With both digital cameras and their more traditional film counterparts having their advantages, many photographers are turning to the negative film scanner as a means to bridge the gap between the two. There’s no contesting that digital photography is more convenient, with the abandonment of dark rooms and rolls of film along with the ease of editing and sharing images. On the other hand, a seasoned camera pro can get better pictures from a film camera. Negative film scanners hold hands with the two methods, by allowing camera film to be scanned into computers and translated directly to digital formats without any go-between clutter.
Of course, you don’t absolutely have to have a film scanner to do this. You can simply have the photos developed as usual and then use an ordinary scanner to scan them in. However, scanning in the physical object that is the photograph is clunky, and offers less precise control. Most people interested in photography to any serious extent will prefer a scanner for negative film because they retain more direct power over the presentation of the picture during the conversion process. For instance, these scanners typically allow specifications for cropping and aspect ratio. In addition, all but the lowest-end of negative scanners will offer photography-specific software for editing out blemishes and flaws from grain to dust motes and scratches. If you care about the quality of your photos enough to use a non-digital camera in the first place, going without a specialized film scanner is positively senseless. In contrast, casual camera-users will most likely be content with their lower-quality digital cameras and complete lack of scanning utilities, with quality sacrificed absolutely for convenience.
Many scanners will accept slides as well as camera negatives, and a good slide and negative scanner will have a set of interchangeable loaders customized for different picture source types and sizes. The range is generally 35 mm, 120, and individual slides, with the latter sometimes being accommodated even down to microscope levels. The more sophisticated of these scanners can scan through individual slides on their own without supervision, streamlining the process for the comfort of the user.
The high-resolution and other quality advantages of such scanners is not without a price, however. The machines are sufficiently sensitive that even dust that is invisible on casual inspection can interfere with accurate translation of the negatives or slides. Even the smallest specks can seem very noticeable at the resolutions scanners commonly operate with! Various methods have been developed to combat this drawback, such as the median filter and infrared cleaning. Median filters, less formally called the despeckle function, remove the blemish and ‘guess’ at the approximate look of the pixel beneath it. This is an imperfect method that tends to harm the detail of the picture, however, but it can be useful in the right situations, and is very easy to use. Infrared cleaning is much more precise, and adeptly filters out the dust and scratches from the actual picture through infrared radiation.
Unfortunately, infrared cleaning carries with it the significant drawback of not functioning at all on pure black and white films based on silver particles. But aside from that rather sizable nit, it’s an excellent method for getting the best quality picture possible. So long as you’re aware of the limitations of the technology before purchasing, you have every reason to be happy with whatever scanner you end up with.
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