Can a cheap flatbed scanner be used to view a sheet of negs?

[rayn]

I've had consistency problems with my lab so I want to start developing

my 120 black & white film at home. However, I don't want to bother

with contact sheets so I'm asking if a cheap flatbed scanner can be

used to quickly view the negs, once they are in a print file sheet.

This would only be to check composition, facial expressions, etc. I

would look at the original neg to evaluate sharpness. I would not be

printing from these scans.

 

Would this method work better than a contact sheet? (I tend to over/

under expose Delta 400 as needed, which makes for lousy contact

sheets).

[carl smith]

it'll be a real pain and very unreliable if you don't have a flatbed with a transparency capability (backlight). You can do it by removing the lid, placing a piece of paper over the negs and shining a light on that, but it will take some fiddling to get that right.

[kelly_flanigan1]

I have an older Epson 1200U (1200dpi ) with transparency adapter; and the newer Epson 2450 photo ( 2400 dpi) ...Both will scan in 120 negatives...I have had good luck with both; but I also own 7 different scanners and have spent along time understanding how to get better scans by juggling the curves before scanning..Others may have problems......

[joseph_ho]

i evaluate film by looking at film except for color negative films.

for B&W and E6 (all my serious stuff), just look at the film for the fewest troubles. its the only way to see the range of tones you've captured. a flatbed in this day and age won't show you everything you've got going.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Joseph; Many times I prescan b&w negatives as positives; and set the highlights and shadows there..then I scan it as a positive

; and invert it in Photoshop..........Alot of software has more range of adjustment uising weird undocumented tricks........This adds alot of time to a scan; but after fooling with 7 scanners one gets good at extending thr scanners range.............<BR><BR>Another weird thing is that many cheaper scanners have way nonlinear response at the low dark end...........this requires some futzing around to get a good input to Photoshop.....One of my large 11x17 Mustek scanners is old; I must use some curves to get a good scan; if there is detail deep in the shadowos (for prints)...<BR><BR>For quickness; a real photographic contact print is super..........