Film scanner for 2 1/4 inch by 2 1/4 inch

I am new to film scanning and I am seeking advice on the purchase of a
film scanner.

I have hundreds of APS, 35mm, and 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 inch negatives that I
would like to scan.

I realize that the 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 inch requirement may be a problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

Jim Koehler

 

Join the club. You have reached the same position (problem) many have
reached.

What to do with old negatives.....

PRESCAN: No equipment other than a light box or table. The hardest part
First resign yourself to many hours of boring repetitive work. Which negs
are worthy of saving? Sometimes a shredder is more valuable time wise than
a scanner. Much of what I had saved over the years simply had no value
anymore. Much of what I had I should of culled years ago was still around.
Into the chopper. Lots of it should have been scanned a long time ago or
thrown out a long time ago.

APS and 35 are best scanned with a film scanner, while a bed scanner can
work on these small negs it's a waste of time. Film scanner with either a
roll attachment or slide attachment helps. We commercially use the Nikons
with ICE, saves a ton of time. We also have a commercial SONY that does the
rolls too.

The 21/4 can be scanned nicely with the Epson 2450 or the next step up they
make. Does an excellent job with the mid size negs.
Or a Nikon 8000 series can do all sizes but it is expensive. Or pay someone
who is equipped to do this.

 

What you need (and I know I'll get howls of derisison
from anyone with a film scanner) is the astounding
Epson 3200 flatbed (£260) from Dabs. There are
many reviews on the web which rave about this
scanner and they're right.

A 6x4.5 cm slide produces a 7000x5300 pixel (approx)
image at the highest optical resolution. The quality is
limited the resolution of your lens or by the film
grain depending on which is worse.

The result is that images from 35mm film are almost
as good as from the Nikon D100 and MF results
are much better (I usually use ISO 100 Provia).
The scanner includes masks for 35mm, roll film
and 5x4 LF film. About 12 35mm frames can be scanned
at one go.

Graham

 

Ask this in the comp.periphs.scanner newsgroup.
How much do you wish to spend? How big do you want to make your prints?

You can get the Epson 3200 for about $300 which will do fine for 120
film, but is marginal for 35mm.
You can get one of the 120 size film scanners from Minolta, Nikon, etc.
for $1000-$2000 which will do much better.

 

From: (James E Koehler)

This is asked often on the scanner NG and the medium format NG.

Basically, for a few hundred bucks you can get a flatbed like the Epson 3200
that does a mediocre job on MF and a poor job on 35 mm.

For $1,800 - $2,700 or thereabouts (haven't priced them lately) you can buy a
dedicated MF scanner that does a fine job on MF and 35 mm but I'm not sure
which ones support APS. The players in this field are the Nikon 8000 (which
I've used with good results for 2+ years), the Minolta Multi Pro, and the
Polaroid SS 120 (which is also sold as a Microtek model, Polaroid may have
dropped it by now).

People argue endlessly about the pros and cons of these models, especially the
Minolta and Nikon ... you can see sample scans from each model with user
comments at this site ... http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN1.HTM

Best advice I can give is to try to have a slide or two scanned with each model
and compare for yourself. I've been very happy with the Nikon but others
prefer the Minolta (the only people who choose the Polaroid seem to do so for
cost reasons).

Finally, at the top end there's the Imacon Flextight models, which are more
expensive and probably not what you want.

Bill

 

Graham responds:

Well, I've got the 3170 coming. It does 2-1/4 (at least, it has the mask) and
35mm. Costs about half what the 3200 does ($399 vs. $199 USD, IIRC).

The resolution is the same, some other things are not (the ads are deliberately
unclear on this, I think). I just got notice it shipped, so with luck, it will
arrive early next week. I've got some 35mm and a couple 2-1/4 on hand that need
doing, so I'll try to report on it.
Charlie Self

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know
for sure that just ain't so."
Mark Twain

 

From: "gsum"

Considering it costs about 10-20% what a film scanner costs it's a fine
bargain. But I once saw a test pattern scanned with a Tango drum scanner, the
Nikon 8000, the Polaroid SS 120 and the Epson 3200 flatbed and you can really
see the difference in resolution and contrast.