negative film scanner recommendations

[KingHilary]

Hello guys,

Have any of you got recommendations on a reasonable scanner to digitize an old collection of kodachromes and photo negatives. I was hoping for one not too big, as there are already three flatbed scanners in the study.

The driver behind this initiatve, besides the feeling that I should try to preserve some of our better pre-digital days photos, is our family's recent involvement in one of the kid's school projects. We have been filming interviews going back to WWII years involving the relatives, and piecing together footage with old photographs and their oral histories.

........One of those things you think would be good to do before it is too late, but it took a school assignment to get it going.

Anyway, I saw that ALDI has a flatbed scanner with negative adaptor for about two hundred dollars, but I thought some of you may have done this kind of thing and would know what to watch out for.

cheers,

K.H.

[merovingian]

I've got an HP C7180 multi-function. It's now discontinued, but the C7200 is probably much the same. I went with the C7180 mainly because it seemed to be a superior scanner (out of the multi-functions) at the time: 4800dpi optical resolution, and able to scan prints, slides and negatives. It also didn't hurt that cashback deals were going at the time, so I got it sub-$300.

Anyway, I have in fact been (slowly) digitizing the old photos, just as you intend to. I haven't yet scanned any negatives, because I have heaps of prints for which the negatives no longer exist. But I have scanned many slides, and the quality was better than scanning the associated prints.

Overall, the scanning quality has been very good. Only gripe has been dust on the glass - it's very hard not to suffer speckling in dark areas of photos.

The worst thing about the whole exercise is inventing and inserting Date Picture Taken info so that the scans show up in the correct timeline under Media Center. This has been a lot easier with Vista's Photo Gallery, than it ever was under XP.

[KingHilary]

Thanks Merovingian,

Just now looking at my thread title, it looks like I am wanting to hear negative comments. Thats not really what I meant. Thanks for your thoughts. I might just look around for a dedicated film scanner though, as there are already two multifunctions and a flatbed only scanner in this room. Actually as I look around ,two, ...no three desktops and three laptops in various states of repair....

WAF will hit the floor if she finds out I am thinking about another piece of equipment.

KH