Film Scanners - How to Choose One
Aug/090
Film scanners are essentially miniature versions of the machines professional photo shops use to scan photo negatives and slides to create digital images that regular photo stores can print. The advantage of film scanners is that the images they produce are extremely high quality.
You’ll find they are more expensive than flatbed scanners found at your typical computer store. And if you decide to buy a used one you’ll find it retains it’s value, meaning you may be able to resell it at a good price.
Unlike their flatbed counterparts, which may be able to handle media of various sizes and thicknesses and can even scan film if a transparency adapter is installed, film scanners scan only one thing: film. Because they are too small to accept traditional photo prints they’re designed to accommodate only slides and negatives. Drum scanners are the oldest and the most expensive types of scanners and are used for high end scanning.
I am first going to discuss the major benefit of using a slide scanner. They are great if you’ve got a large amount of slides or film to scan. This is usually the case if you had a large collection of negatives from your film camera. Although, it can be very tedious to scan all your negatives. The preferred option for the 35mm slide scanners is an automatic slide feeder for batch processing. Film scanners are made for the sole and express purpose of scanning film directly into your computer.
Dust, scratches and surface defects are common problems and some of the better slide scanners offer software solutions, which can identify and remove marks without altering original detail. Better quality scanners also offer the ability to scan and store images with an increased amount of colors (larger color depth). Dust and scratches show up as shadows. Based on the real scanned image the software is able to distinguish shadows or scratches from real image structures and removes them automatically.
You’ll find if you take the time to decide your specific needs you will locate a film scanner that is right for you.