Professional Scanning Help

03FatBoy

My dad has a number of photos from his film days (120 Hasselblad mostly) that he'd like to get scanned.

I have a scanner - Canonscan 8400 which does ok for some things, but it will not deliver a professional hi res scan with clarity.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with professional scanning services that use drum scanning to process the image.

Or, maybe someone could suggest a good "toaster" personal scanner that we could buy to convert to digital.

Thanks!

largelylivin

MOST IMPORTANT: You must have a scanner that shines the light THROUGH the film or slide. (Reflective scanners are an absolute NO NO for film!) If all you are doing is 120's, I recommend the Epson 4490 which is selling at $200 new right now. An option is to contact one of the many photo restorers here (am I allowed to do this?) For 120's full or half frame I charge $.99 each plus a $12 media charge per order for choice of DVD or CD. I recommend scanning at 600 dpi for every day snapshots and 2400 for professional work. Includes dusting with photo safe compressed air and, only if necessary, cleaning with PEC-12 emulsion cleaner. Your choice of JPEG with no compression or TIFF.

SteveBennett

Hi Jamie -

Drum scanning will definitely give you the best quality, but at a significant price. I suggest that you consider using a scanning service that uses medium format film scanners. This will be much less expensive. If you decide that you need the next level of quality that comes from fluid immersion.

My company uses Nikon medium format film scanners and they generally do a very good job. These scanners are a good notch above most flatbeds, but not up to the level of a well-executed drum scan.

Now... if the films that you have are traditional B&W, then you may be better off paying for the drum scans, depending on the shape that the film is in. This is because dust and scratch removal techniquest of a film scanner won't remove the dust and scratch effects for traditional B&W (i.e., ICE doesn't work for B&W). Fluid immersion does the trick nicely, however. Without some form of dust and scratch removal, you will need to spend time in Photoshop (or pay somebody to do it for you) to spot out all the dust and scratches. Given the (time and/or money) expense of this, you may be better off going with drum scans. It all depends on your film, your level of hands-on with the digital images and your budget.

Regards --

--Steve
http://www.pixmonix.com