Flatbed scanner or dedicated film scanner?

[charvy]

Hi all,


Wld like to know what are the significant differences b/w a flatbed film scanner (with cartridge) and a dedicated film scanner beside the price? The advantages/disadvantages?

Am asking on behalf of my colleague who's looking to scan in bunch of negatives.. and I'm ignorant abt scanners so can't really advise her out.. any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[charvy]

shucks! made a typo mistake in the subject thread and i can't edit it.. ......

 

[Adam Goi]

Originally posted by charvy
shucks! made a typo mistake in the subject thread and i can't edit it.. ......

No worries. Done.

 

[ST1100]

i have a flatbed scanner w negative-adapter (Epson Perfection 1200) as well as a dedicated neg scanner (Acer 2720S). i've tried both to scan negs.

The flatbed - cannot make it. It claims 1200 (?) dpi, but in reality there is not real extra info after 300/600 dpi. This has been proven by many people in various websites. That's a few years back. Today's flatbeds i don't know, but i quite confidently say that any flatbed which equals the resolution/quality of a dedicated scanner costs enough to buy a car, easily.

The film scanner is in the $600-$4000 range; at least most of the off-the-shelf ones are, in Singapore. They give much better results, but the learning curve involved is about equivalent of 1 module in the university. Perhaps more.

Perhaps you can ask your collegue what the final output of the scan is. Eg, large prints, small prints, graphics work, etc. Ask her if she's willing to consider 4R prints instead - much eaasier n cheaper.

 

[charvy]

Originally posted by AdamGoi
No worries. Done.

thanks Adam!

 

[charvy]

Originally posted by ST1100
i have a flatbed scanner w negative-adapter (Epson Perfection 1200) as well as a dedicated neg scanner (Acer 2720S). i've tried both to scan negs.

The flatbed - cannot make it. It claims 1200 (?) dpi, but in reality there is not real extra info after 300/600 dpi. This has been proven by many people in various websites. That's a few years back. Today's flatbeds i don't know, but i quite confidently say that any flatbed which equals the resolution/quality of a dedicated scanner costs enough to buy a car, easily.

The film scanner is in the $600-$4000 range; at least most of the off-the-shelf ones are, in Singapore. They give much better results, but the learning curve involved is about equivalent of 1 module in the university. Perhaps more.

Perhaps you can ask your collegue what the final output of the scan is. Eg, large prints, small prints, graphics work, etc. Ask her if she's willing to consider 4R prints instead - much eaasier n cheaper.

Thanks for ur reply..

She actually has 16 years of negatives to scan (for archival purposes) cuz she wanna dump it as it takes up space.. So she's looking at a Canon D1250U2F which is abt $235 as compared to a minolta scan dual II which is almost double its price..

So I guess a flatbed scanner will be more suitable for her needs?

 

[vince123123]

actually i wont recommend u throw away ur negs for watever reason...if ur digital scans die for watever reason u have a backup still.

 

[Scorp]

if it's for archival purposes, you need a dedicated scanner. else, the quality churned out by non-dedicated scanners are not going to suffice. you're better off keeping your negs!

 

[jtnet]

Originally posted by charvy
Thanks for ur reply..

She actually has 16 years of negatives to scan (for archival purposes) cuz she wanna dump it as it takes up space.. So she's looking at a Canon D1250U2F which is abt $235 as compared to a minolta scan dual II which is almost double its price..

So I guess a flatbed scanner will be more suitable for her needs?

if she need it only for archival, she can always rent it, or engrage some scanning service.

here's the link from another forum:

http://www.offstone.com/photo/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4663