srt101fan

Have you settled on one method, i.e. camera or scanner, for your own work?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Nice work! Now imagine scanning over 40,000 negatives that way...

"Slowly" is the main reason why I sold my V600 and adopted camera scanning. (I already had the camera and a 1:1 macro lens. I built a proper copy stand for under $90, and spent about $100 on Negative Lab Pro and $120 on the Essential Film Holder.)

I still think the V600 is fine for scanning small batches of black-and-white — especially medium format film — and B&W or color prints. Yet I was never happy with its results from color negatives or mounted slides. Negative Lab Pro is excellent for converting color negatives quickly and accurately, and macro copies of slides are tack sharp.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I've followed your posts on the subject of slide scanning. And, I've got a M4/3 camera, but not the macro lens. I have experimented with your techniques using a common LED flood lamp and an Olympus TG-5 that does have a macro mode. The results were surprisingly good, but not great, with such simple gear.

I think it is clear that a hobbyist wanting to go through a lot of old film should do it your way. But, if that hobbyist only wants to scan their "best work", it may be a lot easier to get an Epson scanner. The V600 may be slow, but at $250 is in the hobbyist range and a little less than your lens. It can also scan old prints. An example might be old, faded wedding photos where the negatives are long gone. The newest Photoshop AI filters are pretty good at color restoration!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I had access to a lot of great darkrooms where I worked, but my wife got transferred and I had to build my own in my basement (even had a TV). We wound up moving two years later. Never put one in the new house. I do miss the "magic" that's missing with digital, but not the chemicals. And filing is so much easier!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, again, the "speed and quantity with quality" issue is what made my decision. If you just got a 120 roll back from a lab and want to scan four good negatives off of it, an Epson scanner is all you need.

Those who are picky about color negative conversion can still use scanner output with Negative Lab Pro in Lightroom Classic (yes, the NLP plug-in works with the latest version of Lightroom Classic on an M1 Mac, as I used it yesterday after the upgrade). Just scan the negatives as if they were slides...

Jack B Loc: Mount Pleasant, SC

I have the Epson V600 scanner. It works beautifully. To date, 88 or so color negative rolls, 60 or so B&W rolls and many, many slides have been scanned. My practice has been to first do low-res scans. If there are photos I really like, scans are done at much higher resolution. Have been very pleased with the higher scan results.
Jack B

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The Epson V600 is now a $250 scanner. It was $230 just a short time ago.

This is about a 9% price increase, despite the fact that Digital ICE cannot be upgraded for MacOS 64-bit compatibility. (In fairness, EPSON and LSI will provide a free download of SilverFast SE, which will remove dust and scratches on 64-bit MacOS systems.)

cfbudd Loc: Atlanta, Georgia

I don't understand the suggestions and replies you got. I have scanned, and continue to scan as time permits, a lifetime of 35mm slides. So far, I've scanned about 500 rolls. I have about 200 rolls to go, but I'm not in a great hurry. With the equipment I have, it's easy and the results can be amazingly good, particularly with newer slides taken on Fujichrome films.

I use a Nikon Supercoolscan 5000 ED and a Nikon SF-210 slide feeder, with Vuescan software. (Nikon software is no longer supported, but Vuescan is much better anyway.)

Right now, there are dozens of these scanners for sale on eBay, along with a few slide feeders (very necessary unless you want to hand feed the slides four at a time). It seems that for $2 grand or so, you can get the stuff needed

I get a box or two of 36 exposure slides out of the closet, load 50 or 60 slides, press the 'on' button, and go to bed for the night. The next day, I download the scans into Lightroom and add them to the catalog.

If I ever finish, I'll sell the scanner and feeder on eBay if I'm so inclined.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

First off, there seems to be a general concern regarding shutter actuation. So, for quite a bit less than 100 grand, you could purchase a film scanner and accomplish your task with, probably, better results than attempting to set up a copy facility, appropriate level of lighting, camera position, possible lens acquisition, etc.
--Bob

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

My shutter is electronic. No wear… no moving parts except the lens diaphragm… no body vibration at all.

The light source is a 95+ CRI LED panel diffused through Perspex. The rig scans about six times faster than my old V600 did.

therwol Loc: USA

Just a few comments. The Nikon scanner you have is a professional grade scanner. It isn't cheap, even used on eBay. The quality of scans will significantly higher than with any flat bed scanner. It is unfortunate that Nikon got out of the scanner business. They were pretty much unbeatable for quality.

But to the issue of speed. Using a slide feeder for 50-60 slides at a time makes a lot of sense. Scanning film negatives is another story. With this scanner you place one film strip into the machine at a time. You would only speed things up if your film is not cut into strips. There is a roll film feeder for this machine.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

There are several film holders commercially available for camera scanning. Some of them are lab quality, all metal devices made for continuous daily use. They are expensive. The one I use, as it is advertised, is a compromise of the best attributes out there. It is nylon, plastic, and easily reconfigurable for different uses (35mm, 645, 6x6, 6x9 and smaller, 35mm mounted slides, Hasselblad panoramas, and at least a couple versions that show the film borders with edge print and (on 35mm) sprocket holes. I bought mine with 35mm standard, 6x9 standard, and 35mm slide masks.

The 35mm mask will accommodate strips of four frames or more (shorter strips get stuck inside, so you have to remove the mask overlay to get your film out). Scanning a whole roll of 36 takes well under ten minutes if you don't cut it. All my film is cut, so I have mostly strips of four or six frames to clean and feed through.

https://clifforth.co.uk

Andrew has sold over 15,000 of these to date. They are built to order, so delivery takes several weeks from the U.K. to USA, but the wait was worth it. My film stays flat and the thing will not scratch or harm negatives at all, provided you keep it clean.

Again, if you have a lot of film to convert, this is a viable option. I convert all negs on a roll as a batch, then view them in Lightroom Classic and decide which to refine (crop, adjust tonality, sharpen, etc.). Having positive images that are viewable full size on a 27" monitor makes it much easier to see the potential printability of a file.