Scanners?

[Blooze]

With all this talk of film cameras, I'm jonesin' to go get some film and shoot the ol' 35mm. Now, Xillion and AllenG have whetted my appetite for an entry level MF camera as well. I've looked at negative scanning services and it looks to me that for the price of scanning a dozen rolls or so I could drop a good chunk of money into a scanner. Obviously places like Costco and such will scan your negatives and put them on a DVD, but the sizes look like they'd be good for putting thumbnails on the web, not printing. Seems scanning as a tiff would be the way to go if printing anything bigger than a 5x7. I'd like to be able to at least make prints in the 8x10 range off a 35mm, and the 120/220 negs. If I can keep the price below $300 it would be great as well. New stuff or old models are fine as long as I can get them to talk to Win7.

As a side note, it seems it would be advantageous to process my own b&w film, but to be honest I haven't done that in nearly 30 years and wouldn't have a clue what to get to do it. I know one of the antique stores here in town has a box full of developing tanks for next to nothing (but I'd have to see what sizes are in there) and some other stuff. Any help in that area as far as chemicals and developing for dummies would be most appreciated.

 

[AllenG]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/696856-REG/Canon_4207B002_CanoScan_9000F_Color_Image.html
I have gotten satisfying results from this canon. I'm a Mac person, sorry, no idea if it can speak windows.

For film, you need a dark room or bag to load the film, I prefer click reels to metal spirals especially when starting off. I am pretty loyal to Ilford films and use their liquid chemicals. Ilford DD-X is a fine film developer. I also believe in using photo flow to prevent drying spots.

 

[tnsplayer]

The Epson V600 is another good choice for under $200. It can do both 35mm and medium format. I have used it on my computer with both Windows 7 and 8.

 

[legrandfromage]

I have the Canon mentioned earlier and have used it for doing two things: 1. scanning rolls of 35mm film as "contact sheets" and 2. scanning 645 and 6X7 negatives for proofing and some small prints. I think that it does an adequate job; certainly good for the price. Although I enjoy it (and have done it for over 50 years) I am shooting less and less film as time goes on. One of the reasons for this, is that decent processing is getting harder and harder to find and I don't choose to go back to developing film myself.
My experience with serious scanning (I also have a 35mm Nikon scanner) is that it is an art in itself. If you are having film developed, the incremental cost of getting scans done is not that much more. Use a processor that will give you larger scans and then play with them in post processing (I'm assuming that you have printing capabilities) and see where it leads. The selection of a scanner ends up being driven by what you want to output and how much time and effort you are willing to devote to the process. I have decided that I would use my scanners to get me to a point where I could do small prints and identify the occasional pictures that I might want to print larger; in that case, I would have the negative drum scanned.
Forgot to mention that I am running the Canon on a PC with XP; I believe that it will run with Windows 7 (check the Canon web site).

 

[Blooze]

I like the idea of being able to scan MF down the line, but since all my shots for now will be 35mm and I definitely want to be able to make decently sized prints as opposed to just putting photos on the web, I think a dedicated negative scanner might be the way to go. Seems a lot of people have trouble with 35mm on flatbed scanners as far as keeping the negative flat. I've been looking at one of the Plustek 8100's which seem to get pretty favorable reviews, even though it would be considerably slower than the Canon. I'm not forseeing scanning every shot though, just select ones, and just shooting B&W to start with. My wife thought I was crazy about all this resurrection of film shooting, till I showed her some shots taken with the MESuper on Flickr. She agrees the film shots just have that "look" to them that is appealing, even if they might not be as sharp and detailed a lot of the time.

 

[djh]

I hope that you are able to get your film idea up and running. I scan my 35mm negatives with a Plustek 7600i which does a great job.

Developing b/w film really is simple. I use Kodak HC-110, no stop bath and a rapid fixer.

 

[Edcculus]

You may not be as crazy as I am, but after considering the options in scanners, and WHY I was doing film photography in the first place, I opted for an enlarger instead. I did end up buying a cheaper $100 scanner (that has the capability to scan film). Its mainly for scanning in my prints to show on the internet. In the end, I decided a "figital" workflow was not for me. Scanning film is a real PITA. I already almost loathe having to import all of my digital pictures and do the requisite editing. I didnt want to have to spend hours more in front of a computer scanning and getting the levels right on my film.

The real reason I wanted to shoot film was 1 - slow down 2- aesthetics. Nothing beats holding an 8X10 silver gelatin print in hand.

Your motivation may be different, or YMMV as they like to say here . Some can be perfectly happy with the "figital" workflow, especially when your job isn't sitting in front of a computer on Photoshop for 10 hours a day!

As far as developing film goes, its a breeze. Like DJH, I use HC-110 and Ilford Rapid Fixer. I do use a stop bath, but arguments can be made both ways. All you need from there is a developing tank, a reel and a room you can temporarily make completely light tight to load film.

 

[Blooze]

Right now I'm leaning toward an Epson V500 to start with. It will let me scan for the web at least and make a decent size print with MF I think. I would like to get a Plustek 7400 or 7600 to do 35mm in order to make a print. When I say a print, most of my digital prints I've kept to 8x12 or 12x18, and I'm thinking 10x10 for the MF would be a nice size to hang, which I think I could do with the Epson. This will have to be a buy as I can deal, but I think the Epson would need to be first that way I can do contact sheets and see what might be worthy of printing.

