35mm Film/negative/slide scanner

[Bobafett]

Hi all.

A few photo buffs on here so hope you don't mind asking the wider audience.

Have had some success with scanning 35mm negatives in the past with a Minolta unit but no longer supported with any drivers for current Windows operating (or even Apple) systems.

Does anybody know on recommendation of any decent home scanner solutions so I can scan my archives onto digital format. Or is it best to ship out to the professionals these days.

Thanks in advance.

[Carlton-Browne]

Bob Frasier has dabbled in this. I suggest you try a search incorporating the user name rfrasier.

[Jake]

Hi

If you've still got the Minolta scanner have a look at VueScan here - https://www.hamrick.com/

Jake

[spud767]

I don't think you need a dedicated scanner anymore. Check out decent flatbeds that do 35mm,I think you'll find they have even better resolutions.

[sish101]

If you get stuck I can supply most old operating systems on legacy hardware. I'd be happy to loan you a laptop if you wanted to batch process a lot of negatives.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[CriticalMass]

My Canon 8800 flatbed scanner which is pretty elderly will scan 35mm slides - 4 at a time.
I spent months digitising thousands of slides from the 70’s& 80’s - I set myself a target of 30 per day.
Using Photoshop to digitally remove crud from the images will take the rest of my life

[200mwaterresistant]

My Canon 8800 flatbed scanner which is pretty elderly will scan 35mm slides - 4 at a time.
I spent months digitising thousands of slides from the 70’s& 80’s - I set myself a target of 30 per day.
Using Photoshop to digitally remove crud from the images will take the rest of my life

I was going to say I have this model also and it does a fine job.

[vulcangascompany]

My Canon 8800 flatbed scanner which is pretty elderly will scan 35mm slides - 4 at a time.
I spent months digitising thousands of slides from the 70’s& 80’s - I set myself a target of 30 per day.
Using Photoshop to digitally remove crud from the images will take the rest of my life

A can of compressed air - Kenair is the industry standard - will save hours of tedious cloning in Photoshop!

[Mr Pointy]

Flatbed scanners produce poor results compared to a proper film/slide scanner. Anyone who does it this way has invested a lot of time for poor reward & as a couple of posters have pointed out they still have hours of post processing to go through.

OP: if your Minolta is on the Vuescan drivers list then you can get it working:
https://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/mino...canner-drivers

However, if your scanner doesn't support automatic dust & scratch removal using an infra-red pass then I'd seriously consider buying a new scanner. Look at these Plustek models:

https://plustek.com/uk/products/film...hoto-scanners/

Scanning is such a time-intensive process that unless you only have a few slides to scan then it's key to get the workflow as organised as possible & to get the hardware & software to do the work. Automatic dust & scratch removal alone will save hundreds of hours of work. If you can afford it look at the 8200 Ai with the calibration target.

There are a few books available but they seem a bit pricey unless you look at the Kindle versions:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scanning-Ne...dp/193395230X/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Illustrated...dp/1484137434/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/VueScan-Bib...dp/1933952695/

[Tokyo Tokei]

Does anybody know on recommendation of any decent home scanner solutions so I can scan my archives onto digital format. Or is it best to ship out to the professionals these days.

I think if you just want digital archives this is a question of how much you value your time. Scanning takes ages. But if you have the time and want to control the scan, rather than let someone else choose how to interpret your negatives, stick with the Minolta.

If you've still got the Minolta scanner have a look at VueScan here - https://www.hamrick.com/

Yes, Vuescan by Hamrick works and is kept up to date. It will work with your Minolta as long as it still functions and you can still connect the scanner physically to your PC or Mac.

I don't think you need a dedicated scanner anymore. Check out decent flatbeds that do 35mm,I think you'll find they have even better resolutions.

They do and I have had reasonably good results with an Epson at almost double the scanning resolution of my Minolta. But for a flatbed, you also need a uniform (brightness/colour temperature) source of light too. The dedicated scanners have their own, usually LED, controlled lighting. For a generic flatbed, I have used an iPad set to a white screen as a source of illumination. It works. You can scan a few strips at a time too, but you then have to "cut out" the resulting frames from the image.

I'd still use the Minolta for archiving. But again, all depends on your time and interest in overseeing the final result.

[CriticalMass]

A can of compressed air - Kenair is the industry standard - will save hours of tedious cloning in Photoshop!

Yes- I wish I’d thought about that before I’d started