[szk71]

I've done a couple of recent checks and there seem to be very few, if any, threads discussing scanning film or slides. A while back I purchased a Nikon film scanner and was looking for info and comments, but found nil.

I would have thought that there are lots of Pentax shooters still using older film cameras. Where is everyone? Or have I looked in the wrong places?

Are you guys doing any archiving of old film? I've done mine all and would highly recommand it to anyone. Everything is so alive again looking at the old times on the monitor.

[Gooshin]

what do you need to know, there are plenty of us here that do our own scanning, on different machines using different software.

i use a Nikon 5000 ED, got good results with Nikon Scan 4, currently trying to figure out vuescan.

I scan but only prints. Not film. Have to for work.

[tuco]

I scan my own medium and large format negatives all the time. What do you want to discuss?
.

[Andi Lo]

I send my 35mm negs to Superstore (Walmart / Target equivalent). Interestingly the colors seem pretty accurate when compared to prints from a proper lab. The resolution is just enough for web use. For 5.99$ / 120 exposures / 1 day service I can't complain at all.

I have also used the Nikon 4000 ED for slides and negatives and boy, that thing is slow.... For slides it's fine since you can just leave it on its own, but for negs the wait and the impracticality makes it a monk's job... I use the 4000 for slides exclusively now. One day I'd like the Coolscan 9000, but that's far in the future, probably after a full frame Digital

I haven't tried flatbed but it looks and sounds like it's more cumbersome than the Coolscan 4000. I'm not interested unless I get one that can scan MF.

@tuco: what kind of scanner do you use for your LF and MF?

[Venturi]

I scan my negs with a Canoscan 4400F and VueScan software. One of these days I will pony up for a Nikon Coolscan 5000 (if they're still around when my pennies are saved)

[KungPOW]

I scan with an Epson V500. Generally I use the Epson scanning software with ok results. I have fought with Vuescan, and I doubt I will bother to learn it. I plan to try Silverfast next.

[Lowell Goudge]

I scanned all my home shots (~20,000) with a minolta Dimage II scanner.

I found that the native 2880dpi resolution ws more than enough for my purposes and shots.

It was a lengthy process (several years)

I now take shots to a store that can scan them, when they process, but also will scan strips. the message here is leave negatives totally uncut. cost is per strip, therefore 0ne strip of 36 is same cost as one of 4 shots.

[opfor]

I use an old Epsom v100 that (barely) still chugs along. It has worked well enough for what I use it for, but it is being replaced this years because of it's age.

[stevebrot]

I scan my color negs and slides with a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED and the Nikon Scan 4 software that came with the thing. I then do whatever post-processing in Lightroom. I would love to be scanning my B&W negatives as well, but will have to figure out some way to wet mount on the 5000 ED first.

I have played with both VueScan and Silverfast, but am not that impressed with either one.

Steve

[rayallen]

I scan my negatives (and slides very rarely) with a Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 Model 1 using SilverFast Ai. I have also used Vuescan but I prefer SilverFast.

The Minolta scanning software provided with the scanner was very basic and lacked film profiles which made it next to useless.

[Jimfear]

I scan 35mm and MF colour neg. slides and B&W with a Epson V700 and Vuescan. The Epson software is pure rubbish compared to Vuescan (and probably Silverfast, though I haven't tried other than some "light" version of it that I didn't like much). But it's a long process learning Vuescan and the V700 and how they best work together. After 1000 scanned images I'm still learning and getting better results.

I haven't tried flatbed but it looks and sounds like it's more cumbersome than the Coolscan 4000. I'm not interested unless I get one that can scan MF.

Cumbersome? I hope you're referring to the size (yes the V700 is huge!). Do you scan your images as a batch or individually? For web I do my scanning as a batch, 24 shots at a time (takes the V700 some 40 minutes to scan them all at 3200dpi with ICE on, B&W 20 minutes with ICE off) then it takes me 15 minutes to save them, individually correcting light and to some extent colour. Doesn't sound that hard does it?
Ps. it scans 35mm, MF and LF... and everything else you can fit on a A4 paper's size...

[candgpics]

I use an HP G4050. It is not in the same price league as the Epson V700/750 scanners, but I think is superior to the Canon 8800 and built much better than the Epson V500. I just use the scanner for family photo restoration, but I am a bit of a pixel peeper and I really feel that the HP does a great job. I also scan negatives and it does very well, too.

I have no doubt that a dedicated Nikon slide scanner will pull a bit more shadow detail/depth, but I think the HP is awfully good. It also tends to be discounted because I think HP is seen as a big and clunky company, which sometimes is true, and somehow less desirable than Epson or Nikon. The software is pretty decent (I scan into CS4 using the HP plug-in) and the scanner is a bit loud in comparison to the Canon, but for the price the quality is excellent.

The HP also scans medium format.

[vlo]

I have several thousand slides and B&W negatives that I scan with Nikon Coolscan V ED. I use Vuescan which I find much better than Nikon´s own scanning program.

vlo

[Buffy]

I scan 35mm and 645 negs with either an Epson V700 or a Kodak HR 500+ Pro scanner. I use Vuescan with the Epson, the Kodakrequires it's own particular software.