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Archive 2016 · Scanner for Archival Project

  
 
goobers
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Scanner for Archival Project


I'm looking for recommendations on scanners and possibly film holders for a family photo archival project I've been working on. I've been using a Plustek optic scanner that handles negatives really well, but it's 1 negative at a time and is tediously slow. I'd like to accelerate my efforts while maintaining quality and am looking for solutions that may be on the market today.

In another thread someone suggested, at the very least, buying film holders from http://www.betterscanning.com/ which look awesome if they work.

1) Has anybody used the holders before and have they performed well for you?
2) Are there any scanners that you would recommend that can provide high enough quality to potentially print 8x10 photos and have a large enough flatbed to scan multiple negatives at a time?

I'm looking at probably close to ten thousand 35mm color negatives.



Sep 20, 2016 at 05:58 PM
dhachey
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Scanner for Archival Project


Best to use an automated film scanning service, unless you are prepared to buy the equipment yourself. You may spend 5 min per slide setting it up, scanning and processing, or about 2 months doing this yourself.


Sep 22, 2016 at 12:28 PM
Alan321
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Scanner for Archival Project


I reckon that 5min per image is optimistic. I'd allow 10, but that includes identifying film and digital images so that you can match them up later on if a re-scan is ever needed.

Any of the Epson v7xx or v8xx photo scanners will do a good job and comes with film holders (probably just one of each format) for holding multiple images. The benefits of these scanners are that they have a reasonably high Dmax (dynamic range) and they have the hardware and software needed to identify and hide scratches so that you don't have to. However, scratch detection does not work on all films (e.g. kodachrome, which has a 3D multi-layer structure - the edges are misinterpreted as scratches).

Negatives are somewhat tricky because the film has an inherent colour tint that needs to corrected in your scans.

I suggest that you scan at high dpi and then downsize to reduce scanning artefacts. That takes extra time. I've read somewhere that sharpened 4000dpi scans reveal more true detail than sharpened 2000dpi scans, but obviously the quality of the original images will impact that significantly.

If you scan at a dpi that is too small for subsequent requirements then you'll have to find the original again to re-scan it. That's why time is needed to identify the source of each scan. If you scan better in the first place the scanning itself will take up time whether or not you ever need to locate the originals. Either way, you can't do the job quickly and also do it well.

It's a huge task ahead of you. Good luck with it.

- Alan



Sep 23, 2016 at 05:16 AM
Paure1
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Scanner for Archival Project


Hi, I retired some 11 years ago and undertook a similar project. Here is my experience.

I purchased an Epson V700 scanner and was using an early version of Lightroom (LR). The scanner has worked well (never had to replace the lamp) although I have replaced both the film strip and slide holder as the plastic cracked.

I scanned the slide, colour negs, and B&W films at 2400 dpi - I tried 3200 but could see little advantage. I had planned to go back and rescan at higher resolution but have never found the need. I have scanned over 900 rolls Cneg (mostly 36exp), 60 boxes slide and 100 rolls B&W along with copying albums,

My work flow is to clean films (puffer brush), load holder and scan. i used the Epson professional software. While the scan is running I process the previous run in LR. I add key words as I process.

I found it very important to develop a film numbering system - both for the physical film and the digital scan version so I knew what had been done and I could track back if a rescan was necessary. The tiff files varied from 20 - 35MB each and I saved an approx 2.5MB jpg for easy searching. I use Picasa which will show the key words without accessing menu's. While Picasa is not available easily from Google I can give you a link to the Google Picasa +installer version.
Allan



Sep 24, 2016 at 02:58 AM
Danpbphoto
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Scanner for Archival Project


I use the Canon 9000F that holds 4. I have a Nikon CoolScan IV also. As far as IQ goes they are fine and inexpensive.
Dan



Sep 24, 2016 at 04:31 PM
chez
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Scanner for Archival Project


If you value your time...one word...ScanCafe.


Sep 24, 2016 at 05:52 PM
goobers
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Scanner for Archival Project


Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I have checked out ScanCafe and have a huge aversion to sending a third party my family's photos. Disasters like the shipment getting lost/destroyed/stolen or having the third-party somehow ruin the negatives scares the bejesus out of me.

I'll probably move forward with one of the recommendations above on scanners, give it a shot myself to see how painstakingly terrible it will be, and then decide if i want to hire a college intern for school credit or do it myself Doing it myself also gives me the ability to selectively choose which negatives will get processed and which ones won't.



Sep 26, 2016 at 01:03 AM





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