Recommend a negative scanner

C

chris-red

Suspended / Banned
Messages
345
Name
Chris
Edit My Images
Yes
I have decided my cheap neg scanner will not cut it anymore and need something Decent so I'm going to crack open my change jar (yes really) to buy one. I have about £150, I don't really know what is available or what is any good. It must would with Windows 8 and I'd like it to get the most of out my negatives. I don't mind going second hand.
 
I would say a used Epson V500 but you will need to check with manufacture as to Windows 8 support.
 
chris-red said:
I have decided my cheap neg scanner will not cut it anymore and need something Decent so I'm going to crack open my change jar (yes really) to buy one. I have about £150, I don't really know what is available or what is any good. It must would with Windows 8 and I'd like it to get the most of out my negatives. I don't mind going second hand.
Click to expand...

What size film are you scanning? This will make a big difference in your possible choices.

If you're only scanning 135, then I wouldn't be looking at the Epson, I'd be going for one of the dedicated 135 scanners. If you have or will ever have medium format 120 roll film to scan, then the Epson V500 becomes more attractive, although there are a few dedicated film scanners that also do 120, but they're usually more expensive. If you need large format, then you'd be looking at the Epson V700 series.

There is no one scanner that does everything for everyone, so I would recommend doing a lot of research to see what fits best for you. Google is your friend in this case.

I'd personally also recommend factoring in the cost of purchasing Vuescan into your budget. This is the best scanning software available, in my opinion, and it enables even old scanners to work with newer computers and operating systems.
 
Last edited:
Mostly 35mm but medium format is not out of the question. There is a new version of the V500 the V550, there is also the Canon 9000F. There doesn't seem to be much between them!
 
chris-red said:
Mostly 35mm but medium format is not out of the question. There is a new version of the V500 the V550, there is also the Canon 9000F. There doesn't seem to be much between them!
Click to expand...

Well, I have the predecessor of the V500, the Epson 4490, and it's pretty solid and virtually the same as the V500. If you're patient, you can pick them up for quite cheap. I'd imagine it's a similar story with the 4990, which was the model before the Epson V700.

All of these models can handle 120 film.
 
Theres also the V600 which is the same as the V500 just in a different case - looking at the specs I honestly cannot see any difference between the V500, V550 and V600 except the V550 not supporting Digital ICE on prints (which is not really all that effective anyway from what I've heard).
 
Last edited:
chris-red said:
How would it compare to a dedicated 35mm one? something like this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plustek-Opt...e=UTF8&qid=1392213557&sr=8-1&keywords=plustek
Click to expand...

I used to have the Plustek 7400, which I believe is exactly the same as the Plustek 8100 in terms of hardware, but it just came with an earlier version of Silverfast scanning software. I think the quality of the scan from the Plustek is probably a little bit better for 135 than the Epson flatbeds, although many of the Plusteks don't have digital ICE, so you'll do lots of dust spotting afterwards. Obviously the Epson scanners win by default as soon as you start to shoot and scan any film formats larger than 135.

Silverfast, which comes with the Plustek, is virtually worthless, in my opinion.
 
I can't find where but I read that Digital ICE doesn't work on B&W film, is this correct? (90% of what I shoot will be B&W)
 
Yup, it sees the silver grain as dust I belive, so no ICE.
 
chris-red said:
I can't find where but I read that Digital ICE doesn't work on B&W film, is this correct? (90% of what I shoot will be B&W)
Click to expand...

That is correct, unless your using a chromogenic C-41 process B&W film (Ilford XP2 Super, Kodak BW400CN etc). The way Digital ICE works is that it scans the film with an infrared light source at the same time, IR light passes through the film, but dust/scratches block the IR light so the software knows to replace where the dust/scratches are with adjacent pixels. Unfortunately with B&W film the high silver content also blocks the IR light as well so the software assumes that the whole picture is a scratch/dust and this causes great softening/blockiness, which is why you can't use it with B&W (or Kodachrome usually as the cyan layer is very high in silver content).
 
Hmmm kind of stuck now between the V550 V600 or the 8100 is the 9000F worth a look or are the Epson ones better?
 
All of the flatbeds are about the same to be honest in terms of scanning quality - for 35mm a dedicated scanner like the 8100 is much better.
 
Any other dedicated ones worth considering or is the plustek one the best for that sort of money?

Thanks for all the advice!
 
Within your price range, no not really. If you can push your budget up a bit then you could get the Reflecta CrystalScan 7200 (Reflecta products are really good - I have the Proscan 7200 which is the model above the Crystalscan). You will have to factor in the cost of buying Vuescan though as the included Cyberview software is literally crap.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflecta-CrystalScan-7200-Slide-Scanner/dp/B000FWGWCS
 
A bit too much for me, looks like one of the Plusteks it is! I'll keep my eye on ebay. Thanks all.
 
chris-red said:
A bit too much for me, looks like one of the Plusteks it is! I'll keep my eye on ebay. Thanks all.
Click to expand...

The Plustek 7400 is the exact same as the 8100, it just looks slightly different and comes with the older version of Silverfast (6.6 instead 8, for all purposes Silverfast is rubbish no matter what version you go with); if your looking on ebay your more likely to find a 7400 for a reasonable price.
 
If you're going Plustek, I'd suggest looking for a 7500i or a 7600i if you can; they both have the infrared channel (AKA ICE) which does work well for C41 (inc C41 B&W) and E6. If you have the need and the patience (and old, seriously dusty material) you can get a surprising amount of value from the IR dust removal for Kodachrome and presumably also black and white. You just have to use the masks in Silverfast... which is better than useless, but definitely a PITA and very un-intuitive and hard to use! Vuescan Pro is much better, ad it's buy once, use with any scanner. (SilverFast is tied to the scanner you bought it with!) Oh, from my experience if you're scanning newly processed material from labs, you'll rarely have much of a dust or scratch problem...

But if there's a reasonable prospect of 120 in your future, buy a V500 now and save yourself getting one later! And V500 35mm scans are certainly good enough for any web use, and for pretty darn good prints too. The difference is mainly for pixel peepers, and filmies wouldn't do that, would we?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top