New Scanner for 35mm B/W Negs etc ?

[richard_clark8]

I was hoping someone might point me in the right direction of the right

scanner for scanning 35mm B/W Negs ? I'll be doing Prints, Colour Slides,

Colour Negs too. I understand that some of the cheaper scanners I've looked at

like the Canon 9950F will not do B/W Negs or I have to convert them after

scanning. Ideally I'd like to have the option to chose what I'm doing up front

to save time.

 

Budget would be ?500 ($1000) or less. Something fairly quick would be handy

too. Is it cheaper to buy two dedicated machines (One colour and one B/W) ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[scottsa]

A film scanner can handle positive and negative media.

 

For negatives, having a better quality scanner is useful as the darker the image, the more effect scanner noise has. Since the image gets inverted, shadows become highlights and what was once almost un-noticable potentially becomes noticable.

 

With your budget a Nikon CoolScan V would work well, if you have _lots_ of scanning you could consider the 5000 (also if you need the extra 2-bits of A-D conversion i.e. for deep shadows, the V is 14-bit, the 5000 is 16-bit).

 

I have no experience with the Canon, but have found the Minolta and Nikon products to be very good. I've heard of poor results from the cheapies i.e. Pacific Image etc. Flatbeds, IMO, are not suitable for 35mm film scanning.

 

Note: Digital ICE does not work on regular B&W negs.

[ronald_moravec1]

I love my Minolta, but they are out of the scanner business.

 

Today I would get a Nikon 35mm for maybe $1000. It is the best you can do without a fancy drum scanner and place to store it.

 

If you need a flat bed, Epson V750. Ok for 35mm and better than a cheap dedicated 35mm scanner.

[seandepuydt]

I suggest that you check out the Nikon V or 5000. I have the 5000 and feel that it was well worth the money. - Sean

[godfrey]

A dedicated film scanner is far superior to any flatbed scanner for 35mm film.

 

Since I don't scan film very often anymore, I wanted a better film scanner than my old Minolta

Scan Dual II but didn't want to spend $500. I found a perfect condition Nikon Coolscan IV ED

for US$235. It has all the auto dust/scratch removal stuff for color negs and slides, but that

can be turned off when working with traditional B&W film. The Nikon 5000 model is better

but this is good enough for anything I plan to do with it.

 

Godfrey

[richard_clark8]

Thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.

[steel120]

I have the Minolta dual scan IV, works great for all 35mm format, however it does not have digital ICE. In my case, I had several thousand slides of Kodachromes which do not work with digital ICE. I also have the Epson 700 for medium format. For 35 mm, a film scanner is the way to go, the 700 is good, however, the film scanners are much better with the 35mm format. I purchased the Minolta for 200 dollars and the 700 for about 500. Best of both worlds.(35mm the minolta, larger format the V700)

 

Regards Bob

[richard_clark8]

I've been offered an Imacon Flextight Precision II very cheaply and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them ? I hear they are second only to drum scanning in terms of quality. This one is a SCSI interface.

 

Specs

 

CCD Single Pass Optical Sensor (3x6000 pixels)

Dynamic Range of 4.1 True DMAX - Nikon claims they have 4.1, but not even close. Read any reviews on an Imacon

Scans 14bits per color or 48 bit RGB and 56 bit CMYK Color

True optical resolution from 72dpi up to 5760 dpi (No Interpolation)

Scans Transparencies or Negatives from 35mm to 4"x5" to 12x17cm

Scans Reflectives of 1mm thickness up to A4 sizes (220x 310mm

 

 

Also I've seen a couple of MINOLTA DIMAGE SCAN ELITE 5400s for sale on Ebay. I wonder whether the Imacon still holds it's own against a newer Scanner like the Minolta ?