COLOR & B/W Negatives to DIGITAL?

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

12/29/2011 09:13:43 AM · #1

I have a lot of negatives that I would like to have in digital format. Is there an online service that you favor? Or is there something I can buy that does a decent job that I can do at home?

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

12/29/2011 09:43:04 AM · #2

Just to be certain, they are negatives, not positives correct?

Mike

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Canon Mount

12/29/2011 09:49:15 AM · #3

i had a bunch of negatives in medium format scanned to tifs by a local photoshop.

not happy with the results. Not saying the photo shop messed it up, i dont think the scanning process worked too well.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

12/29/2011 09:59:35 AM · #4

Kirbic Yes they are negatives.

robs

Canon EOS R6 Mk II

12/29/2011 10:04:01 AM · #5

Scancafe is ok if your fine to offshore the scanning process.

I spent some time with a Nikon coolscan 5000 but not sure if you can even buy them now days - they are great for 35mm but cannot do medium format. If you can find and use a ls9000 they can do that (careful of how they connect as I don't THINK they are usb and Nikon has been pathetic with drivers for these things).

I am thru all the slides and most 35mm negs but it's taken a LONG time in between other things with the odd weekend scanning. Still got a stack of 110 to run thru and see what is worth saving :-/

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

12/29/2011 10:19:21 AM · #6

Negs represent a special challenge. Positives can be dealt with relatively easily at home, negatives may be a little more difficult. Your hardware options are:
- A good flatbed scanner (one that has a top light for transparency scanning)
- A dedicated film scanner
The first option is inexpensive, but you will fight with it to get decent scans. The second option is expensive. Both options are slow. the dedicated film scanner will scan in RGB + infrared (RGBI) for automatic dust removal. The flatbed most likely will not.
Once you've scanned, you'll need to convert the resulting negative images to positives. It's not as simple as inverting colors. The film base stock often has a color, and this needs to be removed. One way to do this is with a scanning application like Vuescan.
If you try scanning at home, be prepared for a learning curve, and be prepared to deal with dust. There will be more dust than you ever imagined possible, LOL.
By now, you're thinking, "no way I'm doing this at home." Once you go and price decent scanning as a service and add up the cost, you'll re-think home scanning. One option is to bite the bullet and buy a good film scanner, then scan with Vuescan. Re-sell the scanner after the project is complete. Another option is to use a DSLR to capture the negatives (this requires some ingenuity in positioning/holding the negative, and a 1:1 macro lens) then use an application like Vuescan to convert. I have not tried this with negatives however I did use this technique for several thousand positives (slides).

robs

Canon EOS R6 Mk II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

12/29/2011 10:44:37 AM · #7

Originally posted by kirbic:

If you try scanning at home, be prepared for a learning curve, and be prepared to deal with dust. There will be more dust than you ever imagined possible, LOL.

Yeah... Think about this part really really seriously... the learning curve will kill you for a bit :-/ Unlike me (rescanning stuff after I learned how to get better images)... I suggest you START with the so so images and leave the best image till you get on top of the scanning process. For the dust.... use a rocket blower before putting the negs in the scanner and it saves a lot of time. Avoid any scanner that does NOT have the IR (although it's iffy at best for things like kodachrome) as it will save a lot of time. B&W negs... yeah leave them till the end cause they are just so so special :-/ It's the scratches on top of the dust that will drive you mad. Scanning show just how badly most film was treated by the chop shops developing it..... reprinting in analogue world hides all sorts of sins committed against the negs.

Edit: Another seemingly minor topic that turns more serious if your trying to add metadata and dates and whatnot is naming standards... Think about it for a bit - Guessing when and where an image was taken is sometimes related to the other negs on the strip or the set in the folder. I used xxx_yy_ttt with xxx=the folder/envelope so all the negs in that roll (or close depending how they have been kept) are together, yy=the frame nbr off the neg and ttt=some text. The last part is just for humand but something like the first 2 parts are real useful when going back to organise :-)

Message edited by author 2011-12-29 10:48:16.

12/29/2011 10:45:40 AM · #8

Thank you

robs and

mike_311 for your feed back.

Kirbic thank you for you in-depth feedback. Gives me more to think about. A friend did get me a VuPoint Film & Slide Converter a few years ago that I never did get around to trying. Guess I should break it out to see if what it produces. I have an Epson Artisan 810 that scans but I don't think it will work with the negatives. I do have prints of my negatives that I will attempt to scan. In the past photos I have scanned did not come out as good as I thought they should so I don't do it often. Again thank you for giving me things to think about.