about film scanners

[natatbeach]

can you recommend a reasonably--relatively decent quality film scanner (color and bw?---do they need different scanners) and what's the least expensive but still good quality that scans 120 negs (still having problems with the bonehead photo lab and printing Holga negs)

thanks

[PuckJunkey]

Well, I am considering buying one even though I'm getting a DSLR too. The one I think has the best bang for the buck is the Nikon Coolscan V. Has a very good Dynamic Range, will do slides and negatives, and scans up to 4000 dpi so you can make (roughly) 12x18 prints with a really clean exposure. Only $600, which is dirt cheap by the standards from a couple years ago.

If you have a bunch of MF scans, the Coolscan 9000 is considerably more ($2000) but still half as expensive as a comparable scanner from a couple years ago. This will also do 35mm film so you could pull double-duty with it. Essentially though, there is no such thing as "a good medium format film scanner that is cheap". Sorry...



Here's another thread with a link to Nikon USA.

New Nikon Coolscan Lineup

[racingpinarello]

can you recommend a reasonably--relatively decent quality film scanner (color and bw?---do they need different scanners) and what's the least expensive but still good quality that scans 120 negs (still having problems with the bonehead photo lab and printing Holga negs)

thanks

Hi Natalie,

The epson 3200 would be a great way to scan holga negs without breaking the college funds of your children. I have the Nikon 8000 which is incredible, but I use it for nature/landscape and batch scanning my travel 35mm slides.

I had the epson 2400 and was very impressed with the quality.

Loren

[natatbeach]

Hi Natalie,

The epson 3200 would be a great way to scan holga negs without breaking the college funds of your children. I have the Nikon 8000 which is incredible, but I use it for nature/landscape and batch scanning my travel 35mm slides.

I had the epson 2400 and was very impressed with the quality.

Loren

thanks for the advice... I looked up a bunch of sights and those are well within my monthly photo budget...I think they have one for about $300 as well the 3200 that does medium format...can you buy the neg adapters separately?

[racingpinarello]

thanks for the advice... I looked up a bunch of sights and those are well within my monthly photo budget...I think they have one for about $300 as well the 3200 that does medium format...can you buy the neg adapters separately?

Hi Natalie,

The Epson's come will all of the adapters, so it's fully contained in the scanner. One stop shopping.

Loren

[iphotos40]

Hi Natalie,

I would recommend getting a dedicated slide scanner over anyone that comes with an adapter. Microtek makes the 4000t still which is SCSI based but a brand new one can be had for a price similiar to the Epson 3200. It will produce far superior image quality.

Jeffrey