Flatbed scanners film scanning

[CaraRose]

Hi all...

I was curious if any flatbed scanner could be used to scan film with a proper adapter, or if it needs to be a specialized flatbed.

Thanks
--Cara

[SmartWombat]

Usually specialised, because of the adapter.
Needs to have a light behind the negative, it can't use reflected light.

[readingr]

cara,

I have a flatbed which has the film scanning facility. I hardly use it because the quality is not that good, so it depends what you want it for. I am thinking of a dedicated film scanner for all those photo's I have in negative albums and in slide holders.

One day! (I'ts to time consuming at the moment)

Roger R.

[SmartWombat]

I have an old Dimage scanner, but the software is so ancient I doubt if it runs under XP.
So I too am in the market for something newer.

But if I can get the Dimage to work it has a really neat feature - an APS adapter that will automatically unspool and scan an entire film unattended.

[mjs1973]

I have an Epson Perfection 1240U flatbed scanner that I bought from a girl at work for $30 that will do up to 4x5. Like PAul said, you need your light source behind your film. The scanner I bought is a few years old, but I'm running on on a Vista Machine. Here is a thread with a few samples of slides that I scanned with it.

A new toy!

If you're looking at new scanners, you may want to look for something with Digital ICE or similar technology built into it. It will save you a lot of time removing dust from your scans.

[SkipT]

I use a Smartscan 3600 film scanner, Flatbed scanners are just not up to scanning film and its just to slow on a scanner also

[gotrocks]

Hello Cara, I have an Epson 4490 PHOTO flat bed scanner. I came with plastic frame adapter to hold 4 slides or a short film strip. It has the ICE tech. mentioned.
It is not fast and I've been too impatient to spend much time but here you can see a few results. Just took the old slides out of the folder, dusted them with my T shirt and .... what you see is what I got.
My older Epson PHOTO RX500 all in one had the same plastic frames and worked similar to the 4490. Hope this is some help to you.
I check out all of your pics when I see you name. Keep on keeping on.

The jets were taken with an old Kodak Pony back in 1955.
The flycatcher was taken in 1972 and I don't remember the camera.

[Greg McCary]

You really need one made for it. My Epson V500 works great. Not to expensive either.

[gotrocks]

Thank you Greg,
I've had my 4490 for a while and as usual it was probably obsolete when I opened the box. It is 4800 dpi and yours is 6400 dpi. Wish I could compare side by side.

How long does it take for you to scan 4 slides?
I assume your V500 still uses a similar slide/strip holder.