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View Full Version : Scan 20 year old negative or 20 year old photo?


Zack Mahdavi
05-30-2004, 05:09 AM
Hey all,

Jason's recent post regarding scanning old photos (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5343) has inspired me. I'd like to scan all the thousands of family pictures that are just lying around and create a digital archive of all of them.

However, for most of the pictures, I also have the negatives, so I'm wondering if I'd be better off scanning the negatives or the photos themselves. Which would produce better picture quality? Keep in mind that these are 20 year old photos...

If I decide to scan the photos, I think I'll be busying the HP Scanjet 5530, since it has a photo feeder to make things more convenient.

Any help would be appreciated!

Jason Dunn
05-30-2004, 03:38 PM
I haven't scanned many negatives, but I think you'd get better quality from scanning the negatives. That might be offset though by the fact that if you're scanning 1000's of pictures, there's no consumer-level scanner that I'm aware of that will batch scan negatives. So the 4x6 autofeed scanner might be the most effective option, given the sheer number of images you want to scan.

Lee Yuan Sheng
05-31-2004, 06:37 AM
Scan the negs. Get a flatbed that can take 4 strips of film at a go.

Zack Mahdavi
05-31-2004, 06:52 AM
Scan the negs. Get a flatbed that can take 4 strips of film at a go.

Interesting... do you know of any scanners that do this? I haven't been in the market for a scanner in about 3 years now. Do you still need that special negative scanner to scan negatives?

Lee Yuan Sheng
05-31-2004, 01:41 PM
The high end Canon and Epsons can do this. Photo-i.co.uk had reviews on them, lemme go dig them up.

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson%204870/page_1.htm

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Scanners/Canon%209900F/page_1.htm

And it's also a darn cheap way to scan MF and LF film! =D

Littleshmee
05-31-2004, 01:51 PM
Another thought is, if you're only planning on doing this once, you can take negatives to a photo lab and get them to scan them. Just be sure to tell them to scan at a high resolution - I know that Blacks scans at an 8 megapixel equivelant, but then shrinks them down to put them onto CD because most people just want to be able to email them and whatnot. This can add up if you've got a lot to do though.

Lee Yuan Sheng
05-31-2004, 03:24 PM
That's an idea, but I think zkmusa said he'd be scanning 1000s.. that's gonna get real expensive real quick!

Zack Mahdavi
05-31-2004, 06:05 PM
Another thought is, if you're only planning on doing this once, you can take negatives to a photo lab and get them to scan them.

Yeah, I've considered this, along with taking my photos to a copy center, but I haven't researched the cost of doing this. If it will cost more than $200 (the cost of the scanner), then it's probably not worth doing.

rtrueman
08-07-2005, 03:54 PM
I purchased a Nikon Coolscan 4000 to archive the hundreds of slides my parents took when they were my age (35). It does a stunning job of color correction and image repair and with the option 50 slide feeder, I can set it and forget it. Since my Dad died 10 years ago (man does time FLY), I really want to preserve images of him for my 2 year old daughter and -1.5 week old (due date on the 19th of August!) son.

Rob

Jason Eaton
08-08-2005, 01:42 PM
I recently picked up the Canon Canoscan 8400f (you would think that maybe a better name can be found) for some negative scanning.

I am not sure about doing 1k+ of negatives but it is good kit for the money (about $149 USD). The slide holder is a bit funky to work with but will do multiples just fine. Of course you can scan into your favorite picture editor but the supplied software works just fine.

A good feature is the autocropping and seperation, plus the settings use that can be maintained between scans. So pull a Ron Popeil and set it and forget it and just keep feeding.

It does have a maxium Res of 3200 x 6400 dpi resolution and is quiet slow we trying to achieve this. I would list as a draw back if you intend to scan ALL of your slides at this res unless you have a good amount of time on your hands.

I went with a relatively low res (good for 4x6 printing) and then created a photo library if you will. This lets me send out quick photos for e-mail or proofs and creates a scannable archieve that I can match back to the slides when a better scan is needed.

If you want/need a scanner and have some time, not a bad way to go. However my experience with multiple weekends scanning and feeding with a large number of family slides would make me suggest a two fold approach. Get a nice scanner for yourself, but save yourself the intial headache and get a reputible company to do the inital scans. Your time has a value too.