Purchase Scanner for Photo Slides & Negatives

[trevor25220]

Does anyone have experience of scanning their old 35mm photographic slides and/or negatives to reasonable quality? I am looking for a fair compromise between professional scans and the lower-quality $160 Kodak Scanza-type devices (these tend not to be supported by Catalina). I don't currently possess a good-quality camera. Thank you.

 

[CharlesPhillips]

I have scanned many many many 35 mm color negatives, color slides, etc using a flat bed scanner. It belongs to the local county library so I don't have access to see what model it is :-(

But it had a frame to hold negatives and slides, and was several years old. So I would think that most common flat bed scanners would do a good job. If you can get into a local library they may have a scanner you could try. You would have to experiment with resolution vs scan time.

So you should be able to scan them without a camera, there is no need to re-photograph them with a digital camera. I am not even sure how you would do that.

 

[trevor25220]

Thanks. Here are some dedicated flatbed scanners for negatives and slides ...

The Best Photo Scanners for 2024

Time to convert your snapshots, slides, and negatives to digital format? Get the job done quickly with the right photo scanner. Here are the top performers in our testing, along with our deep-dive reviews.

www.pcmag.com

I believe Mac users find benefit in dedicated scanning software when the manufacturers' own doesn't support the latest Mac OS.

 

[krs]

Years ago I bought an Epson V500 to scan thousands of slides I had.Never tried negatives.
Worked great - just takes a while to do.
Seems the current model is the V550.
Thing to watch out for is Mac compatibility - Epson seems to be good in that respect.

 

[MacInWin]

I have a scanner from a company called Plustek that worked pretty well to do that for me. Has a frame to put mounted slides and another to hold a strip of color negatives for scanning, plus some despeckling routines that clean up the image for you. The company website is https://plustek.com/us/ and you can get them on Amazon. They are not cheap, but consider what you are asking for in a slide scanner. You want a very small image (essentially 1 inch by 1.4 inches) to be scanned at sufficient resolution that when you blow that image up to an 8 x10 or larger, or crop out the extraneous stuff and blow the rest up even more, the image stays sharp. That means scanning at a very high dots per inch (dpi). I use 7200 dpi, but the more modern models now go higher. Typical flat bed scanners barely reach 2400 dpi and some can't get past 600 dpi, which is fine for scanning or duplicating a printed sheet but which won't give you the resolution of the details of the slides/negatives you are going to want. And if you have negatives from color film, the colors need to be converted from negative to positive, which is not just inversion but applying the conversion that the chemical process of the development fr that particular kind of film does. The software for Plustek does all of that. The current version of the software does support Catalina, I'm running that now.

So it's up to you, go cheap and limit the usability of the results, or do it properly (yes, that is more expensive-about $500) and have useful images.

 

[chscag]

Does anyone have experience of scanning their old 35mm photographic slides and/or negatives to reasonable quality?

Depending on how many 35mm slides you have, it might be more cost effective to check with your local Staples or Office Depot and see how much they will charge for their professional scanning services. We used to do much of that ourselves, but found it easier and actually cheaper to have it done by Staples. We do have a business account with them so it is a bit less expensive than the normal price.

 

[trevor25220]

I have a scanner from a company called Plustek that worked pretty well to do that for me. Has a frame to put mounted slides and another to hold a strip of color negatives for scanning, plus some despeckling routines that clean up the image for you. The company website is https://plustek.com/us/ and you can get them on Amazon. They are not cheap, but consider what you are asking for in a slide scanner. You want a very small image (essentially 1 inch by 1.4 inches) to be scanned at sufficient resolution that when you blow that image up to an 8 x10 or larger, or crop out the extraneous stuff and blow the rest up even more, the image stays sharp. That means scanning at a very high dots per inch (dpi). I use 7200 dpi, but the more modern models now go higher. Typical flat bed scanners barely reach 2400 dpi and some can't get past 600 dpi, which is fine for scanning or duplicating a printed sheet but which won't give you the resolution of the details of the slides/negatives you are going to want. And if you have negatives from color film, the colors need to be converted from negative to positive, which is not just inversion but applying the conversion that the chemical process of the development fr that particular kind of film does. The software for Plustek does all of that. The current version of the software does support Catalina, I'm running that now.

So it's up to you, go cheap and limit the usability of the results, or do it properly (yes, that is more expensive-about $500) and have useful images.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/...t_bln&tag=macforums0e4-20?tag=macforums0e4-20

Which of these three Plusteks would you recommend for a 'Scan all & sell it' amateur like myself? All 7200 dpi. Where I am (UK) there is a much-wider price variation between cheapest and most-expensive. Thanks.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Plu...4FDB-9040-63D33E0542B8?ref_=ast_bln&tag=?tag=

 

[MacInWin]

I would personally go with this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008ASJ2Z8/

The 8200i-Se, if the link goes squirrelly. Couple of things to watch for, the unit uses USB2 so depending on your Mac you may need an adapter (more modern MBPs use USB-c, for example).

If you decide to go that way, practice with the software for a bit to see how it works to process the scanning and cleanup. Once you find a good setting that gets you the images you want, you can scan, scan, scan. The settings are more critical if the slides have faded at all, or if the negatives are aged and the color is off a bit.

