Negative scanners

[lowdrag]

I scanned a lot of my 35mm negatives some years back but have never been satisfied with the quality. Besides, it took ages, was cumbersome and time has moved on apace. I am hoping the great collective here can give me some pointers and advice on which I should buy today.

[droopsnoot]

I had the same issue with my Maplin scanner - it's OK, but it's basically a close-focusing webcam in a box, so not entirely surprising it's not all that good when dealing with 35mm negatives or slides. On reading about it there was a Nikon scanner that I don't think is available new any more, which is much better quality. I got the impression it also isn't particularly quick.

[Pixel Pusher]

A small lightbox, a piece of black card with a 35mm aperture cut into it and a half decent digital camera would do the same job if not better.

Is it the actual scan quality that displeases you or the negative to positive conversion?

[djsmith74]

There was a thread on this earlier on in the year, in which I mentioned that I have a Plustek 8100 scanner which is excellent and not too expensive. Film scanners aren't quick, but this seems to be fine - I just sit back with a mug of tea, chocoloate digestives and have a relaxing evening scanning my negatives.

This is the thread, and my post is near the top....

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

[lowdrag]

Thanks for that. I researched the Plustek and have decided to go with the Plustek 2. I reckon I have several thousand negs to rescan so it'll be a job when I feel like it I guess.