Looking to buy a negative scanner.

m_achines

m_achines

Suspended / Banned
Messages
121
Name
Alex
Edit My Images
Yes
My main love is film photography but the only thing stopping me from using the cameras I have is the cost of developing, especially when I'd prefer to have digital copies than hard copies. It gets expensive and time consuming so I was looking at getting a negative scanner.

I've read about people buying the negative holders and then just scanning them in on your average household camera. Does that work or is a special, expensive scanner needed?

Or something like one of these. Does anyone own something like this? If so, where did you get it and how much did you pay? Also, what do you think of it? I don't have much money and I know you get what you pay for but I'm willing to get one that isn't the best for now whilst I save for better.

http://www.firebox.com/product/2234/USB-Negative-Scanner?aff=1721&gclid=CKuhn7jo5qICFR0B4wodyA63ww

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VFS-004-Negative-Slide-Scanner/dp/B00190WB2K

I'd really appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks!
 
VFS-004 is what I use, not brilliant but just fine for web stuff I find. To be fair, I never use it at full resolution though so I could be underselling it.

Be warned though, I also have here a Jenoscan JS-21 which should be an awesome beastie... but some idiot installed Windows Ultimate 64 on his new PC and it won't run on it :(
 
I'm happy enough with my Epson V700, which isn't the cheapest flatbed, but I wanted to do both 135 and MF without spending huge amounts on a dedicated film scanner.

It handles 120 film well enough for my needs. 35mm is a bit more of a challenge, but I have some quite useable results from it.

Ambermile said:
Be warned though, I also have here a Jenoscan JS-21 which should be an awesome beastie... but some idiot installed Windows Ultimate 64 on his new PC and it won't run on it :(
Click to expand...

Seeing as they haven't released a new model in over five years and it seems they've more or less halted production and development, that is something that is starting to worry me about even Nikon's current Coolscan film scanners - future compatibility.

m_achines said:
I've read about people buying the negative holders and then just scanning them in on your average household camera. Does that work or is a special, expensive scanner needed?
Click to expand...

I picked up a (boxed and apparently never used) slide copier at a car boot sale for 50p the other day. I have to get a T-mount adapter to use it with my 5D, but that should only be a few quid.

Will report back.
 
Thanks for the feedback :) Will come back later to fully read through and take in the answers, just had to post here to say I typed "average household camera" when I meant to say "average household scanner". Oops! No point editing the first post as it's already been quoted :P
 
Musicman said:
Seeing as they haven't released a new model in over five years and it seems they've more or less halted production and development, that is something that is starting to worry me about even Nikon's current Coolscan film scanners - future compatibility.
Click to expand...

I have a Nikon Coolscan IV whihc they stoped making ages ago, but I down loaded there latest drivers for the Mac 10.4.8 and it works fine.


Like wise with the Microtek one I have Silver Fast which has not been updated for yonks but it will happily work on the Mac, mind you the software is pants
 
Ambermile said:
VFS-004 is what I use, not brilliant but just fine for web stuff I find. To be fair, I never use it at full resolution though so I could be underselling it.
Click to expand...

Very interesting. So if you were to use it at full res what standard of prints would you be able to get from it? Also can you get a holder which takes 120 film?

Cheers

Andy
 
Well, it won't do 120 and max resolution is 3600 dpi, saves can be jpg or tif. That 3600 though is interpolated, best native is 1800dpi = 5.17 M/pixels. (2592x1680).
 
Thanks Arthur,

1800 dpi should be ok, I'm not thinking of anything bigger than A4. Shame about the 120 film though still for the money it looks like it could be something to tide me over until I can afford a proper film scanner.

Andy
 
Ambermile said:
VFS-004 is what I use, not brilliant but just fine for web stuff I find. To be fair, I never use it at full resolution though so I could be underselling it.

Be warned though, I also have here a Jenoscan JS-21 which should be an awesome beastie... but some idiot installed Windows Ultimate 64 on his new PC and it won't run on it :(
Click to expand...

Does that Jenoscan use a USB connection? If so you should be able to set up an XP virtual machine using VMWare (the free version) under Windows 7 and then scan from within that. It worked for my old scanner.
 
Well, it has a parallell cable with a usb adapter on it so yes, I guess so. VMWare eh? I shall go look :naughty:
 
Ah. No XP setup disk here :(
 
I am waiting for my new canoscan 9000f (the 8800f replacement) to be delivered today. I just couldn't justify a 35mm only scanner of any quality and the ability to scan in all of the old prints both myself and my father have is pretty invaluable! I will report back when its up and running.
 
Another vote for the Epson V700.I'm chuffed with mine - it's not cheap but it produces high quality scans off pretty well all file formats with negative carriers for each.

Full Review of V700
 
Ambermile said:
Ah. No XP setup disk here :(
Click to expand...
If you've still got a physical machine with XP installed on it you can use VMWare Converter to make a virtual version of it and use that.

I've never tried to connect a device on a parallel port via a USB adapter to a VM so I don't know if that would work.... I think it would probably work but I don't know for sure. :thinking:
 
I use a Canoscan D1250U2F which only scans 35mm negs. However, it does that superbly.
 
Thanks to 6T above, I now have a virtual xp machine running the JS-21 film scanner! Slow though :(
 
Well, I've ordered the agfaphoto AFS1 digital slide and negative scanner. It's pretty cheap and will do me for basic 35mm until I can afford a dedicated scanner.
 
Sure did, and while it is slow, the great thing is it's hands off - which kind of makes up for the speed :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top