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Archive 2014 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?

  
 
HopeIsEternal
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


Local film processors won't scan my film negatives at a resolution good enough for photo editing or even printing at 4x6. See my previous thread here: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1293112

So I'm now considering just doing the film scanning by myself but it must be a small and very affordable 35mm film scanner that can handle automated scanning of 35mm film strips using modern Windows version & USB (as opposed to Windows 98/2000/XP and SCSI respectively). I'm not looking for drum-scan quality here - just something that will allow me to quickly get decent digital scans of my current film shots and also help me digitize a few hundred Kodachrome? 35mm color slides that I took more than two decades ago.

All the normally recommended film scanners I've read about like the Minolta Dimage Scan and Nikon Coolscans are *completely* out of my price range. I only occasionally shoot film and probably won't be still shooting it in the future (especially now with affordable FF digital) and I won't be surprised if it becomes impossible in the near future to buy film stocks cheaply and have them quickly developed locally, so I really *don't* want to "invest" in expensive film scanning gear for what clearly is a dying technology/hobby. I'd say that my budget/limit is $300 tops.

I'm thinking that with the death of consumer 35mm film photography and processing there must be a glut of film scanners out there but so far the usually recommended models are still very highly priced and I'm very leery of the cheap modern film scanners selling for < $100. Are they any good?

Perhaps there are some really compact professional 35mm film scanners that were used in photo/print stores that are now long out of business? Any good info or links to these products is appreciated.

So what Windows & USB compatible film scanners would you recommend? Any particular marketplace/refurbisher to find used film scanner models besides Ebay? Anyone here needing to get rid of their film scanners? I'm willing to consider film scanners with USB ports but that require older versions of Windows like XP if I can run the scanner software/drivers & Windows XP in a virtual machine on Windows 8 x64 and have it all work.

Thanks and looking forward to the feedback!



May 08, 2014 at 04:58 PM
ken.vs.ryu
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


pakon is what I would get. it looks so convenient. your mounted slides would be a problem.


http://www.aaaimaging.com/kodak-pakon-f135-film-scanner.html



May 08, 2014 at 07:54 PM
pingflood
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


Check out Reflecta Crystalscan. Very pleased with mine, and should just barely squeeze under your budget limit.

http://www.filmscanner.info/en/ReflectaCrystalScan7200.html



May 09, 2014 at 01:43 AM
mawz
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


With a little looking you can get a used Minolta Scan Dual IV for that money. It will need Vuescan for drivers and software (the Minolta drivers are XP only), but it's a properly automated scanner with carriers for 4 slides or 6 negative frames.

Note Vuescan offers USB driver support for a lot of otherwise XP-only scanners. Well worth the cost of entry and if you get the pro version it comes with lifetime updates (the base is 1 year only)



May 09, 2014 at 03:38 PM
jim bennett
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


+10 on the Pakon, it ROCKS. You need to run XP, or Virtual Box, VMware, etc


May 09, 2014 at 04:56 PM
buggz2k
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


I LOVE my Kodak/Pakton F135+ !


May 09, 2014 at 04:59 PM
Hi-Matic
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


The Pakon F135 Plus at $250 from AAA Imaging seems to be (almost) exactly what you are looking for. It is as close to automatic as you can get (even has autofocus) and it is USB. However, as stated above, it needs an XP machine (or Win 2000, I believe) to run. You can run Virtual Machine or something similar or buy an XP laptop. I chose the latter ($50 used). Files are 3000 x 2000 pixels at the highest setting. It is limited to color and B&W negative film, though. Slides will need to be done on a different scanner.


May 09, 2014 at 05:38 PM
HopeIsEternal
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


Thanks all for the information.

Yes, I'd heard of the Pakon but didn't find much information available. Since it is not designed to scan slides I'll have to take a pass on it as I need to scan these hundreds of 35mm slides that I have.

I'm thinking of going with a used or low priced new Epson V600 or something similar. At least it will still do document scans even when I no longer shoot film.



May 09, 2014 at 11:16 PM
Imagemaster
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


Try posting on the Post-processing & Printing Forum.


May 09, 2014 at 11:32 PM
anthonygh
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


You might want to consider a DIY alternative. As an experiment I made a little cardboard funnel that fitted my G10 lens at one end and the aperture of a mounted slide at the other. Using the macro mode...and placing the whole contraption on a lightbox.....re-photographing the slides was remarkably successful.

Although this is not fully automated, it was quite quick...and could probably have been a lot quicker if I wanted it to be..just moving the camera along a strip of film and pressing the shutter (everything else was preset...I also used RAW capture.

The G10 is particularly suited for this (which is why I tried it) but I guess any digital camera with macro could be used.

My standard method however is with the excellent V700.

PS: I suspect film will go on a lot longer than you give it credit for.....the demand for quality s/h film gear is strong and I believe the sales of B+W film have increased year on year for three years now.....so I read anyway. No info on colour emulsions.



May 11, 2014 at 11:00 AM
f.hayek
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


anthonygh wrote:
PS: I suspect film will go on a lot longer than you give it credit for.....the demand for quality s/h film gear is strong and I believe the sales of B+W film have increased year on year for three years now.....so I read anyway. No info on colour emulsions.


