Neg scanners: dedicated or flatbed?

[liberty]

I'm in the market for a negative scanner as I have 1,000s of negatives that need digitising but in terms of quality and speed which should I get: a dedicated slide/neg scanner or a flatbed scanner that can scan negs?

I have just brought the Epson perfection 4490 and I'm quite pleased with it.

 

[Helen Back]

I have just brought the Epson perfection 4490 and I'm quite pleased with it.

Bit out my price range. I should be taking delivery of my £50 jobbie from Play.com tomorrow.

I also have some old 120 sized negatives from a Kodak Brownie box camera. I'm going to hold them up against a flat screen PC monitor with the brightness and contrast turned way up as a light source, a bit of tracing paper to diffuse the light and take a photo of the negative using the close-up function of my camera. Tested it last night, works a treat.

 

[Leica]

I'm going to hold them up against a flat screen PC monitor with the brightness and contrast turned way up as a light source

Alternatively, you could stick the negative on a window pane.

 

[Helen Back]

Alternatively, you could stick the negative on a window pane.

That was one thought but the light levels these days is only good for doing that for a few hours easch day IF it's a nice sunny day. A monitor can be used as a light box any time and with a consistant level.

 

[Leica]

True. The monitor sounds like a great idea in theory
How are you holding up the negative? Just curious.

 

[Helen Back]

True. The monitor sounds like a great idea in theory
How are you holding up the negative? Just curious.

I've got a piece of screen-sized cardboard (cut from a cereal box) with a 120 sized hole in the centre. The negative is held in place against that hole by a little bit of double-sided sticky tape, just enough to hold it. The negatives are slightly larger than the hole.

 

[Leica]

Clever