Scanning 35m negatives to image

[LisaElifritz]

This is so important to me, I'm sure you will understand.
My daughter was a photography major in college when she suddenly died from TSS a year and a half ago. (yes it was Playtex tampon related) She had some beautiful prints framed, but in her possessions we found a folder of well stored 35mm negatives. I am sure her most precious photographs are saved there. What I need is advice. I want to have these negatives scanned in the absolutely highest quality possible so we can make prints in any size that we may want to in the future. It's our only gift of her talents left of our precious daughter.
I need to know where I can send these that will have the best quality possible. How to send them so they can't get lost. And what i can expect to pay. There are around 50 of them, maybe more and most are black and white. I will pay whatever I need to but I also don't want to be taken advantage of because of the reason. THANKS!

[filmboss80]

Sorry for your loss. There are two routes you can take. You can go local to a photo house like Wolf Camera or Ritz Camera, or you can spend $75 to $125 on a do-it-yourself negative and slide scanner. The specialty photo house should be expected to give you the best results (although nothing is for sure these days), while doing it with your own scanner might yield some satisfactory results, nonetheless. I do a bit of both, using a low-cost scanner just to see what's on the negatives, then picking out the most vital stuff to send out to the pros.

Do a Google or Yahoo search with the words "negative," "slide," and "scanner" to see what your DIY options are. Use online yellow or white pages to find local photo shops in your area.

Best of luck.

[jagabo]

For "absolutely highest quality possible" slide/film scanner you're looking at thousands of dollars.

[hech54]

I've used these folks once....very good quality but a little slow. Rumor is that they send the stuff overseas to India(believe it or not) to be scanned.
http://www.scancafe.com/

[edDV]

I want to have these negatives scanned in the absolutely highest quality possible

There are around 50 of them, maybe more and most are black and white. I will pay whatever I need to but I also don't want to be taken advantage of because of the reason.

If you really want "absolutely highest quality possible" you should consult a pro photography forum. They can help you translate that into $ and some may give you a break for 50 qty. An ideal candidate for Pro Bono given the situation.

We are video geeks and not equipped to help.

[jagabo]

Doesn't lordsmurf do a lot of photo work?

[hech54]

Doesn't lordsmurf do a lot of photo work?

Yes he does.

You can also rent quality negative/slide scanners from reputable places.

[intracube]

TBH, I wouldn't send away irreplaceable family photos. Even if they're sent recorded delivery, they could easily get 'misplaced' (permanently lost) at a business - who's employees are on low wages and process thousands of clients photos a week...

I can't offer much advice, but I'd stay away from dual purpose flatbed scanners - the ones that do letter/A4 scans and come with a 35mm film adaptor. I used a basic Epson flatbed to scan negatives many years ago and it produced soft results. The resolution just wasn't enough for the detail on a 35mm neg/transparency. We got a second hand Nikon 35mm scanner 6+ years ago which produced much better results. I can't remember the model (it's stored away somewhere), but it cost around £100-150 (from memory).

I'd definitely go with renting/buying a proper film scanner for your computer. You'll get more specific advice from a dedicated photography forum.

[jagabo]

I'd stay away from dual purpose flatbed scanners - the ones that do letter/A4 scans and come with a 35mm film adaptor. I used a basic Epson flatbed to scan negatives many years ago and it produced soft results. The resolution just wasn't enough for the detail on a 35mm neg/transparency.

Yes, flatbed scanners have highly exaggerated resolution claims. Good dedicated film/slide scanners are far better.

[_Al_]

I almost bought this one for our family needs, recently for Christmas
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/685030-REG/Plustek_Technology_Inc_60_A29_BBM310_C.html

how would you rate or how would that one stand ?

[ine2201]

I've used these folks once....very good quality but a little slow. Rumor is that they send the stuff overseas to India(believe it or not) to be scanned.
http://www.scancafe.com/

It is not a rumor. The company states this on its website. The scans are done in Bangalore, India.

[creakndale]

I have never been able to obtain the scan quality that a company specializing in this service can achieve. The problem is not so much with my personal scanner but with debris. I clean the scanner bed so it is spotless, clean the negatives as best I can and still the scanned image contains debris. Unfortunately, wiping the scanner creates a static charge which attracts tiny airborn particles.

At work, we sent out a bunch of negatives to a local professional shop for digitization. The returned tiff/jpeg files and prints were exceptional. Debris free. They have some way of keeping everything ultra clean and the result was superb. Very much worth it if quality is the most important factor.

creakndale

[edDV]

I'd stay away from dual purpose flatbed scanners - the ones that do letter/A4 scans and come with a 35mm film adaptor. I used a basic Epson flatbed to scan negatives many years ago and it produced soft results. The resolution just wasn't enough for the detail on a 35mm neg/transparency.

Yes, flatbed scanners have highly exaggerated resolution claims. Good dedicated film/slide scanners are far better.

I use the flatbed scanner mainly to view large quantities of slides or negatives in order to decide which to sent in for professional scanning. It is an alternative to a slide projector.

hech54 Re: Scanning 35m negatives to image
I've used these folks once....very good quality but a little slow. Rumor is that they send the stuff overseas to India(believe it or not) to be scanned.

And why not? Slide scanning and equipment maintenance are highly labor intensive, shipping weight is low plus there a are several direct air flights to/from India every day.

[intracube]

I almost bought this one for our family needs, recently for Christmas
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/685030-REG/Plustek_Technology_Inc_60_A29_BBM310_C.html
how would you rate or how would that one stand ?

I haven't used that scanner.

Finding detailed reviews online is hard... This review doesn't go into any depth on the actual quality of the scans, nor does it have any measurements to back up the manufacturers DPI claims. This review is more useful - it's for a different model (Opticfilm7600i) but has some good general info:
"According to our Resolution Table this results in an effective resolution of about 3250ppi. Thus, in practice, the Plustek OpticFilm 7600i does not even provide 50% of the resolution that is mentioned in the package... ...Unfortunately, it is a typical characteristic of almost all scanners with a nominal scanning value of 7200 dpi"

This link is also worth a read:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN/PLTK7600/7600.HTM
"The scanner species devoted to 35mm film is nearly extinct. The Minolta 5400 died off long ago and Nikon's Coolscans can only be seen in captivity (although the company does still offer the Coolscan 9000)."

I don't know how different the 'SE' model is, but the reviews give an idea on what to expect with scanners at this price range.

[garyg45]

You might want to try a photography site called Nikonians, www.nikonians.org. They have a forum for Printers and Scanners. A lot of people have asked similar questions.

[lordsmurf]

Doesn't lordsmurf do a lot of photo work?

Yes he does.
You can also rent quality negative/slide scanners from reputable places.

I do. I have several high-end (non-drum) scanners. Any time I scan photos, it's done with a high degree of precision, with manual tweaks to hardware settings, as well as custom clean-up and color correction in Photoshop (and/or Bridge and Lightroom -- sometimes even DxO).

Renting a scanner sounds good, until you realize that you still need to own good software, and have a fast computer (usually a Mac, too -- not Windows or Linux based systems). None of that is provided when you rent.

Scanning 50 images would actually be fairly low cost with custom cleanup, about $2-3 each ($100-150) is what I'd charge, assuming everything is in average condition. (Costs go up when you have to custom clean food and other yuck off negative strips, as it requires special chemicals and cleaning gloves.)

It'd take several hours to scan AND do a good job.

Those little $100 crap scanners at office stores are bad quality.