120 film scans (645)

[Amaury]

I've started shooting with a Mamiya 645 recently, and I find myself unhappy with the scans I'm getting from the place where I have the film developed (there's either a cheap but low-res option (6 mpix) or a crazy expensive and ok resolution one... (24 mpix 3x the price)).

I've had a quick look at Nikon dedicated hardware but it's out of my price range, and I've seen people say good things about stuff like the Epson V700. Since this seems to be a flatbed, I was wondering if there was any special trick to make sure the film stays properly flat (film holders, glass sandwiches ?). If anyone who's scanning 120 or even 35 would be kind enough to share a bit about their experience, and the results they are getting, I'd be very interested.

[PhotoTime]

Hi,

I am not a user of v700. I got myself a second hand epson 3200, and I am satisfied with the scan of my 120mm negatives (my wedding photos) I only view them on the screen, and did not try to print it on A4 paper. For me, I have to mount on film holder to get the result sharp. If you want to glass sandwiches your slide, then it will be better to get an anti-newton-ring glass to remove the newton rings.

I think you can do a google on v700/v750 reviews, to see suggestion on scanning 120mm film.

Regards.

[Amaury]

Thanks for your advice, I did exactly that, and after looking at the samples I pulled the trigger on a V750 (well the equivalent here anyway, called GT-X970 for some reason only epson marketers can fathom). Should be coming in the mail tomorrow, will see what it does.

It's not exactly cheap, but it'll pay for itself in a couple dozens of rolls so...

[airconvent]

The Epson scanners come with a film holder that ensures the film is flat.
My V100 has this feature so I'm sure the newer models can on ly be better.

[Amaury]

Indeed the V700 is supposed to come with film holders too it seems.

[lkkang]

I am also using Mamiya 645 ( SUPER ).

I brought a Epson V700. no regrets
- good resolution,
- good control ( curve, tone, color, histogram )

I have been shooting lots of slides lately and using the scanner to scan them into computer, not only saves money, it also gives you more control over the final picture. Developing time needed in the shop is also much shorter, I normally is able to get back the slides on the same day I send them in.

sharing some photos here... all scanned in-house only.

in-door shots


some outdoors.

[flipfreak]

using the v500. happy with the scans since its for hobby usage only. investing in the glass holder seems like the way to go if you want to maximise your scans.

[Amaury]

It's good to hear that you are using the exact same setup with such nice results. I'm shooting mostly negative at the moment, but I guess the results should be just as good as slide in terms of resolution.

You're also right about development time and control. I guess I'll go for the vanilla options at first to get a feel for it and then start playing around (still not sure what kind of software I need to use for scanning, I'll see what's available).

Thanks for sharing your beautiful shots

[Amaury]

I'll try the standard holders at first and see where to go from there I think. If I get anything better than the scans from the lab I'll be happy anyway (shouldn't be too hard at least resolution-wise).

[Rangefinder_fan]

Hi,
am not too sure about the V750, but the holders of the V700 do an acceptable job only, not fantastic.
For films (such as Lucky) that manage to dry curly AND are not as wide as other films, you'll see bowing of the film while in the holders.
I tend to just live with it (since I would not use Lucky for crucial shots anyway). The alternative would be to get a flat piece of A4 gallery glass, then tape the film negs down. Height needs to be adjusted to compensate for the difference in heights compared with the stock holders.
I scan manually, ie, no auto exposure, and do tone adjustments in PP.

Originally Posted by Amaury I'll try the standard holders at first and see where to go from there I think. If I get anything better than the scans from the lab I'll be happy anyway (shouldn't be too hard at least resolution-wise).

[airconvent]

Hi ikkang
wow! the scans are great! Can share what settings you used?
I am using a V100 scanning my old negatives to convert them to digital files.
The scanning is slow (about 4-6 min per strip) and the quality is no where near what you have shown here. I know mine is not an LED scanner but the V100 is not exactly an entry level scanner (it sits between the V10 and V300 when I first bought it), so can't understand the disparity in quality.

[lkkang]

Originally Posted by airconvent Hi ikkang wow! the scans are great! Can share what settings you used? I am using a V100 scanning my old negatives to convert them to digital files. The scanning is slow (about 4-6 min per strip) and the quality is no where near what you have shown here. I know mine is not an LED scanner but the V100 is not exactly an entry level scanner (it sits between the V10 and V300 when I first bought it), so can't understand the disparity in quality.

hi airconvent,

I have not used V100 before and hence I cannot comment on the differences between V100 and V700. For V700, there are 3 windows that you can play with

1. Curve adjustment ( total, Red, Green, Blue )
- I normally use this window to get the correct white balance.

2. Histogram adjustment ( total, Red , Green , Blue )
- This window will let you push those areas that are very under-exposed to the level you wanted.

