Scanner expert needed, please

[chinakay]

Okay. I have in my possession a bazillion old negatives, some of them from the 1920s. My old scanner could handle them fine, and even had a "reverse colours" feature that gave me a fine positive. But...alas...the scanner went belly-up and I bought an Epson Perfection V100 Photo.....which will not do negatives! Oh, there's a neg holder, but most of mine are oversized and won't fit. I have tried fooling the scanner, but all I end up with is a blocky, super-pixellated mess that even Polldoll can't fix. And if Polldoll can't fix it, it can't be fixed.

So......I've decided to treat myself to another scanner. If...if...there's one that doesn't require putting the negs in a plastic holder etc. Gadget just posted this thread:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,122341.0.html

and I notice that the scanner in question is 4 years old now, and may not even be available any more.

So, does anyone know of a scanner that will do what I need it to do? Any ideas? Much obliged, if you can help.

Cheers,
China

[Chorlton]

That other topic you quoted mentions The CanoScan 8400F which states that it handles:  12 x 35mm transparencies

Compare this to the current "CanoScan 8800F" (SRP Inc VAT:  £ 149.00) which quotes: Adapter for 12x 35mm filmstrip, 4x 35mm slides, 120 format. It also supports 120 format film (max.6x22cm).
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Scanners/Flatbed_with_Film_Scanning/canoscan_8800f/index.asp

I don't know much about this, but it does appear similar.

[chinakay]

Ah, well, no good then...maybe I can dig up an 8400 somewhere...maybe they're still available.

Thanks Chorlton.

Cheers,
China

[PrueM]

Hi China,
I've got an Epson Perfection Photo 4480 (I think....not at home so can't check) which I bought last year specifically because it could scan negs.  It has holders for 35mm and medium format negs, and 35mm film strips.  I have quite a few old 1920s-40s medium format negs, but they are not always a regular size, so they don't fit in the holder.  So I just do without the holder, and place the neg on the platen in line with the light in the lid, and voila!  Perfect scans. 

Looks like that model has been superseded by this one, but they seem to be very similar (if not virtually identical):

http://www.epson.com.au/products/scanner/perfection4490photo.asp

Prue

[JeanH]

I have the reverse of this problem.  My negatives are from the old Instamatic camera and are too narrow to fit in my scanner.  Will try and get round this eventually when Vista problems sorted.
By the way, just got a new scanner from Argos, price about £69.99.  A CanonScan 4400F.  This beats a lot of the more expensive models, as it scans negatives and has the ability to scan OCR.  Brilliant scanner.

[chinakay]

Hi Prue....I've been round and round this problem on the Photo board A bunch of my negs are about 3x5, and laying them on the scanner bed does not work. If I don't use the plastic holder hte scanner will not function, and demands that I replace the holder. I managed to fool it once, don't remember how, and got a black neg with a narrow little strip of light up the middle.

I tried scanning them as photos, with a desk lamp shining through and the lid up, and this was the result:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,284347.0.html
&
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,284415.0.html

I have negs that I have never seen...very valuable, if only to me. So I need a scanner that doesn't insist on one of those plastic holders.

So...the 4480, does it have a full-sized light in the lid, or only a strip the size of the holder?

Cheers,
C

[PrueM]

Hi China,
Now I'm at home I can tell you it is the 4490 that I've got.

The light in the lid is a strip down the middle, most of the length of the lid, but only 8cm wide.  Your 3 x 5 negs should just squeeze into that.    To keep them flat on the platen/stop them moving around, if needed, I use a strip of paper across each end of the neg, and attach that to the platen with a tiny bit of sticky tape.  Then I clean the platen afterwards with a bit of metho or window cleaner.