B&W Scanning

[TeddyLoves]

first of all, how's your budget? do you only have 35mm or you have MF as well?
if you only scann 35mm, i think the Nikon Coolscan V, or a KM Dimage Elite 5400 II is a slightly better one, although there are such things as the Nikon 9000ED, or better yet, even the Imacon Flextight series ...

[TeddyLoves]

i find the only downside with coolscan v is that it dont do batch scanning. if you dont mind that, then it is a great scanner.
these scanners have digital ICE, which is useful for dust removing, but it does not work with B&W film.
i believe Vuescan & Silverfast are among the best scanning softwares.

PS: if you have are going to scan a lot of Kodachromes, maybe you should read this topic

[rob young]

Thanks guys

I have had a look at the Vuescan site and it looks like it is very good value for money.

[rob young]

Hi All,
I upgraded to digital a few years ago, but have a legacy of about 30 year’s worth of 35mm negatives. The vast majority of my negs are black and white. Does anyone have a recommendation for the best scanner/software combination for getting good results from b&w negative scans?

[rob young]

Thanks for the information.

It is virtually all 35mm neg film. I don't make any money from my photography (though I do exhibit every now and then) so the Imacon range is way out of the budget, though they do look like a very handy piece of equipment.


I am also in Australia, so the exchange rate doesn't help either. From the ones you mentioned, the Coolscan V would fit into the budget.

Is the supplied software good for b&w. There have been some discussions here about the benefits of using third-party software.

[Ray]

The problem in evaluating scanners is that there are 3 huge variables, any one of which can skew the results greatly, (1) hardware quality, (2) scanning software quality, (3) operator skill.

My favourite scanning software would have to be Vuescan. I like the fact that for the professional version which is almost double the price of the standard version but still inexpensive, there's a one off payment required of less than US$100 that includes a lifetime of free upgrades and works on just about any scanner you are likely to use. I'm using Vuescan with a Nikon 8000ED, an Epson 4990 flatbed and a 5 years old Epson Perfection 1200. Should I decide to get a Minolta 5400 ll, it'll work on that too.

I think this must be the best value software I've ever bought. To get my Perfection 1200 to work on a Win XP system, I had to download the latest drivers from the Epson site in the UK (the American site seems to have dumped support for the 1200). The software works fine, except it's pathetically limited in its range of adjustments. Vuescan is 500% better.

ICE4 with the Nikon 8000 does not produce a perfect result with Kodachromes (slight double edge here and there), but Vuescan's infrared dust and scratch removal and grain reduction works just fine.