Need Help - Scanner Purchase

I have a lot of 35mm negatives and some old 110 negatives that I want to scan. I currently have a 35mm SLR camera and could continue to get negatives and then scan them in, or I could convert to Digital? My main question: Should I buy a dedicated film scanner such as the Minolta Scan Dual IV or go with a quality flatbed like a Canon 8400f which could serve several purposes? Your thoughts on the these, or other suggestions, PLEASE!

Hello and welcome to the forums!

What do you plan on doing with the scans? Large prints? Internet display? How many frames do you think you'll actually end up scanning when it's all said and done? 10? 100? 10,000? What's your price range? Do you actually have other uses for a flatbed scanner? Or do you just figure it's a smarter buy since it does more than scan negatives? Ask yourself if you'd really use the flatbed for anything else.

The answers to these questions can make a difference :) You can consider renting a scanner as well.

I don't know exactly and cannot count them right now, but several hundred and I don't have prints of these. I also have several hundred other negatives I could scan in that I have prints for. If I continue with my SLR I can scan future negatives in and not buy the prints when I develop. I also want to archive documents which a flatbed will have to do, I am into genealogy and have a lot of records I want to digitize. As far as budget, I want to keep around $300. I read the review on the 8400f and it seemed better than the more expense epson and hp scanners even though a little less specs. I considered also buying the scan dual IV and a flatbed but I don't know if that's the way to go. Reviews of the 8400f and more quality flatbeds indicated they might scan negatives as good as the scan dual and better film scanners look like they are at least 700 or 1,000 dollars. If I go with a digital camera which I would go with a Digital SLR are about 1,000 so I thought if I keep my 35mm SLR and just get the negatives and scan them in I would be ahead?

Thoughts? Thanks for your reply and continue to help me.

110 negs are tiny. I don't think you'll find a film scanner that will do these - film goes into a holder that fits the scanner. I think a flatbed might be your best bet because of this. The Epson 4870 has gotten some good reviews but I don't have one myself. Looks like quality is really good, much better than negatives on a flatbed from a couple of years ago. Best to check with Epson about the 110 negs to be sure it will work. You may have to get creative here - maybe scanning a large area with the transparency adapter (setting the negatives inside that area) and "cutting" the negatives out of that digital file.

Digital does have a learning curve, my first film scans weren't as good as they are today although I'm not in danger of putting any labs out of business either! With practice you can get nice results with that scanner.

A digital camera is a whole 'nother deal on top of that. It won't help you with the negs you've already got, either. Maybe the flatbed would be handy for scanning documents, too.

The issue here I feel is how important is it to you to have those 110 scanned into digital. If you really must have them, then you will most likely have to go with the flatbed. Otherwise, get the Dual lV and a cheap flatbed for documents. The flatbeds have to scan through the glass, which evntually attracts dust and stuff, and leaves you with images that have to be cleaned up a whole lot, plus the image quality just not quite as good as a dedicated scanner. The Dual scanlV has had great reviews and replaced the highly reviewed Scan dual lll ( which I have had for a year and am selling to get a higher resolution scanner) But if the quality of the scans are not that demanding, that is mostly will be for yourself and family, friends, then the Canon would suffice for all your needs.

I'd say go for the dedicated film scanner.