 

[chscag]

The settings are more critical if the slides have faded at all, or if the negatives are aged and the color is off a bit.

That's the truth! Those old Ektachrome 35mm slides fade over the years. And the negatives if he still has them, are probably faded also.

There are techniques available to restore old 35mm slides and negatives but the process is likely not to be cheap.

 

[MacInWin]

That's the truth! Those old Ektachrome 35mm slides fade over the years. And the negatives if he still has them, are probably faded also.

There are techniques available to restore old 35mm slides and negatives but the process is likely not to be cheap.

Actually, Charlie, the Silverfast software can do that compensation. It has a full set of editing tools for color rendition and can be preset for Kodachrome, Ektachrome, etc, then tweaked from there. I was very pleasantly surprised how well it all worked.

 

[chscag]

Good to know. I wasn't aware of that software. Thanks.

 

[MacInWin]

It's the software that drives the Plustek. Not from them, but comes with it. Had to wait for 64 bit, but it's all good now.

 

[trevor25220]

Yes, I was thinking the mid-level Plustek scanner too. Will it scan 35mm slides without removing from their frames? Any image loss? Also, will it handle negatives from disposable cameras (2003)? Larger-format, black-and-white 1960s negatives? Roughly how long to scan each slide or negative at 7200 dpi? Thanks.

 

[Sawday]

I use a Canon Canoscan 9000F for slides and film. The scans are great, but customer service from Canon is very poor - I'm pretty sure that they have never even heard of Apple computers! Some functionality was lost with a Mac OS upgrade some years back as Canon never updated their drivers and blamed Apple, so the buttons to create PDFs. Copy or any other options do not work, but for scanning the software (I still use the old MP Navigator not their updated Image Garden) works great, if a little clunky.

 

[krs]

Yes, I was thinking the mid-level Plustek scanner too. Will it scan 35mm slides without removing from their frames? Any image loss? Also, will it handle negatives from disposable cameras (2003)? Larger-format, black-and-white 1960s negatives? Roughly how long to scan each slide or negative at 7200 dpi? Thanks.

When I make a purchase like that, I always read the reviews and the Q&A's on amazon or add my own question.
That will often answer many of the questions that one might have.
In your case for instance - yes, it will scan slides that are in 35mm frames, question I would have - does that include the thicker frames used in Europe or only the cardboard frames? I would hope it handles both.
Image loss? Same as any other quality scanner at 7200 dpi I would imagine, but once digitized, any fading that happened with the slides over the years can be compensated.
Size of images the scanner can handle are 35mm slides and negatives, nothing larger
Time to scan? - That is one question I don't remember being answered in the Q&A's

 

[MacInWin]

Yes, I was thinking the mid-level Plustek scanner too. Will it scan 35mm slides without removing from their frames? Any image loss? Also, will it handle negatives from disposable cameras (2003)? Larger-format, black-and-white 1960s negatives? Roughly how long to scan each slide or negative at 7200 dpi? Thanks.

Can I suggest you look at the tech specs on the Plustek site for that information? The one I have does 35mm slides in the frames and negatives in strips up to 4 images at a time. I don't know what you mean by "image loss" but the entire image on the film or slide is scanned, you can then crop/edit as you wish. If the film is 35mm, it doesn't matter the source. I don't have larger negatives, so I can't answer that. Scanning is done in a few seconds, maybe 10-15 per image. But check at the Plustek site for the tech specs.

 

[MacInWin]

does that include the thicker frames used in Europe or only the cardboard frames? I would hope it handles both.

Yes, I have both sizes and both work.

 

[trevor25220]

Can I suggest you look at the tech specs on the Plustek site for that information? The one I have does 35mm slides in the frames and negatives in strips up to 4 images at a time. I don't know what you mean by "image loss" but the entire image on the film or slide is scanned, you can then crop/edit as you wish. If the film is 35mm, it doesn't matter the source. I don't have larger negatives, so I can't answer that. Scanning is done in a few seconds, maybe 10-15 per image. But check at the Plustek site for the tech specs.

I was concerned the thick plastic slide frames (Agfa, 1970s) might result in cropping a perimeter sliver from each image.

Do you think I could recoup 50% of purchase price selling a Plustek used on eBay? Didn't see any on offer in the UK.

 

[MacInWin]

The amount of image that gets cropped by the frame is up to the frame. But think of this--the frame cropped that little peripheral when the image was projected anyway, so it's not a loss to you in your scanning. The scan goes all the way to the frame.

As for reselling, I have no idea of the resale value. I'm not selling mine as I still have a few slide trays to go.

 

[trevor25220]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-re...e=all_reviews&pageNumber=1#reviews-filter-bar

Some Plustek reviewers complain about slow working. Will the Plustek scan a strip of negatives or several slides automatically, or is intervention required for each image? The naysayers go for flatbeds like the Epson V600, for productivity. Resolution a bit lower than Plustek's 7200 dpi at
6400dpi (Speed Priority Mode: 117 sec / Best Mode: 125 sec). Would I notice that?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002TAA3MY/