Film scanners

[Disastrous]

Anyone have any thoughts on these?

I was considering having a bash at developing my own b+w film (just for fun, more than any real reason) and understand this is fairly possible with developing bucket etc etc. I won't be making up a darkroom, so am thinking about the next stage, which is obviously getting prints.

Ultimately, these things all end up in the computer anyway, so thought a photo scanner might be the neatest solution.

The thing is, I have an unshakeable suspicion that anything short of several £k's worth of pro kit will be ste!

Am I right or wrong?

I wouldn't want to spend more than about £80 but would love to hear any recommendations/experiences?

[K12beano]

You're wrong to think you have to spend £thousands.

There must be a few film scanners on Fleabay, but new ones don't mean a fortune.

[Simpo Two]

I thought half the fun of chemical photography was dodging and burning under the enlarger, and watching the image appear in the tray of developer...

[Disastrous]

Simpo Two said:

I thought half the fun of chemical photography was dodging and burning under the enlarger, and watching the image appear in the tray of developer...

I'm sure it is, but there's a proper darkroom nearby I can hire if I want to do that, but I'm more thinking something cheap and cheerful that will let me dabble a bit and play with an old rangefinder...

[djsmith74]

I use a Plustek 8100 scanner, after getting my films processed through an on-line company (usually with Peak Imaging). Although it's a little out of your price range, It's an excellent dedicated film scanner and you may be able to pick up a used one on ebay. There was a thread not so long ago about scanners, which I explained the virtues of this scanner and the software that comes with it...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Mr Will]

There are two main routes - Plustek (or similar) or a high-end flatbed. The former will get better results, the latter will be more versatile. Some people also have a lot of success with a DSLR and a macro lens, but I have no experience of that.

The only thing to avoid are the real cheapies - they are little more than a phone camera in a box.

[Disastrous]

Thanks for the link to the other thread-I've had a look at the Plustek and it seems like it would be ideal.

I'd rather avoid a flatbed as I've already got one built into my printer (though it doesn't handle film) and I don't have the desk space for another. Something like the Plustek could easily live in a drawer when not in use.

It looks like all the things around the £50-90 mark will all be a bit st and certainly the links to the black and whites done with the Plustek on the other thread look super and more than enough resolution for me.

I think I'll realign my budget to something like that and see how I get on.

As a supplemental question, I'm putting together a shopping list for developing kit and have:

Change bag
Spirals
Developing bucket
Chemicals
Film hanger thing
Squeejee
Perhaps some pouches to store the negatives in

Have I missed anything and is there a good place to buy this as a 'starter bundle'?

I've ordered up some Ilford film so sensible to pair with their chemicals?

Thanks again - rather looking forward to it!

[Elderly]

Thermometer.

[Disastrous]

Elderly said:

Thermometer.

Good call.

This maybe warrants a new thread but at risk of asking a silly question: all the stuff I've read/watched suggests temperature is very important. How do you get it right to the degree out of a tap?? And surely the temp begins plummeting the second it's in the measuring cylinder?

[andy-xr]

I've got a negative scanner. It picks up every possible piece of dust, cat hair, fluff and the curve of the negative so you spend another 10 minutes per negative in Photoshop. Compared to scanning a 6x4 you get better resolution, but scanning the print is much easier to a) do and b) fix

I've thought if I actually wanted an enlargement print I'd probably send it to someone like DS Colour Labs and have them do the scanning and retouching then print it

[Mr Pointy]

andy-xr said:

I've got a negative scanner. It picks up every possible piece of dust, cat hair, fluff and the curve of the negative so you spend another 10 minutes per negative in Photoshop. Compared to scanning a 6x4 you get better resolution, but scanning the print is much easier to a) do and b) fix

I've thought if I actually wanted an enlargement print I'd probably send it to someone like DS Colour Labs and have them do the scanning and retouching then print it

You've got the wrong one then. Get one that does an IR/dust removal pass.

[Fastpedeller]

I've in the past been fastidious about only using 100asa film etc, and thought digital would be poor - I've since found it to be very good if 6mp or more with a decent lens (and certainly better in terms of convenience). I looked around last year for a film scanner, to scan my old negs and it looked like most in the £80 price bracket were just a generic 'badge model', and bought one from lidl for £40 as it looked to be the same. I suspect it is the same, but at half the price - the surprise was how good the results were....... colour balance didn't seem great, but that could be my 15 year old negs? and clarity, even when enlarging was superb and apparently the resolution is equivalent to 6mp - don't know about that, but as I say, I was presently surprised.

[Elderly]

Disastrous said:

all the stuff I've read/watched suggests temperature is very important. How do you get it right to the degree out of a tap?? And surely the temp begins plummeting the second it's in the measuring cylinder?

Yes it's important. Your developing tank will have a light safe aperture in which you can keep your thermometer when not agitating the contents ( also important).
If your dev should be at say 20 C, try and work in a room that's around that temperature having kept your developing tank in that room for a good length of time to bring it up to temperature.
You won't get that temp for (all) your solutions straight out of the tap but it's simple to mix them to that level.

All this is IIRC as its some 36 years since I stopped developing my own films

[K12beano]

Re temperatures: use water baths to maintain your chemicals and daylight tank to temperature.

Less important than agitation, especially for black and white, but also can be dependent on how long you're cooking for (in the winter, when I was a kid, your well prepared chemicals would be near freezing in well under half an hour - and having variable temperatures never did the films any good! (I can't recall, but was the technical term "reticulation"?)).

[Disastrous]

Excellent, thank you.

I've got my eye on something like this to kick off:


http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/paterson-film-pro...

And would get the il ford chemicals recommended for my film. Would that be better than say:

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/ag-essentials-fil...

Which comes with chemicals? I'm guessing they're not the best, being 'starter pack' chemicals?

[Elderly]

Before you try loading your first film into the spiral, try practicing with an unexposed film first;
it can be tricky opening the film cassette and winding it onto the spiral blind and it would be a shame to spoil some vital images.

[K12beano]

(Feeling a bit nostalgic and teary eyed for some Stoeckler's Two Bath Developer.......)


Pay no attention.....

[Mr Will]

Mr Pointy said:

You've got the wrong one then. Get one that does an IR/dust removal pass.

It's worth pointing out that IR dust/scratch removal doesn't work on black and white film - only colour

[Disastrous]

Right, developing kit and changing bag ordered,

I've gone for a starter kit as it wasn't that dear and I can upgrade components as they fail or not, as the case may be.


Excited!