3. Brightness and Contrast and Saturation adjustment
- I normally will reduce the contrast slightly to bring out more details, and also to DE-saturate the picture slightly ( slides normally is more colorful ).

For a contact scan, I normally use 800dpi , just to get a general image of the slides. After getting all the shots into the computer, I will then focus on those pictures that I wish to do more detail scanning and then concentrate on that particular slide. The detail scanning is about 1200 dpi ~ 1600 dpi ( my computer is rather slow, hence cannot process too big a file size ). With such resolution, you should be able to Post-Process the picture comfortably ( burning and forging etc...

I hope I have answer your questions

Billy

[airconvent]

Originally Posted by lkkang hi airconvent, I have not used V100 before and hence I cannot comment on the differences between V100 and V700. For V700, there are 3 windows that you can play with 1. Curve adjustment ( total, Red, Green, Blue ) - I normally use this window to get the correct white balance. 2. Histogram adjustment ( total, Red , Green , Blue ) - This window will let you push those areas that are very under-exposed to the level you wanted. 3. Brightness and Contrast and Saturation adjustment - I normally will reduce the contrast slightly to bring out more details, and also to DE-saturate the picture slightly ( slides normally is more colorful ). For a contact scan, I normally use 800dpi , just to get a general image of the slides. After getting all the shots into the computer, I will then focus on those pictures that I wish to do more detail scanning and then concentrate on that particular slide. The detail scanning is about 1200 dpi ~ 1600 dpi ( my computer is rather slow, hence cannot process too big a file size ). With such resolution, you should be able to Post-Process the picture comfortably ( burning and forging etc... I hope I have answer your questions Billy

Thanks Billy for your reply . I don't have slides (is that what you mean by "contact scan"?) but scanning negatives. Not sure is it because the negatives are more than 10 years old already or what but the scanned images regardless of resolution appears low res. i.e. I set to 1200 dpi but the output looks like a 150 or 75 dpi low resolution picture. None of the curves and colour settings will be able to adjust this. Also it takes about 4-5 min to scan 1 strip of negative. On average 1 roll of 36 film has about 5-6 strips. imagine the time required!

[lkkang]

Originally Posted by airconvent Thanks Billy for your reply . I don't have slides (is that what you mean by "contact scan"?) but scanning negatives. Not sure is it because the negatives are more than 10 years old already or what but the scanned images regardless of resolution appears low res. i.e. I set to 1200 dpi but the output looks like a 150 or 75 dpi low resolution picture. None of the curves and colour settings will be able to adjust this. Also it takes about 4-5 min to scan 1 strip of negative. On average 1 roll of 36 film has about 5-6 strips. imagine the time required!

contact printing is also commonly known as index printing, meaning that you do a rough scan , on an average brightness setting common for all the prints to do a rough scan , just for the record and easy reference purpose. We use the term contact printing because we used to use place the negatives onto a glass panel and then direct contact with the paper in a darkroom, so that we are able to see all the shots ( positively ) on a sheet of 8R paper.

hmm... V700 should be consider a fast scanner. If you do like 800dpi, you should be able to scan about 8 shots ( 120mm format ) in about say 2~3 mins ( sorry.. didn't actually time it before ). For a 1200dpi or higher resolution, yes.. the scanning time is longer, but.. resolution is what is needed, hence .. have to wait a bit.

I am shooting with both film and digital. And I must say that digital SLR is producing a sharper image comparing to film. The color from DSLR is also brighter and higher in contrast. so, if you find your 10 year old negatives are not as sharp comparing to the DSLR shots now a days, I should say that it is normal.... Nevertheless, color and sharpness and contrast can be improved in the post processing easily , once it is scanned.

good luck
Billy.

[PhotoTime]

Originally Posted by airconvent Thanks Billy for your reply . I don't have slides (is that what you mean by "contact scan"?) but scanning negatives. Not sure is it because the negatives are more than 10 years old already or what but the scanned images regardless of resolution appears low res. i.e. I set to 1200 dpi but the output looks like a 150 or 75 dpi low resolution picture. None of the curves and colour settings will be able to adjust this. Also it takes about 4-5 min to scan 1 strip of negative. On average 1 roll of 36 film has about 5-6 strips. imagine the time required!

