BootsnAll Travel Community

I have a bunch of photos on film that I want to scan..especially really old pic.

Anybody have experience, thoughts, recommendations.

Thanks!

Madhu

If all you are going to scan is film (either negative, or positive), a dedicated film scanner is the way to go. However, for a good one with high resolution and Dmax, you will pay around $1,000 USD. The best of these for 35mm film is, in my opinion, the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED. If you are doing larger film formats, the price goes up considerably.

If you also have flat work to scan, then a good flatbed scanner is a better bet. I use the Epson Perfection 4990, which has as good a resolution as the Nikon 5000, but a slightly lower Dmax. Not enough to matter and I have had excellent success with it. You can scan multiples slides or negative strips at a time, do up to 8x10 negs/chromes, and any flat art you have. And it is about $400 cheaper. My kind of a deal :-).

Mitch

Mitch

I'm still in the kindergarden of photography as well as the digital age.

what is a flatbed?

Okay so I can go on the net and research but when I have helpful BNA friends why bother.

Simple..I have old pics..what do I need to do to get them into a digi image...take me through each step. PLEASE :-)

For your purposes I dont think a dedicated film scanner is necessary. A regular (cheap) scanner should do it. This would be a flatbed, meaning it has a flat piece of glass on which you lay your pictures,then close the top and your ready to scan.

The scanning process usually involves just opening the software that came with the scanner (unless you use Photoshop,) and then selecting a few options in the "Wizard." Assuming you have the HD space, I would recommend scanning at the highest DPI (resolution) available and obviously in color not B/W. Let the the software do the rest (contrast, etc...)
The only other thing you have to do is select the area which you actually want to scan. This is done usually by dragging a box over the area that contains your pictures in the preview box. If doesnt make sense now, dont worry, it will once you look at the software.
Then your ready to scan. Just hit the scan button and your good to go. Your scans my require some post processing in photo program such as photoshop, or something that comes with the scanner, but thats all up to you.

Hope this helps.

I agree. From your original post, I assumed you had film to scan. If all you have is pictures (flat art), then a flatbed scanner is the way to go. Cheaper and easier than any other method you can use.

Mitch

Yep - you can get a cheap one and it will be fine. All photos I've ever posted on the internet have been from a combo scanner/printer...so you know it's not very high quality!! But I've still been really pleased w/ the results.

I have a scanner/printer that I got at Target for less than 100$ (it may have been alot less, but I don't remember). It prints just fine, and my scanned images look great, as well. And it is small, so I can store it easily in my apartment and just pull it out when I need it.

Muchos gracias...

I know am such a dope but hey we all have our limitations

Target here I come.