Scanner recommendations for nearly 2 decades of family 35mm film

[BradSmith]

.......I`m getting near the end of scanning 30 years worth of 35mm negatives and slides and have thoroughly enjoyed the whole process......

Dave,
How many will you have done on completion?
Brad

[Mark D Segal]

............My Epson 3200 Photo flatbed scanner holds 12 negatives in the negative holder.  ...........

Brad

This is not the only scenario. With an Epson V850 and the optional Fluid Mount Accessory you can simply lay the negatives on the mount (no need for the fluid if they are flat, or otherwise held down with a piece of Museum Glass) - up to 18 at a time, then use the SilverFast "Frame>Find Frames" feature to correctly delineate all the frames at once with two mouse-clicks. This eliminates all the time spent using film holders, but of course they still need to be emptied from and replaced into their sleeves - that part is unavoidable.

[BradSmith]

Mark,
That would be quicker.  Probably the quickest way I've heard of.     How long do you think a round trip from storage to scanned, then back to storage would take for those 18 negatives?
Brad

[Mark D Segal]

Hi Brad,

Never done a time-and-motion study of this particular set of operations - but you what? Not a bad idea to haul out the stop-watch and do it. But first I need a spec from you - what resolution, linear dimensions (output from 35mm negs) and bit-depth would you like to see for such a test? The specs, for example, could be say a 9*6 linear photo at 360PPI (ideal for Epson printers) and 16-bit depth. This combination of settings would generate a 40MB file. But if done at 8-bit, it would be about a 20MB file. Of course if the colour working space will be ProPhoto, one should automatically scan at 16-bit depth. So let me know what specs I should test and I'll revert.

[David Good]

Several years ago I was tasked with scanning 40+ carousels of 35mm transparencies. This took me over a year but there was no rush. This was with an LS9000 and Vuescan, loading five at a time, applying a custom profile and converting to John Holmes Ekta Space. If I were to do it again and did not already have a scanner I would look into one that could bulk load such as the LS5000 which has an optional 50 slide feeder. Patience helps.....

[Mark D Segal]

Patience helps.....

And money. You're into the range of 2000~2500 for the scanner and the slide bulk loader USED, no warranty. But it's a very good scanner.

[David Good]

Mark, I hadn't looked up the used prices, that's nearly what I paid for the larger unit new! It certainly makes the flatbed option (ie Epson V850)more economical and from your articles can deliver very good results. I must admit to never using a flatbed to scan negs or trans. My point about patience remains though, it's gonna take a long time to do.

[Mark D Segal]

Oh - no question - and one has to decide going into that it's a worthwhile use of time; otherwise an outsourcing service would be the appropriate solution.

[dave.phillips]

Dave,
How many will you have done on completion?
Brad

Hi Brad.I`ve not really thought about how many but a quick calculation gives me around 24,000.I still have from 2008 up to the present to scan but by then I was shooting much less film.I would think maybe another 4,0000 give or take.

Thanks for your interest.In luminous Landscape I`ve found a valuable resource to join my membership of CiC and a few other brand specific fora.

Kind regards,Dave.