just MHO...

I did a lot of research on this department before... I was about to buy a V500, when I saw the difference between the V700 and V500... So I deciced to save up for a 31K V700 (28K there in SG i believe)... Unfortunately, several film rolls later, I still haven't bought one primarily because I can't justify the cost of buying one if I'll just post 'em on the internet (which the Digiprint scans are good enough). Also, when I do need to print them, not really sure if I'll go with the scan and print route. I rather have them print "optically"...

The Epson Perfection series is I think the benchmark now for consumer film scanners (my opinion). I also heard the Plusteks are quite competitive, while I heard aweful comments on the Canon film scanners. Just MHO...

Thanks bro... Well, like I mentioned earlier, I'll be scanning probably a thousand prints from the 70s to 90s when I get to bring a suitcase-full of photos from Manila... Quality of scan isn't that important for me, I just want to digitize them, store them in dvd/hdd and be able to pull a decent 8x10 print out of the scans in the future (when my son wants/need them), especially after i'm dead hehe (knock on wood). I thought about going commercial with the scans, which isn't a problem for my new shots, I can just add a couple of bucks with the developing of the negative, but my main concern are the old prints. If that's the case, can i just opt for a normal flatbed instead of one with excellent negative/transparency capabilities? Thanks again.

Thanks bro... Well, like I mentioned earlier, I'll be scanning probably a thousand prints from the 70s to 90s when I get to bring a suitcase-full of photos from Manila... Quality of scan isn't that important for me, I just want to digitize them, store them in dvd/hdd and be able to pull a decent 8x10 print out of the scans in the future (when my son wants/need them), especially after i'm dead hehe (knock on wood). I thought about going commercial with the scans, which isn't a problem for my new shots, I can just add a couple of bucks with the developing of the negative, but my main concern are the old prints. If that's the case, can i just opt for a normal flatbed instead of one with excellent negative/transparency capabilities? Thanks again.

If you want decent scans that can print at 8R, then absolutely go for V500. The scans are not superlative (ok, but grains are a bit pronounced compared), but definitely workable (in fact its way better than those Fuji Frontier minilabs which produce horrible scans). For the consumer class, the V500 is probably (again, in my opinion) best in its class (although, I only compared the HP and Canon scanners).

Thanks, at least my options are narrowed down by quite a bit... Thanks again.

Why don't you just have Digiprint scan them for you when you visit Manila. They will do them for free and even keep the files on backup so you can just go back to them if you need something printed down the road.

@Nick: They'll do it even for hundreds (close to a thousand) prints? You're right, though, the cost of having Miguel's crew do it might be cheaper and less laborious for me...

I'll PM Miguel for rates. Thanks for the option.

@ David - we scan from minimum of 36 to whatever you want. Our scan are good enough to print at 8R without a problem. We can also scan bw and 120's

@ David - we scan from minimum of 36 to whatever you want. Our scan are good enough to print at 8R without a problem. We can also scan bw and 120's

miguel's new service of Php 1.50 per frame scan for negatives is a big relief for me. i love it migs.

but i still ended up getting a canoscan 5200f for those nights where i cant wait to get my black and white negs scanned :Grin:

Miguel: Thanks, are you referring to negatives or prints or both? :)

I just read this at the Nikonians.org site.

It retails new at Walmart for 79.95usd (this one used for 60usd).
http://cgi.ebay.com/VuPoint-USB-Film-Slide-Digital-Converter-XP-Vista_W0QQitemZ250312193052QQcmdZViewItem?hash=ite m250312193052&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C 240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I heard its crap due to the interface and speed (3minutes for 1 frame), but the image quality is OK.

For 80usd, I'm willing to try and check out the ''ok'' image quality.

If you don't like it, send it my way bro :D

If you don't like it, send it my way bro :D

Hehehe... Bro, Its not Xmas yet... You never know. I may like and never let it go... :)

I just read this at the Nikonians.org site.

