Hi all,
I have a large number of negatives and slides I need to scan. I currently have two scanners, one from ALDI and another no name unit bought on line. The problem with both is that once the light diffraction lens or the lens itself gets dirty, there is no obvious way to clean them. The particles, of course, leave marks all over the scanned images.
Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced film/ negative scanner that can be cleaned by the end user?
Thanks
Having scanned a lot of negatives myself I don't recommend the photo method.
Flat bed scanners produce reasonable results. Note that they take a lot more time to get the film in and out of the scanner. Almost any flat bed scanner will have higher quality that your negatives can produce.
sending them to india eg.scancorner is another option. Depending on volume, and how you rate the value of your time and effort, it could be comparable in value to buying a scanner.
(I have a Canon slide scanner (FS4000), so wouldn't head down that path, but an uncle sent his over there for pretty good results).
I don't recomend this if you want any quality. Even getting some scanned locally I was amazed at how bad a job they did (two different places) and the price was crazy.
There was some discussion about scanners the last time those cheap scanners were on sale at Target, search for that deal. A decent scanner starts around $300.
One problem with sending them elsewhere is the discomfort of entrusting the only copy of your media to the post.
Biggest problem I've found with the cheap scanners is that there's no exposure control, so the details from my old slides are often washed out or too dark. Are there any out there that are adjustable before saving the image?
What you'll actually find you have bought are not film or slide scanners at all. The cheap ones (Aldi and i can only assume the one you purchased online) are simply a lightbox with a cheap digital camera inside. You will notice if you look at the specs on them they mention 5MP CCD Sensor. The way they work is by putting like light underneath and then taking a digital image of it, with a decent camera and some practise you can do that without the need for the "scanner" at all
Your best option would be to look at a real scanner, unfortunately not cheap. There is one on the market called a Plustek 7200i (Infrared Scanner - will get rid of dust and scratches on your negatives) this actually scans at 7200x7200dpi which is stupidly big files (overkill) these are around the $400 mark. Don't quote me on price or model number, it's about a year since i've looked
However if you've been happy with the quality of the stuff you've been getting until the dust ruins the camera… Target have the same as the ones you've been buying - last time i saw them they were on clearance for around $30