Film will ultimately return to where it all started: monochrome.

Lingering on beyond our lifetimes...but not by much...fine grain, slow speed, only a handful of makers. I'm sure a Tri-X or equivalent will tag along too until the bitter end.




May 11, 2014 at 11:13 AM
anthonygh
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


f.hayek wrote:
Film will ultimately return to where it all started: monochrome.

Lingering on beyond our lifetimes...but not by much...fine grain, slow speed, only a handful of makers. I'm sure a Tri-X or equivalent will tag along too until the bitter end.



One only needs a handful of manufacturers in the internet age.

If there are only a 1 000 000 film users worldwide and just a couple of companies producing the stuff.....that is a lot of web business for those companies. There is no technical reason why film cannot be produced into the forseeable future.....although an alternative to silver would be useful.

However...the current situation is far better than that regarding user numbers and makers....it will be interesting to see what happens.



May 12, 2014 at 11:46 AM
j.liam
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


anthonygh wrote:
If there are only a 1 000 000 film users worldwide and just a couple of companies producing the stuff.....that is a lot of web business for those companies. There is no technical reason why film cannot be produced into the forseeable future.....although an alternative to silver would be useful.



Places to develop & scan film, film scanners themselves are dwindling in number. And in the case of scanners, reduced to one or two devoted machines of mixed quality and a few acceptable flatbeds. The situation will only get more difficult. Here in NYC, there still remain a few places of high quality to do the work because of the local professional demand but at a steep price; last time I shot a roll, it set me back $25 + tax (for a 36 exposures roll, developing and medium rez scan). A Leica M Monochrom used is ~$6500, or about 260 rolls.



May 13, 2014 at 07:12 AM
rattymouse
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


j.liam wrote:
Places to develop & scan film, film scanners themselves are dwindling in number. And in the case of scanners, reduced to one or two devoted machines of mixed quality and a few acceptable flatbeds. The situation will only get more difficult. Here in NYC, there still remain a few places of high quality to do the work because of the local professional demand but at a steep price; last time I shot a roll, it set me back $25 + tax (for a 36 exposures roll, developing and medium rez scan). A Leica M Monochrom used is ~$6500, or about
...Show more


It cost me around $1, maybe a bit less to develop a roll of film this weekend in my bathroom. Significantly cheaper than a Leica Monochrome.




May 13, 2014 at 07:46 AM
rattymouse
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


anthonygh wrote:
One only needs a handful of manufacturers in the internet age.

If there are only a 1 000 000 film users worldwide and just a couple of companies producing the stuff.....that is a lot of web business for those companies. There is no technical reason why film cannot be produced into the forseeable future.....although an alternative to silver would be useful.

However...the current situation is far better than that regarding user numbers and makers....it will be interesting to see what happens.


Ilford is doing very well selling film so I have no worries about its future. Ilford is a spectacular company, devoted to film photography.

Further, Ilford makes more profit than Olympus, Panasonic, and Fujifilm selling their digital cameras.





May 13, 2014 at 07:49 AM
j.liam
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?




rattymouse wrote:
It cost me around $1, maybe a bit less to develop a roll of film this weekend in my bathroom. Significantly cheaper than a Leica Monochrome.



Mixing, using and storing chemicals is the last thing I care I do at this point in my life.



May 13, 2014 at 10:57 AM
henryp
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


While I have not used this, I've seen pretty good feedback on the Wolverine Super F2D 4-in-1 Film to Digital Converter

Henry Posner
[email protected]
B&H Photo-Video



May 13, 2014 at 11:11 AM
j.liam
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


I'm going to try out an Epson V750 and see what those scans look like. This is what sounds interesting but haven't seen it available yet: Reflecta Proscan 10T

Reflecta's website states that it will be available in calendar week 20 of this year. Which should be about now.



May 13, 2014 at 12:02 PM
ken.vs.ryu
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


Minolta scanner for $250 is pretty good.
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1294796



May 16, 2014 at 08:39 PM
HopeIsEternal
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Advice on cheap 35mm film scanner with USB for Windows?


Argh! Just took two film rolls to have quickly developed at Walgreens. Same 2mp scans no matter what you tell them before hand, the negatives are scanned out of order and they don't even bother to rotate the scans either. Also the color and grain on many of the scans seems really, really bad even though I shot the frames with a hotshoe flash.

I don't understand this. Was film color quality this bad in the good-old-days? How come I'm shooting reasonably low ISO film (< 400 ISO, sometimes even Kodak Ektar ISO 100) with bounced flash on a modern automatic OTF metering SLR but the pictures have a horrible yellowish/orange tint, the colors are all messed up and there is very visible grain?

Even after a bit of exposure correction/white-balancing in Lightroom, the pictures still look very unnatural. I transferred the pictures to my Nexus 10 tablet and spent like 1 minute with the pictures using the Android photo editor (preset & RGB curves) and the results look so much better especially for skin tones.

I'm beginning to think that perhaps the clueless photo "techs" at Walgreens may not even be scanning the photos with the correct scanner exposure/color-balance settings as these scanned photos do not look anything like what I remember 35mm film prints looking like in my childhood.




May 16, 2014 at 09:00 PM
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