Scanning film in London

[sizifo]

Hi.

I was wondering if anybody had a tip on getting 120 film scanned in london (england).

I'm not really interested in printing from the scans. It's just that previously I had the a whole B&W darkroom printing setup, that I had to leave behind. Now I'd just be interested in getting the films scanned in order to view the photos on the computer, as a temporary solution. When budget allows I am planning to get a decent scanner.

At the moment I know: Jessops charges 14 pounds for a film (and for some reason 8 if they develop it themselves, which I don't want). Snappy snapz charges something equally ridiculous for 2mb jpegs.

There must be better solutions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lars]

If I were you I would ask around with my friends in London if anyone has an Epson flatbed that I could borrow for a few hours.

 

[sizifo]

Yes, something like that is an option. Though I'd most prefer a place that does scans for something like 5 pounds per 120 film, an no need to bother anybody. I don't shoot that much anyway at the moment..

On the other hand - maybe I could get one of these cheapo scanners. Do you have any particular such flatbed in mind, that costs less than 200 pounds, and would yield consistent results without too much experience? I'm talking just web quality here. Consistency and ease of use would be important, since I'm sort of afraid of getting into something that I can imagine would be a huge time drain.

Not that getting into darkroom printing in the bathroom isn't the biggest time drain known to man...

 

[Lars]

Epson 4490 scans MF up to 6x12 and lists for 156 pounds:

http://www.epson.co.uk/scanners/Epson-Perfection-4490-Photo-Scanner_specs.htm

It even does Digital ICE which is a huge time saver. Expect moderate resolution like 1000-2000 dpi, not the nominal 4800 dpi.

 

[sizifo]

Thanks - does seem like a good idea. Didn't take much to get convinced. It's on the way, 120 pounds from amazon.

One more question...

How do you deal with the over-optimistic resolution? Tell the scanner to scan at less? Downsample? Or just keep the huge files?

 

[Lars]

Thanks - does seem like a good idea. Didn't take much to get convinced. It's on the way, 120 pounds from amazon.

One more question...

How do you deal with the over-optimistic resolution? Tell the scanner to scan at less? Downsample? Or just keep the huge files?

Hehe shoot from the hip no hesitation :toocool:

If the scanner is soft it captures a wider area for each pixel. So all you need to do is scan at a lower resolution. Basically, step down in resolution until the scan is almost sharp, then try sharpening to see if you can extract more detail. It probably looks great at 1200 dpi, maybe OK at 2400.