filum skanning

[fergusd]

Dr Gravy's exploits into the world of film and basicness has inspired me to find (in the attic) the first camera I ever bought (with money earned picking a bit and a half at the taties (is that too Scottish ?) . . . 35mm rangefinder, Vito B Voightlander . . . and it's buddy an old and very tired Weston Mk II light meter . . .

I'm gonna shoot some grainy mono stuff and probably process the film myself to negatives, but really want to look at scanning the negatives after seeing the gravy scans of late . . .

So . . . what no too costly film scanner, 35mm only, neg strips and slides I think may be required . . .

I've been thinking of doing this for ages and seeing someone else do the same kicked my arse into action . . .

I can't set up (and would rather not) a darkroom for printing (no space) so 'printing' for now will hace to be digital . . .

back to smelling of fixer, at least occasionally ;-)

Fd

[le gravy noire]

Whats the budget old bean? My epson v700 is a beast and was 300 odd squid, although i must admit im really pissed at the software.

[LongQ]

I have the prior model to Mons. Le Noire's the Epson 4990 which is quite impressive and maybe still current or with reduced price stock around.

That said for grainy B&W - if that is what you are seriously aiming for - and 35mm only some of the lesser and cheaper devices might well suffice. Or even a dedicated 35mm scanner, probably from eBay where they seemed to turn over and retain value when I was looking a year or so ago.

You may need to readup about how well they finction for B&W though - funny stuff B&W.

Photo-i has some good reviews and useful forums for the various options.

www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson%204990/Page%2013.htm


The software provided (and other test installs that I have tried) can give some odd results, especially with colour negative films of restricted or imbalanced colour range. Got some excellent results from some ancient 120 B&W though straight out of the box and I think I could do better these days now I know a little more about the subject.

[jason-l]

Would it be useful to have a borrow of my currently unused Nikon Coolscan IV?

[fergusd]

Heh - yeah - that would be cool Jason ;-)

I did wonder what these things were like . . .

Budget wise - dunno - It does have to produce good results otherwise it's a waste of cache . . .

I think the film pressure plate on my vito is very slightly corroded - will see if it'll clean up tonight . . . other than that (perhaps major problem) it's working perfectly . . . fully clockwork . . . brilliant ;-)

Fd