Film Scanners, the good, the bad and the ugly

Mr_T

Mr_T

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Hello people of the film forum I've been appreciating your lovely work here for months and it has inspired me to see if I can scan some of the negatives I have lying around the house. I used a Nikon Coolscan somethingorother years ago but only used it perhaps a couple of times. Could you be so kind as to tell me what to look for in a scanner? I honestly have no idea. I would love to get a drum scanner but sadly don't have the room (or the money). Any suggestions would be awesome :).
 
Mr_T said:
Hello people of the film forum I've been appreciating your lovely work here for months and it has inspired me to see if I can scan some of the negatives I have lying around the house. I used a Nikon Coolscan somethingorother years ago but only used it perhaps a couple of times. Could you be so kind as to tell me what to look for in a scanner? I honestly have no idea. I would love to get a drum scanner but sadly don't have the room (or the money). Any suggestions would be awesome :).
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The Nikon Super Coolscan 5000ED is reckoned to be the best - if you can afford it.

Excellent results, fast, but rather noisy.
 
Mr_T, try the scanner thread - loads of useful info there

... not that the last post wasn't useful ;)

...and damn you for making me start whistling the theme to the movie :bonk:
 
ekimeno, thanks I saw that thread before but for some reason completely forgot about it. I will have a look. :)
 
I've recently bought an Epson V300 from pcworld for £68.00, the results are in the "show us your film shots" thread :)

(please note I took the snaps with my trusty Zenit EM :)
 
Ideally I'd like to get a dedicated film scanner due to the size of flatbeds. Looking into that thread joxby summed up that if you really want a good scanner you could go for a Microtek 120TF, Polaroid 120, Minolta Scan Multi PRO or Coolscans 8000 and 9000. I've taken a look on ebay and found the price of Coolscan 9000's frightening to say the least and quick googling didn't turn up much on either the Minolta or the Microtek. I'm not entirely sure why but I really like the sounds of the Microtek, I have no idea where you would get one of these Russian scanners though or what the going rate for one is. :thinking:

*edit*

Do any of these have a nice USB/USB2 interface? :(
 
The Minoltas are no longer manufactured.
Polaroid 120 is now in fact a Microtek artixscan 120TF, and really only available in the US, I've seen a few over here 2nd hand, never found anyone that stocks them new.
I'm afraid the only scanners available in any numbers in the UK, of the dedicated variety, are the Coolscans.
All have USB2 and some have firewire, except the really old Minoltas.
For M/F scanning there isn't much choice, 35mm is easy, there are hundreds of decent dedicated scanners.

You might catch the odd Minolta Multi, and the Microtek on fleabay once a flood, but they go for 5-£600 generally.

Incidentally, there are 2 Minoltas that scan M/F, multi denotes multi format, no multi no M/F scan.
Minolta Dimage scan Multi = 1200dpi for M/f, 2850dpi for 35mm
Minolta Dimage scan Multi PRO = 4000dpi for M/F
 
Thanks joxby, I will be on the look out for these :thumbs:.
 
If you Google Microtek you can find a few office places that sell them, but I think they are all flat bed type ones. Oh Miroctek is German :D goood machine but naff software ( I have one)
The 120tf do appear on flea bay but up around the £500 mark. Think they were sold in the USA as the Polaroid Sprintscan 120.

If you can find a Nikon Coolscan IV then I would go for one of them, bit rare but work off USB connections (would avoid the earlier Coolscans as they were SCSI drivin).

Other than that it is the flatbed type scanners like the Epson V300, V500 or V700 but again it depends on what price you are looking to pay.
 
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