Best way to get film into digital

[PhillipT]

I'm fed up with photolabs at drugs stores and walmart (who now sends film to Fujifilm to be processed), only a few times have I had good CDs of my prints where the picture was at a large size with high resolution. And that was long ago at places I don't remember. When I was told that Fujifilm now handled walmart, I thought I'd give it a shot. Instead, I end up with yet another trashy CD while the prints look amazing.


(The print has sharp details, deep colors, and is well beyond this trash)

I could scan each individual photo, yes, but they'd still be 4x6 and that would take forever to do 4 rolls..

Who does a good job of putting negs onto CD, or what's a home-brew method with a flatbed scanner?

[KJ Smith]

Get an Epson.

I have a V700. It is very good. The V750 is even better.

There are folks on this site that have the V500. They seem to like them.

There is another, but I can't remember if its the 4990 or the 4490.

Someone will be along to sort that out.

[PhillipT]

I've never scanned negs, I should experiment with mine. My scanner has killer resolution, but don't the Negs have to be back lit? Or can the scanner's reader picture them against the white background.

After importing them into Picasa, the quality is a bit better. The color is terrible, but a few of them are acceptably sharp. I can doctor and use these for sharing this time, at least.

[edit] Woo, at least one CD came out good so far...)

[digidawg87]

I have a Pacific Image scanner that I've had good luck with. It's made for 35mm slides and negs.

[Buddha]

You should do a search for film scanners on this forum. That would be enlightening.

[venchka]

What Kevin said. Epson has built a bunch of scanners that accept film and scan negatives & positives correctly. Nikon makes some deicated film scanners also. Reportedly better scans than Epson at a higher price per unit. Scanning is a Black Art. When you finally figure out how to do it, you'll like it. It took me about a year to get to the point where I could expose, develop, scan & print a B&W negative with near zero adjustments in Lightroom. Photoshop not required. That was a good feeling. I'm still stumbling with color.
Wolf Camera in Copperfield on N. Hwy 6 made the best store bought scans I found. Pricey but very nice.
Good luck.

[PhillipT]

Thanks for the info guys. I moved operations to Austin, so hopefully there will be more places that can do work correctly, given the artsy nature of the city :)

[venchka]

That may be true. Do It Yourself is still a good option. At least you know who to blame for bad scans. Grinning.

[Buddha]

In Austin, I have used both Holland Photo and Precision Camera to process film and scan it. At that time, the price for high resolution scans in your choice of files sizes is ~$6.99, which is worth it to me for the time alone that it saves me. The fact that I get 4-5000 dpi scans is a priceless plus because I can't afford a scanner with that resolution.
Only when I scan individual negatives do I look to my own scanner for help.