I would love to have a darkroom, but I just don't have the space right now. That and any darkroom gear I've seen close to here I could by a really good scanner for.

Besides, I remember working in the darkroom, and going through a bit of paper. I don't know that it would be a money saver, but it sure would be a stress reducer I'm sure compared to scanning.

Edit: I ended up ordering a refurb V500 from Epson for less than a C-note shipped. Not a great scanner, but it will let me get started instead of sitting around with a pile of negatives

 

[Blooze]

Well, I received the scanner on the 7th. That was all I received. Just the scanner. No accessories that were listed to come with it, not even a power supply. Nothing.

Called the next morning, customer service said oops ? We'll get that right out. Fast forward to the 13th. Package with all the accessories except the 35mm cover and , wait for it, the power supply! Backordered!

So now I wait a day or so to see if it shows up in another shipment. Nope. I call this morning and talk with an escalation team member (whatever that is) and he says they don't have one and he'll issue a refund on return receipt if I want. No, I want the pieces it's missing so I can use it. He says they are backordered with no expect date of reciept. Really? He'll call corporate and see what kind of deal they might do and call me back by 3pm. 3 comes and goes and I call a little after 5pm today (3pm their time). Nick's gone for the day and the lady I talk to gives me the same song and dance I heard earlier.

I finally tell her that she needs to put this in an email and send to whomever handles the Epson Store. Make sure everything that's listed with the unit you are selling is in the box before listing it for sale. Seems good business practice. I told her what she can relay to corporate is they can pull a brand new unit off the rack, send it to me overnight, and when I'm satisfied it's working properly I'll return the unit on their dime. Thought I'd save a few dollars going with a refurb with the manufacturer and full warranty. This is by far the worst customer service I've had in the last 10 years.

 

[streetwaves]

Sorry to hear about your experience Blooze. That's strange.

As far as film scanners go, you can't really go wrong with the Epsons. They're a great value. I started with a Canon 8800F, which scanned 35mm and MF. When I got real serious about medium format, I bought a dedicated MF film scanner: a Microtek ArtixScan 120TF (also called Polaroid Sprintscan 120). The quality is utterly fantastic, comparable to the Nikon 9000 which is super expensive. Downside is that it's a bit finicky, and if it breaks I'm sure I'll be out of luck. If it does, I'll likely buy a V700 or something and call it a day.

 

[AllenG]

I had that very Microtek scanner. One day it just started running those geared ladder like film holders in and out and would never stop.
I really miss that scanner. Don't miss firewire, but I miss that scanner.

 

[Legion]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/696856-REG/Canon_4207B002_CanoScan_9000F_Color_Image.html
I have gotten satisfying results from this canon. I'm a Mac person, sorry, no idea if it can speak windows.

For film, you need a dark room or bag to load the film, I prefer click reels to metal spirals especially when starting off. I am pretty loyal to Ilford films and use their liquid chemicals. Ilford DD-X is a fine film developer. I also believe in using photo flow to prevent drying spots.

That is the scanner I own. Works fine with windows.

 

[Legion]

Well, I received the scanner on the 7th. That was all I received. Just the scanner. No accessories that were listed to come with it, not even a power supply. Nothing.

Called the next morning, customer service said oops ? We'll get that right out. Fast forward to the 13th. Package with all the accessories except the 35mm cover and , wait for it, the power supply! Backordered!

So now I wait a day or so to see if it shows up in another shipment. Nope. I call this morning and talk with an escalation team member (whatever that is) and he says they don't have one and he'll issue a refund on return receipt if I want. No, I want the pieces it's missing so I can use it. He says they are backordered with no expect date of reciept. Really? He'll call corporate and see what kind of deal they might do and call me back by 3pm. 3 comes and goes and I call a little after 5pm today (3pm their time). Nick's gone for the day and the lady I talk to gives me the same song and dance I heard earlier.

I finally tell her that she needs to put this in an email and send to whomever handles the Epson Store. Make sure everything that's listed with the unit you are selling is in the box before listing it for sale. Seems good business practice. I told her what she can relay to corporate is they can pull a brand new unit off the rack, send it to me overnight, and when I'm satisfied it's working properly I'll return the unit on their dime. Thought I'd save a few dollars going with a refurb with the manufacturer and full warranty. This is by far the worst customer service I've had in the last 10 years.

Sorry to say it, but this is still why walking into a real shop and buying something over the counter is worth the extra dollars.

I might be biased, because I sell this sort of stuff for a living. But before the customer leaves my shop we open the box together and make sure everything is right. There is no excuses for sending a half empty box.

 

[Blooze]

Sorry to say it, but this is still why walking into a real shop and buying something over the counter is worth the extra dollars.

I might be biased, because I sell this sort of stuff for a living. But before the customer leaves my shop we open the box together and make sure everything is right. There is no excuses for sending a half empty box.

Thing is, no one in town carries either the epson or canon in their normal stock, even of the online store says they do (I called around to make sure). One of the advantages if living in a backwards town I guess. The only photo store we have that sells gear is Best Buy and we have one local developer that's even close to decent for C41 - it's on the side of her portrait studio.

FWIW, I definitely prefer buying from the showroom as well.