 BetterPhoto Member |
How Good Are Those Scanners With Slide Attachement I am new to photography and I thought it may be a good idea to purchase a scanner, say from HP which has a peripheral attachment for 35mm negatives. I would take my roll of 35mm film and just have the negatives developed. I would scan the negative into my PC and if they looked promising I could then take the negative back to the lab and have it professionally developed. This would save a newbie like me the expense of paying for a whole roll of film when there may not even be a single picture worth developing. What do you think? (I need to purchase a scanner for personal use anyway, I just am not sure of the quality of the scanned negative.)
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doug Nelson |
As long as you need a flatbed, anyway, get a model with negative and slide scanning capability. The Epsons in the $300-600 range receive good reviews. I can't give you a fair evaluation of HP's offerings, because I haven't used one or read anything about them. You would want a scanning resolution of at least 2400 pixels-per-inch to do this. Ignore any interpolated resolution figures scanner makers give you. You might have your color negative film developed and only a contact sheet made, with no prints. The Ritz stores and others can do this. You might also get just a set of the cheapest prints as a reference. You seem to be talking about scanning the negs and using the scans only as an evaluation tool. With a $150 inkjet printer, and some elementary processing in Elements 2, you could be making your own prints that will usually be better than the lab's.
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Michael Harrington |
I could not agree with Doug more. I bought an Epson 2450 last year in hopes of scanning my old slides from Vietnam, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and the good ol' USA. I was thrilled with the results. I printed so many with absolutely breath-taking clarity. My children (adults)loved it as now they can show them to their children on CD or DVD, or print out what they like. I no longer go to any photolab. Just color pro labs for special shots and developing.
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Michael Harrington |
Oh, by the way....you can see the results for yourself at my webshots page in the "My Travels in Asia" album. Also see the Grand Canyon album. http://community.webshots.com/user/pops_91710 Have fun! Mike Harrington
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Michael Harrington |
Oh, by the way....you can see the results for yourself at my webshots page in the "My Travels in Asia" album. Also see the Grand Canyon album. http://community.webshots.com/user/pops_91710 Have fun! Mike Harrington
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Jill |
I use a HP ScanJet 5370C which has the attachment for scanning negatives or slides. I am unable to get professional looking prints but I believe the fault lies with my printer (HP DeskJet 882C)not the scanner. Unless I'm doing something wrong. The printer can make all the difference can't it?
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Michael Harrington |
Jill, The proof is in the monitor. How it looks on the monitor will reveal the quality of the scan. If you have a good monitor (CRT), and they look good, then the scanner is doing well. Even a great printer cannot help a bad scanner. Photo quality printers are so reasonably priced now. I'd look into a new one if the monitor shows a good scan. Hope this helps you.
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