High res 35mm scanning services

[OzGFK]

Hey guys, sorry if this has been answered before, I have done a search on the site and have seen the recommended places to get ilm scanned. I normally get film processed and scanned at Ruby for WB and slides, and colour at Konota. Both places produce scanned files that are only about 3MB in size at the high res scanning option. Firstly, I don't know why they charge more for a higher scanning option, but they have a pricelist so I guess I think they are not ripping off me. Anyway, I am quite disappointed with the files from both places, surely if film is supposed to be quite detailed to produce large prints, then the file sizes would be bigger then 3MB. Currently these file sizes and quality are not good enough to produce large prints and I have read other sites which talk about 8-10MB files.

Any thoughts?

 

[crispy12]

Have you considered buying your own scanner? What type of film are you scanning?

 

[OzGFK]

Hey mate, I forgot I posted this! I just use normal 35mm negative and slide film. I guess I could try scanning myself. Know any decent options?

 

[raytoei]

hi,

if you are an occasional shooter, say a roll a week or two weeks,
then having it sent for scanning may be the way to go.
there are a few options, konota, triple-d, fotohub are all good options.

if you shoot a bit more, then the economics is skewed towards self-development (assuming B&W)
and self-scanning.

Development today costs around 4.50 to 6 sgd depending on where you go.
For scanning, you can get a canon or epson scanner with ONE 35mm holder around 200-300 sgd.
For example, see this old advert http://static1.singapore-promotions...inters-LaserShot-imageCLASS-Lide-Scanners.jpg

of course, there are higher end scanners which are worth-while as well.
So you should budget what you can afford
and of coss upgrade when you can afford to go higher end.

there are many variables when it comes to scanning quality, eg. jpg vs tiff, 8bit vs 16bit etc, and also resolution.
For example, i scan at 2400 dpi at 8bit B&W, my images are 2000x3000, this works out to be around 6-7mb tiff file.
However, if i were to go jpg, it drops to 2-3mb only. So filesize is a good start but it isn't definitive.

hope this helps.

raytoei

 

[zhixun]

hi,

if you are an occasional shooter, say a roll a week or two weeks,
then having it sent for scanning may be the way to go.
there are a few options, konota, triple-d, fotohub are all good options.

if you shoot a bit more, then the economics is skewed towards self-development (assuming B&W)
and self-scanning.

Development today costs around 4.50 to 6 sgd depending on where you go.
For scanning, you can get a canon or epson scanner with ONE 35mm holder around 200-300 sgd.
For example, see this old advert http://static1.singapore-promotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Laser-Printers-LaserShot-imageCLASS-Lide-Scanners.jpg

of course, there are higher end scanners which are worth-while as well.
So you should budget what you can afford
and of coss upgrade when you can afford to go higher end.

there are many variables when it comes to scanning quality, eg. jpg vs tiff, 8bit vs 16bit etc, and also resolution.
For example, i scan at 2400 dpi at 8bit B&W, my images are 2000x3000, this works out to be around 6-7mb tiff file.
However, if i were to go jpg, it drops to 2-3mb only. So filesize is a good start but it isn't definitive.

hope this helps.

raytoei

Hi raytoei

Thx for ur help even though i am jus a passerby. For those scanner u stated they will jus take in the film automatically frm the canister and convert it to soft copy?

Million thanks for ur advise as i feel really lost venturing into films .

 

[raytoei]

yes.

film -> negative, you use a dark bag to put film into a tank.
then you take out your tank from the bag, pour in the
chemicals and develop the film. once it becomes a negative
you can remove the negative from the tank in the open.

negative into soft copy, you put the negative into the
negative holder provided by the scanner, and you scan it.
depending on your settings, the file can be in jpg or tiff etc.



raytoei

 

[zhixun]

yes.

film -> negative, you use a dark bag to put film into a tank.
then you take out your tank from the bag, pour in the
chemicals and develop the film. once it becomes a negative
you can remove the negative from the tank in the open.

negative into soft copy, you put the negative into the
negative holder provided by the scanner, and you scan it.
depending on your settings, the file can be in jpg or tiff etc.

raytoei

A million thanks.

 

[NazgulKing]

If you are willing to fork out cash and wait, Precision Camera (just google) in the US does very good scanning. Files are 26MB Jpeg. A lot of data. Scans are good enough to do this:


San Francisco silhouette by NazgulKing, on Flickr

 

[losheng]

Scanning is extremely time consuming, and the amount of time needed increases with higher res. So labs charge more for higher res scans to compensate for the amount of time needed to do the job. Most minilabs use Noritsu or Frontier systems. Those machines produce scans that are good enough to make prints with the dry/wet machines in the minilab. The quality of these scans, however, especially in the smoothness of tonality, is not as good as the ones from dedicated film scanners like the Coolscans. Or at least I have never seen scans from these machines that match what I get from a Coolscan.

Kgston provides very high quality scanning service, using a Coolscan 9000. He advertises his service on Clubsnap and you should get in touch with him.

 

[artspraken]

Unless you got 4,000 bucks to spend on Coolscan (if u can find one):

Choose between Plustek 7600 and Epson v700

Choose between Vuescan and Silverfast

Rest is reading up how to use

Cost is abt $400 bucks

 

[Vittra]

Epsom 700 is like 900 bucks.

 

[NazgulKing]

Scanning is extremely time consuming, and the amount of time needed increases with higher res. So labs charge more for higher res scans to compensate for the amount of time needed to do the job. Most minilabs use Noritsu or Frontier systems. Those machines produce scans that are good enough to make prints with the dry/wet machines in the minilab. The quality of these scans, however, especially in the smoothness of tonality, is not as good as the ones from dedicated film scanners like the Coolscans. Or at least I have never seen scans from these machines that match what I get from a Coolscan.

Kgston provides very high quality scanning service, using a Coolscan 9000. He advertises his service on Clubsnap and you should get in touch with him.

Last I talked to him via PM, he said he was stopping the service for the time being I think.

 

[kgston]

Last I talked to him via PM, he said he was stopping the service for the time being I think.

Service is back online; scanning only though.. no BW development