It retails new at Walmart for 79.95usd (this one used for 60usd).
http://cgi.ebay.com/VuPoint-USB-Film-Slide-Digital-Converter-XP-Vista_W0QQitemZ250312193052QQcmdZViewItem?hash=ite m250312193052&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C 240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I heard its crap due to the interface and speed (3minutes for 1 frame), but the image quality is OK.

For 80usd, I'm willing to try and check out the ''ok'' image quality.

I was about to check this out at ebay but I saw the review. You may want to read it too:)

http://www.pixmonix.com/reviews/vupoint-film-scanner.php

I was about to check this out at ebay but I saw the review. You may want to read it too:)

http://www.pixmonix.com/reviews/vupoint-film-scanner.php

Thanks! Judging from the price, I wasn't really expecting much, but after reading the post, I'll probably stay off and just let Digiprint do my scanning for now... :)

I have a few strips of 126 negatives and I'm just wondering if anyone has had success in finding a shop that can scan this type of film. I have been to Kameraworld and Fujifilm, and they said they only scan 35mm film.

Better, I got mine from Kodak themselves. They usually have this year end tiangge sale of used/surplus stuff. Got this really cheap (PM me to know the price) without power adapter or manuals. Yes, it takes a long time to scan with this, more than 60 secs. It took me a while to actually use it because it uses a high amp adapter not the kind you buy at True Value or places like those. I found the matching adapter from an old notebook in HMR.

Bong
Hi,
just purchased one from ebay with the power supply missing,
the first part , the one that comes from the body of the scanner. The second part, the bringing electricity plug on the wall is included in the box.
How do I go about getting a power supply for it?
Can you give me specifications, all the information I'll need to find one?

Hi,
just purchased one from ebay with the power supply missing,
the first part , the one that comes from the body of the scanner. The second part, the bringing electricity plug on the wall is included in the box.
How do I go about getting a power supply for it?
Can you give me specifications, all the information I'll need to find one?

INPUT: 100-250v 50-60Hz 0.5A
OUTPUT: 12V DC 1.5A

(I think you can find that engraved somewhere in the scanner)

I am now on my 2nd unit (brand new; old stock stashed away in a local dealer). The PS has the cable directly connected to it while the cable that connects to the outlet is the same as what you find in a PC.

The PS I used for the original one which did not have one was hunted down in HMR (there used to be a box of orphaned laptop and various appliance's PS's then...). The cable did not match so I did my own DIY to make it work.

hi guys, i would to ask if there is a machine out there that can scan 35mm and 120mm film?:)

I think Canon's CanoScan 8800F scanner meets your requirements for both 35mm and 120mm. Clicky. (http://www.canon.com.ph/p/EN/57-Flatbed-Film-Scanners/166-Flatbed-with-Film/246-CanoScan-8800F/)

Canon's PIXMA MP988 all-in-one printer/scanner can also do 35mm film. Clicky. (http://www.canon.com.ph/p/EN/71-Multi-function-Printers/141-Inkjet/26-PIXMA-MP988/)

I believe the Epson V500, V600 and V700 do. The V700 can scan upto 8x10 inches.

Arnel

Anyone here tried those cheap film scanner for 35mm? Are the scanned qualities ok? for its price (1.5k - 2k) Thanks.

hi guys, i would to ask if there is a machine out there that can scan 35mm and 120mm film?:)

I've got the Epson perfection v500 and I've used it to scan those films. The result is ok. I recently was able to try out this nice Fuji scanner that's attached to a minilab. The scan was much better and faster but I don't think it's available for sale to the general public. :(

upping this thread...

I need a flatbed scanner that can scan both 35 and 120 rolls.... other than the latest Canon and Epson offering, any other suggestions (that are roughly the same price range)

hi,

im currently looking for a 35mm scanner. i will be scanning bw negatives. what would you recommend? i would like to get as much dynamic range from the film.

regards,