Storing 35mm negatives on computer

[Ida]

Hello

Can anyone tell me whether it's possible to scan and store film negatives on computer, and then print digital images from them.

What software would I need to do this (if it exists), and would it be expensive? Also what would the quality of the resulting images be like?

As you can probably tell from my question, I don't know much about digital processing; so if anyone's kind enough to reply to this post, could you please make your answer idiot-proof.

Thanks

[NickCantle]

Well I used to use a good negative scanner, which connects to your computer, to scan my negs. Then once scanned, the file can be edited an editing suite of your choice. I personally get the best results with Photoshop as I find it easy to adjust colours and neg marks.

Nick

[ron1863]

Here's a link Ida:

Veho VFS-001me Film And Negative Scanner 1sec One Touch Scanning 5MP Resolution USB 2.0 Vista MeSoftware - VFS-001ME - www.microdirect.co.uk

[Ida]

Thanks very much for your help, Nick and Ron - most kind.

Now all I have to do is motivate myself to start sorting through hundreds and hundreds of old photos and negs....

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by ron1863

Here's a link Ida:

Veho VFS-001me Film And Negative Scanner 1sec One Touch Scanning 5MP Resolution USB 2.0 Vista MeSoftware - VFS-001ME - www.microdirect.co.uk

I'd do a bit of research on that one - I seem to recall bad reports on it, or something similar.

Jim

[foxy mars]

I've a lot of 35mm colour slides and would love to have them on computer and see them on screen. I did get of them slide viewers from Jessops, but it is bit limited in size. My friend has one of these HP Scanjet G3110 Photo Scanner and seemed to be very good for the price.

[Ida]

Thanks Jim and Foxy!

I'll definitley do a bit of research before I buy a scanner, and it's always good to know that someone's had experience of a particular make/model.

[Geoff F]

I use one of the Epson Perfection scanners which have a negative/slide option. Works reasonably well but perhaps not quite as good as the best of the specialised negative scanners. But you do get a standard print/document scanner as well.

Scan at a high resolution; 3600 ppi is commonly recommended. Most films will require a little colour correction and sharpening but this is easily achieved with standard photo editing software. Resize the images to, say, 300ppi after scanning.

After scanning, I found that a lot of my 'reject' film photos weren't really too bad. They were simply ruined by poor printing.

[Gaina]

Originally Posted by Geoff F

I use one of the Epson Perfection scanners which have a negative/slide option. Works reasonably well but perhaps not quite as good as the best of the specialised negative scanners. But you do get a standard print/document scanner as well.

Scan at a high resolution; 3600 ppi is commonly recommended. Most films will require a little colour correction and sharpening but this is easily achieved with standard photo editing software. Resize the images to, say, 300ppi after scanning.

After scanning, I found that a lot of my 'reject' film photos weren't really too bad. They were simply ruined by poor printing.

Geoff, I was just going to recommend that one too . I love mine, I have a 'Perfection 2480 Photo' and it does a great job on standard documents and negatives for me, and I can always 'tweak' negatives in photoshop if I want to.

[Ida]

Thanks Geoff and Gaina - that's really helpful advice.