With the availability of digital SLRs at affordable prices, you might think a negative film scanner is now unnecessary. If images are now stored as RAW or JPEG formats, there aren’t any negatives to need scanning, right? There are two problems with that assumption. One, not everyone has joined the digital bandwagon. Some photographers, purists perhaps or maybe hobbyists who have too much invested in high-end film camera equipment, still use film. The general consensus is that film cameras, for someone who knows what they are doing, still produce better photographs. And two, even when photographers have switched to digital, they still have all of those negatives.
Darkrooms, however, are a different story. Photo processing software has all but eliminated the need for a darkroom. Pictures are created in seconds instead of minutes and theres no need for a special room or chemical fixing solutions. And whether someone still uses film or whether they have changed to digital but still have a library of film negatives, negative film scanners are necessary in order to get those images into a format that the photo software can handle.
A negative scanner doesn’t just produce a digital copy of the negative. It actually produces a developed photograph from the negative. In the development process, the photo software is brought into play to provide color and lighting adjustment options that you could never have in a darkroom. Perhaps best of all, if you decide you don’t like the finished product, just throw it out and start over. A scanner for negative film does nothing to the original negative.
Negative scanners sound very specialized, but they don’t have to be single-purpose items. Although newspapers or publishing companies no doubt use very specialized scanners, many brands of document scanners will also function perfectly well as a quality slide and negative scanner for an average user. Epson scanners, in particular, feature 6400 dpi resolution and produce images of exceptional quality. Many scanners incorporate features to reduce or eliminate blemishes from dust or scratches. Because of these features, photographs printed using a slide and negative scanner are often far superior to those developed directly from the negative in a photo lab.
You are probably familiar with flatbed scanners. You place the image on the glass, close the lid, and scan. Scanners which handle slides and negatives typically have a special feeder in which to insert the negative, although they can also be placed directly on the glass.
Expect to pay $100 for a nice, multipurpose slide and document scanner. For more specialized multipurpose scanners, for example with page feeders or large storage capacities, expect to pay between $300 and $500. They can easily be found for sale on the internet from reputable sites, although you would be wise to visit an office supply store to examine the model you are considering before making a purchase.
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