[ColColt]

This is probably the wrong place to ask so mods, feel free to move. I was looking at some of the marvelous photos taken with the 645 and 6x7 format in this forum and wondered, since I'm a bit of a dinosaur, how you can post photos from these formats since they're not digital. I know little to nothing about scanning. If someone could point me in the right directions as to how to do this it would be most appreciated.

I have some great negatives I'd love to be able to post but haven't a clue as how to do so.

[wissink]

Using a dlsr and macro lens works well. Here's a thread that started a few days ago that has several examples.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/8-pentax-film-slr-discussion/296740-dslr-film-scanning.html

I'm looking to get into film myself now.

[Swift1]

This is probably the wrong place to ask so mods, feel free to move. I was looking at some of the marvelous photos taken with the 645 and 6x7 format in this forum and wondered, since I'm a bit of a dinosaur, how you can post photos from these formats since they're not digital. I know little to nothing about scanning. If someone could point me in the right directions as to how to do this it would be most appreciated.

I have some great negatives I'd love to be able to post but haven't a clue as how to do so.

There are a few ways you can go about getting digital scans of your negatives and transparencies.

If you have a local film lab, you should be able to bring your film in and get them to scan it for you. The lab should be able to scan your film and then give you a CD with your images, along with returning your film undamaged. If you have a good lab this is probably the simplest way, but if you have many images it could get fairly expensive.

If you have many images to scan, you may want to invest in getting your own scanner. You can get a refurbished Epson V500 for $100, and it will do a decent job scanning 35mm and 120 film. There's a bit of a learning curve, but it's not that difficult.

[foto guy]

If you do go the lab route, make sure they scan at a high resolution. Others here know better than I, but I'd say at least 2400 dpi if you intend to print anything.

[ColColt]

Thanks for the responses. I have some 120 negatives in B&W as well as color I'd like to have scanned, not a great deal but maybe 6-10 and the purpose is for making prints up to 11x14.. I only know of one lab locally that even touches anything involving film anymore and will give them a call. I do know they get so little film these days that they only develop slides/print film once a month as opposed to daily years back.

[AquaDome]

Some may claim you shouldn't bother with a scanner that your local art museum wouldn't use.
I use an Epson V600 and the software it came with. It took a few attempts before I got the results I wanted, but it certainly can be done.

I tried two aftermarket software packages for it. Their results looked different (but not "better") and still required adjustment.

Check the specs to be certain the scanner you choose can work with your negatives. Some don't have 6x9 capability for some reason.

[ColColt]

If my local guys can't/won't do it I'll try sending them to Dewayne's or The Darkroom. Surely one of those can do it. I'll try that method before investing in a scanner that I probably won't use that much.

[ColColt]

I've been looking over the V600 and V800 and may go with one of those so I can just do it myself. I'm not sure if the V600 will work with Vista as all they showed was Windows 7, 8 and Mac. The only software that comes with it is ArcSoft Photo Studio.

Conversely, the V800 works with Vista or Windows 7,8 and comes with SilverFast SE 8 Software. Both seem to have 6400 x 9600 dpi scan resolution.The V800 is about twice the price of the V600 but I don' t know if you'd get twice the scanner...hard decision.

[johnsey]

You should be more than set with either of those. The V700 is also a great option.
With regards to Vista, you may or may not run into issues, Vista had hardware issues in general and was quickly replaced by Win 7. Windows 7 is now 6 years old and being replaced. You can get a copy of that for about $100, if you had vista you should be good to go with 7 (you can verify the specs) and you will have much better software support.

[ColColt]

I had monumental problems with XP, more so than any other OS. I was overjoyed when I put it away and got Vista. It's been the most trouble free system I've had to date. I do have Windows 7 computer upstairs but only have it on a few times a week for updates, mostly. We get use to things and I use Vista every day. The other one is a back up as if I get laid up with an operation(like last summer) I have a computer upstairs instead of trying to make it down the steps to the other one. I've got 6G of memory on Vista and it's handled Nikon's Capture NX2 pretty well. XP, on the other hand, was terrible taking forever with that software.

There's no decent software that comes with the V600 so, I've read Vuescan or Silverlight would be good ones to add.

[ColColt]

Would a scanner like the V600 need to be calibrated prior to use, such as with IT-8 or being a consumer grade scanner would it already be calibrated? I couldn't seem to find a definitive answer about that.

[jwatts]

I've seen some decent scans from the epson flat beds but I really think you are going to be losing a lot of detail, sharpness and dynamic range scanning with a flat bed. To really dial in a flat bed your going to need to spend extra on software and better scanning holders. And your still going to get sub par images, imo

If you're wanting to do it yourself. I'd suggest the DSLR technique or a dedicated film scanner. You said you only are interested in scanning about 10 images. I'd just skip the cost, money and time, and let a good lab do it for you.


There are a few very good mail in labs that will give you some great scan files from your negs.

Some examples:

Indie Film Lab: $5 MF single frame scans, jpeg @ 4824 x 3533 =6x4.5 / 4815x5902 = 6x7

The Find Lab: $18 MF single frame scan tiff @ 4492×6774

If you're really trying to get everything out of a negative you could go the drum scan route

weldon color labs or colorfolio are two reputable labs.

[ColColt]

I could be wrong but I don't think they make a MF dedicated scanner. I have other formats, primarily 35mm slides/negatives I'd eventually want to try as well. The initial 10 I mentioned are the main ones I wanted scanned but those are not all-just the most important ones. I feel a bit hesitant about sending out irreplaceable negatives to somewhere hundreds of miles away in a flimsy envelope they send you.

I'd love the Nikon Coolscan 9000 but not only are they defunct but when/if you can find them they're more than they were originally by far. I've seen them for over $2000. I don't' want a scanner that bad. I don't know. Maybe I just need to try it myself and see what happens. If I can't get decent results with the manufacturers holders I'll try the Betterscanning ones and see if they work any better. If that all fails I suppose it's time to send them out.

I just looked up drum scanner and the Hasselblad Flextight X5 scanner came up...over $20,000!!! No wonder no one uses them.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/463800-REG/Hasselblad_70380301_Flextight_X5_Scanner.html

[photolady95]

Just so you know, Epson has drivers for every scanner for Vista. You just need to download them from the Epson site, under Support.

Vista Driver:
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?oid=139863&infoType...OSF_W_VISTA-64

[ColColt]

Do all scanners need to be calibrated like your monitor?