One of the less often talked about pieces of equipment used in photography is the scanner for negative film, a bridging product between old film-based photography and newer digital photography. Both methods have their merits and drawbacks, and if you’re uncertain about which to go with, you may be overwhelmed by having to make a decision. However, negative film scanners can ease the pressure by allowing you to get the best of both worlds, instead of picking and choosing. The basic intention and operation for these machines is to take film-based photography and turn it into digital-based pictures. In a sense, it’s very little different from using a copy machine, which most readers are probably somewhat familiar with.
A negative film scanner works by analyzing the colors of the film, then illuminating the negatives with a cold cathode lamp and reflecting the picture through a series of mirrors, filters, and lenses to get the right overall effect for maximum accurate translation. Finally, the information is turned into electronic signals and sent to your computer. This has varies upsides compared to ordinary ways of developing film. Firstly, you don’t have to go to a film development shop to see your pictures! And you don’t need a darkroom. All you have to do is buy a negative scanner and use it in the comfort of your own home, right next to your computer. Another advantage is the added control the device gives to photography. The development and translation to digital format is a single streamlined process, rather than a clunky two-step develop first, then scan in procedure. This lets you edit your pictures on the computer more accurately and efficiently, to get just the look you want for the end result. Since a slide and negative scanner can be purchased for as little as fifty dollars, and easily fits on any computer desk, they’re an easy addition to your workplace office or home. If you have traditional film-based cameras available, accompanying them with a scanner is a very natural thing to do to bring the oldschool into the modern world.
But why should you even bother? Why make the commitment to an extra piece of equipment when you can just ditch negative film scanners and ditch film-based cameras for digital ones? Well, it’s certainly a convenient and less expensive way to go, but all-digital photography has its own price to pay. The digital camera market is absolutely packed with subpar models that can’t leave up to their marketing promises. Ask any professional photographer, and he’ll tell you that most digital cameras simply make bad pictures. And the few, elite digital cameras that can create quality on a level with film cameras tend to be even more expensive than their film-based counterparts! If you don’t care about your pictures looking good, then getting a scanner is definitely overkill. But if you want to take pictures that look beautiful while also having the advantages of the digital medium, a scanner is an indispensable tool.
Comments on this entry are closed.