Getting Negs scanned

Aod · 26 Apr 2007 at 21:47

unfortunetely, i've not the money for a fabulous DSLR like a 400D or something like that, but what i do have, an Olympus OM-10 serves me quite well.

Anyway, i want to know if there are any commercial services where i can take my (processed) negatives and have them scanned at very high resolution to digital images. this would allow me to post my images for a spot of light criticism.

do you think that my local film processing place could do it?

InvaderGIR · 26 Apr 2007 at 21:49

Can you not just get a high quality scanner and scan the original pints?

InvG

Aod · 26 Apr 2007 at 23:42

like a flatbed scanner? i've tried that. it takes anywhere between 10 and 40 minutes to scan a single negative, and the quality is still a bit iffy.

moid · 26 Apr 2007 at 23:43

Aod said:
like a flatbed scanner? i've tried that. it takes anywhere between 10 and 40 minutes to scan a single negative, and the quality is still a bit iffy.

10-40 mins? Seems very long - are you using a modern scanner?

arcamalpha · 27 Apr 2007 at 10:53

You'll never get great scans from negs - all the detail is in the darkest parts of the film.

You can get better-than-digital images by using slides with a slide scanner like the Canon FS4000. That's what I did prior to digital. Works wonders. With decent film you can get incredible saturation and colour range.

freebooter · 27 Apr 2007 at 14:36

Aod - I sent an email to your trust address a couple of weeks ago about a flash for your om10. Just wondering whether you saw it and whether you are interested or not.

I have some old slides and negs I would like to scan and did a bit of research a while ago. It seems that you can get proper neg/slide scanners of resonable quality second hand for not too much money. Haven't got round to it myself yet so no specific reccomendations though.

Aod · 27 Apr 2007 at 23:57

oh yeah, i got that message. i've already got a flash (which i never use anyway) and a telephoto lens.

i'd be happy to use slide film + Slides, but slide film is £10 a roll, and developing is also £10. with B&W i get the film for free and develop it for free too.

Dfhaii · 28 Apr 2007 at 03:11

You must be going to the wrong place, I generally pay less than £4 for a 36 exposure roll of slide film (velvia, astia or provia) I believe kodak films are about the same price.

As far as scanning you'll get the best results from a dedicated film scanner, though most don't have ICE profiles for common black and white film you can still get excellent results from it. There's little point in scanning negatives/slides with a flatbed as you'll rarely get satisfactory results.