Hi.

I have not used any of the new Epson scanner. But judging on your setting, the resolution of 1200dpi is too low for a decent photo to view on screen. You should try to use the maximum optical resolution of your scanner, if possible, use 48bit to scan the image, so that you have more room to play with.

For scanning negative with Epson scanner, I suggest that you scanned as positive, and then use Photoshop to do the conversion to negative. It gives better result.

As for the speed, my old film scanner is also around the same speed. But I usually do multi-tasking, i.e. I let the scanner do the work, then I can surf net, or do any other thing with the computer, to pass the time. So the speed is never a issue to me.

Regards.

[airconvent]

Originally Posted by PhotoTime Hi. I have not used any of the new Epson scanner. But judging on your setting, the resolution of 1200dpi is too low for a decent photo to view on screen. You should try to use the maximum optical resolution of your scanner, if possible, use 48bit to scan the image, so that you have more room to play with. For scanning negative with Epson scanner, I suggest that you scanned as positive, and then use Photoshop to do the conversion to negative. It gives better result. As for the speed, my old film scanner is also around the same speed. But I usually do multi-tasking, i.e. I let the scanner do the work, then I can surf net, or do any other thing with the computer, to pass the time. So the speed is never a issue to me. Regards.

Thanks Phototime,
I also multitask but the scanning speed slows alot. I tried using a high resolution scan of 4800dpi but the scanning too way too long and the output does not seem any better, that is why stick to 1200dpi as maximum. btw, the purpose of scanning my negatives is to create a positive image backup, hence I don't need to scan it back to a negative.

If the speed was fast, then scanning film strips 5-6 photos at a time is preferred to taking each photo individually out from the album jacket and scanning it.

[airconvent]

Originally Posted by lkkang contact printing is also commonly known as index printing, meaning that you do a rough scan , on an average brightness setting common for all the prints to do a rough scan , just for the record and easy reference purpose. We use the term contact printing because we used to use place the negatives onto a glass panel and then direct contact with the paper in a darkroom, so that we are able to see all the shots ( positively ) on a sheet of 8R paper. hmm... V700 should be consider a fast scanner. If you do like 800dpi, you should be able to scan about 8 shots ( 120mm format ) in about say 2~3 mins ( sorry.. didn't actually time it before ). For a 1200dpi or higher resolution, yes.. the scanning time is longer, but.. resolution is what is needed, hence .. have to wait a bit. I am shooting with both film and digital. And I must say that digital SLR is producing a sharper image comparing to film. The color from DSLR is also brighter and higher in contrast. so, if you find your 10 year old negatives are not as sharp comparing to the DSLR shots now a days, I should say that it is normal.... Nevertheless, color and sharpness and contrast can be improved in the post processing easily , once it is scanned. good luck Billy.

Hi Billy
Thanks for the info. With DSLR, I don't need to scan liao. Its the thousands of old photos from my primary school days to my first digital camera that I want to archive. if the scanner can scan 1 album in 15 min, it would be best. I saw a product that sells for S$169 and allows you to scan each negative frame into a 5 mp photo in 30s. Tempted to get it but was told quality so so and the software does not allow aged-reddish colour and scratch removal.

[zk-diq]

Originally Posted by lkkang contact printing is also commonly known as index printing, meaning that you do a rough scan , on an average brightness setting common for all the prints to do a rough scan , just for the record and easy reference purpose. We use the term contact printing because we used to use place the negatives onto a glass panel and then direct contact with the paper in a darkroom, so that we are able to see all the shots ( positively ) on a sheet of 8R paper. hmm... V700 should be consider a fast scanner. If you do like 800dpi, you should be able to scan about 8 shots ( 120mm format ) in about say 2~3 mins ( sorry.. didn't actually time it before ). For a 1200dpi or higher resolution, yes.. the scanning time is longer, but.. resolution is what is needed, hence .. have to wait a bit. I am shooting with both film and digital. And I must say that digital SLR is producing a sharper image comparing to film. The color from DSLR is also brighter and higher in contrast. so, if you find your 10 year old negatives are not as sharp comparing to the DSLR shots now a days, I should say that it is normal.... Nevertheless, color and sharpness and contrast can be improved in the post processing easily , once it is scanned. good luck Billy.

I do shooting with both, the reason why DSLR is better is because your scanner is not good enough. Resolution is one thing, dynamic range is another thing. you need a very high end machine to capture the fine detail in your film.

Roger