Film Scanning

[CallMeAl]

Anyone have a lab recommendation for film scanning? I want to get my wedding negatives scanned and create an album. Thanks.

[srwatters]

What resolution and what format is the film?

Do you want drum scans or is 4000dpi good enough?

[CallMeAl]

Format is 35mm. Some are color and some are B&W if that makes a difference. As for the quality...I'm not sure what I need. Any suggestions? We had prints made when we got married, but I have the negatives and thought it would be nice if I had them scanned and then made a nice album for my wife since we don't have anything like that. What quality do I need for that? I won't be making huge prints or anything.

[srwatters]

There are a several different methods of scanning and depending on how big you want the final output to be, some are better choices than others.

Drum scans will give you the highest pixel density images (11000dpi). Commercial labs like BWC have this equipment, but the cost for a single scan can be rather high. On the low end, you can get a whole roll of 3-4MP scans on a CD for less than the cost of single drum scan.

I have a Nikon Coolscan 5000 that is in the middle at 4000dpi. It gives me very nice results with both negatives and chromes. I have yet to scan a B&W image, but then again I don't shoot a ton of film.

I'd suggest you call BWC and ask them since they don't have a price list on the web site.

Good luck!

[srwatters]

One more issue... If you only need prints and don't want to edit them, why not just take the negatives in and have re-prints made. You will get as good if not better quality prints right from the source. If you must layout the album digitally, then I suppose 3000-4000dpi should be fine.

[rogerfsmith]

Check out

http://www.scancafe.com/

They charge 19 cents per 3000 dpi scan. They use the high end Nikon scanner with ICE for dust removal. They'll scan and then you examiine the scans on the net and you can reject up to half and not pay for them. They got a really great review in the last Popular Photography magazine.

Cheers,
Roger