Digital film and slide scanners....

[TommyFlockton 10]

I need to scan a box full of negs and slides so that I can get them onto cd, use them online, publish them etc. and I need a film scanner. Jessops do one for £300 with 3600dpi, and one for £200 with 2700 dpi, and there are scanners with dpi's from 1800 to 3600 on eBay.

 

What dpi res do I need to scan negs so that their quality is at least good enough for A4 with faithful colour rendition etc? And are there any other factors to consider?

Are there any hardware review sites that cover film scanners that I could visit?

thanks

[Classic Rock 10]

300dpi is about the maximum needed for print quality. If it's just one box of slides, it may be cheaper to ask the photography shop to do it for you.

[Tony Ruscoe 10]

Originally posted by Classic Rock

300dpi is about the maximum needed for print quality.

300 dpi for a photo is fine... but don't forget that negatives are much smaller, so need to be scanned in at a much higher resolution than what you'd normally scan a photo in at.

 

If you've not Googled already, you might find this link interesting as it reviews various different film scanners.

[TommyFlockton 10]

I've been told that 3600dpi on a 35mm neg = about 400dpi when scaled up to A4 - which is obviously why neg scanners have much higher optical resolutions that flatbed scanners.

 

Thanks for the link Tony, I'll give the reviews a read.

 

I don't just have a box of slides btw - I have a box full of negs and slides; hundreds of sets of negs etc.

 

I think I may buy a 2nd user scanner from eBay and then flog it back on eBay when I've done with it. Thereafter I'm going digital!