Over the last seven years as a photo scanner I’ve scanned photos, slides, negatives and a host of odd items - certificates, kids drawings, greetings cards, share certificates - the list goes on. I like to think I know what I’m doing and I’m flattered when people ask me which photo scanner they should buy. So here are my thoughts on selecting the right photo scanner.
First, what are you going to scan?
If its just a few prints the decision is quite easy, virtually any scanner will give you acceptable results. I would go for a manufacturer with a good name in the photo scanner market. For me that’s Epson, Cannon or H-P. I don’t doubt other companies make solid scanners but these companies regularly get good reviews.
If you want to scan negatives and slides then the bar has to be raised. In this case you’ll need a photo scanner with an added light source above the negative or slide. That makes the unit more complicated and so more expensive. The manufacturer won’t sell as many, so the economies of scale won’t drive the cost down much either. In terms of manufacturers Epson and H-P do combined photo scanner / slide & negative scanners. I know it is possible to put a 35mm strip or a bunch of slides on a simple flatbed and scan; you will get an image. Unless you write your own software you won’t be able to convert a scan of a colour negative into a colour positive (and you’ll always get a rotten scan) and there will never be enough light reflected through a 35mm transparency to yield a passable image. You need a purpose built 35mm negative and slide scanner.
If you only want to scan slides and/or negatives the technology landscape is a little different. Up until a few weeks ago (beginning 2010) Nikon made a range of scanners, two models for 35mm material and one for both 35mm and medium format. This was the Coolscan range with the 4000 and 5000 being the 35mm models. Sadly no longer in production you’ll have to look to eBay but expect a price tag of around £1,000 for a decent Nikon 35mm scanner.
Nikon still seem to be selling their bigger combined medium format and 35mm scanner, but you’re looking at a bill of £2,000+.
Cheap 35mm Scanners
Every so often you’ll see devices advertised that scan a single 35mm slide or negative, that connect directly to your computer via USB, and are built using components from digital cameras. They are pretty awful and in my view not worth the bother, a way to waste up to £100. Yes, I do speak from experience.
35mm via Ancient and Alternative
You will see in places such as eBay a range of old scanners, from companies no longer in the market. Many will be connect via an SCSI interface and I’m not sure that will work with Vista let alone Windows 7, so check before you bid. Being old in electronics isn’t great, printed circuits decay with age so beware. You’ll also see manufacturers of other 35mm scanners, I don’t recommend those as I’ve never read a good word about them from other photo scanners.
Dust & Scratches?
However careful Uncle Fred was with his 35mm collection believe me they’re scratched. For many years I shot 35mm on Nikon, Canon, Pentax and every single roll was scratched. Often the scratches came from the metal 35mm canisters, frequently the camera added a nice tramline as the film went through. It never made any difference to prints or slides but today, with the nature of modern photo scanning equipment, those flaws can mean hours and hours in Photoshop retouching each image.
Technology exists to overcome this, and that’s worth investing in. Nikon and some Epsons use a Kodak developed technology called Digital ICE which does a brilliant job of removing dust and scratches. H-P have their own alternative which I believe is called FARE. I’ve never used it but I certainly wouldn’t buy a scanner for film or slides that didn’t have built in infra red based scratch removal features.
Software
You can access a scanner directly from a program such as Photoshop, and of course when you buy a photo scanner you’ll get some software from the manufacturer that will drive the scanner. I’ve used Nikon’s software and Epson’s, they’re both pretty good and I wouldn’t expect you to be let down by the photos they scan. If you really want to push the boat out I’d suggest you look at SilverFast, a standalone scanner driver. You can download a trial version.
What’s so good about it? It drives most scanners to give you a better result, you have finer control over functions, you can source a version for most scanners so if you have several devices you won’t have to learn a different way of operating for each device. SilverFast also offers a software alternative to Digital ICE, a feature called SRD. It takes longer and I don’t think the results are quite as good (Silverfast would of course disagree)but it’s a lot better than spending hours retouching a scan.
On the downside it’s very expensive both initially and to keep up to date, but if you want great results ....
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For most of us £2K would be a pretty scary price to go to for a photo scanner, so a top of the range Epson V750 or the Nikon Coolscan is enough for most. But more expensive scanners are available. Some are for special purposes such as Epson’s range designed to scan A3 or greater. Hasselblad have made a range of 35mm and medium format scanners that speaking from memory started at around £12,000. These didn’t offer scratch reduction but have a great reputation for high quality scans.
Digging around on eBay you’ll come across refugees from the pre-press industry. Often these support oil mounted scanning units, this being another way to overcome dust and scratches, but you’re talking units the size of a chunky washing machine and a bill the size of a decent secondhand car. The scanner will be 10+ years old and have probably done 100,00 scans. The software is critical, it may only run on a Mac and it may no longer be supported, caveat emptor.
Conclusion
What do I recommend? Either the Epson V700 or the V750 will scan photos, scan slides and scan negatives from 35mm through medium format to 5x4. They incorporate Digital ICE and cost under £800. That would be my choice for most purposes. Just scanning photo prints a cheaper Epson or Cannon will give great results.
If you’re only scanning 35mm, and you can find one, the dedicated Nikon units will certainly save you some time. I don’t think you’d notice an improvement in scan quality but you’d save some desk space.
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