Film scanner suggestions anybody?

[jmi]

Not sure exactly where to post this, hopefully here is right, apologies if not.

I am in the market for a film scanner, mostly for B+W, getting very fed up with having to make 5x7s of everything to scan on my current shared flatbed, it's a Canon 8000 or something like that, with a transparency feature for 35mm only, but the quality of that is absolutely awful (or maybe it's my technique?)

Recently I have been getting 35mm colour neg scanned at the lab (results are pretty good too, certainly good enough most of the time).  Unfortunately getting this done for B+W is rather inconvenient, since they will only do uncut film (well, at non-extortionate prices) and are only open work hours which means I have to take time off to get down there.

Problem is there doesn't seem to be much choice - the Nikon LS50 is about the upper limit in terms of cost (ie. 400GBP, even this seems like a bit of a waste of cash with the D50 digital looming!), and only does 35mm - I also use some 6x6 medium format, but I suppose could live with the current scan a print method there.

Are these modern flatbeds really good enough for doing 35mm?  Maybe I just haven't been convinced yet

Thanks in advance for any insights or suggestions you might have...

[Mike Kovacs]

Are these modern flatbeds really good enough for doing 35mm?  Maybe I just haven't been convinced yet

IMO - No they are not.  My Epson flatbed cannot come even close to my now 5 year-old Nikon LS-30 35mm film scanner.  Particularly if you scan transparencies, you will find the flat beds do not have much Dmax.

I have been getting by with my flatbed for 120 and 4x5 film.

PS - I am actually visiting Cambridge at the end of the month!  Nice to see some participants here from there.

[jmi]

Thanks, Mike!

IMO - No they are not.  My Epson flatbed cannot come even close to my now 5 year-old Nikon LS-30 35mm film scanner.  Particularly if you scan transparencies, you will find the flat beds do not have much Dmax.

Hmm, that's what I was concerned about.  I do have rather a lot of slides to scan too, and I have been using Velvia more recently, which would be, uh, bad news if the Dmax isn't very good

PS - I am actually visiting Cambridge at the end of the month!  Nice to see some participants here from there.

Cool, do enjoy my home town!

[josphy]

I would skip the flatbeds if you are mostly concerned with 35mm.  Maybe one of the older model scanners.  I see the Minolta Scan Dual IV going for around 150-200US$ on Ebay recently.  Maybe one of the older Nikon or Canon models goes for a reasonable price too.  Remember that if you buy smart, you can almost always resell it later for close to the price you paid (or in my case, usually a little profit), so if you are planning to move to a D50 some time soon, you could always buy the scanner, scan your negs and slides, and then resell it later assuming you don't plan to use film any more.

That being said, the flatbeds are suprisingly good, and certainly versatile.

Either way, scanning is awfully tedious.

[jmi]

I would skip the flatbeds if you are mostly concerned with 35mm.  Maybe one of the older model scanners.  I see the Minolta Scan Dual IV going for around 150-200US$ on Ebay recently.  Maybe one of the older Nikon or Canon models goes for a reasonable price too.  Remember that if you buy smart, you can almost always resell it later for close to the price you paid (or in my case, usually a little profit), so if you are planning to move to a D50 some time soon, you could always buy the scanner, scan your negs and slides, and then resell it later assuming you don't plan to use film any more.

Thanks!  That's a good point, I had always been a bit weary about buying second-hand computer equipment online but I've not had problems with anything else.  I think last I looked on eBay the dual IV models were going for more like the price new (when they were still available) over here, but the IIIs are a lot less and AFAICT basically the same resolution etc.

As for the D50, I'm not really thinking of moving to one

[P C Headland]

If you do only 35mm, then a dedicated film scanner like a Dimage IV would be ideal (if you can get one).  But if you do 35mm & MF, then a flatbed is your only affordable option.

However, I'd see if you could test (for yourself) a new Epson V700 or Canon 9950F or even Microtek i800/i900.  The results obtained on http://www.photo-i.co.uk look remarkably close to an entry to mid level dedicated film scanner.  Just judging by his results, I'd say the final prints from these scans (up to A4) would be pretty good.  As always with these things, it depends on your expectations and how large you intend to print.

The real problem is tracking down scanners that you can actually test!  Here in NZ it is nigh on impossible to find a dedicated film scanner, and they are expensive relative to the US prices.  However, I do know someone here that has a Dimage IV and Canon 9950F, so I may see if I can do some tests for myself.

[jmi]

The real problem is tracking down scanners that you can actually test!  Here in NZ it is nigh on impossible to find a dedicated film scanner, and they are expensive relative to the US prices.  However, I do know someone here that has a Dimage IV and Canon 9950F, so I may see if I can do some tests for myself.

Good idea, thanks! -  I'll try KP Professional (http://www.kpprof.com) since they stock the Epsons (apparently only the 4990 although their website it typically a bit out of date) and the Nikon dedicated scanners, and are local, as in 20 minutes bike ride from work and 40 from here.  Going by bike has one other significant advantage - I can't buy anything

Wondering if they'll let me scan some negs and bring them back so I can post a comparison somewhere... not sure if anybody would be interested?

[P C Headland]

I'm sure if you ask they'll let you.

If you can, take along one slide, one colour neg, and one B+W.

When you've done all that and processed them, print them out and compare them.  It is after all the final output that is important, not how it looks on screen at 100% in PS.

Some stage I will pop round to a friends and run a comparison between my 3170, a Dimage DualScan IV and his Canon 9950F.  I'll try with 35mm slide and B+W for the three scanners, plus MF slide and B+W for the two flatbeds.  Knowing me it'll take a month or two to get round to it....