In this age and day where everyone and their mother (literally) is flashing their digital cameras encapturing 1000's of photos it is annoying for people like myself looking at all the boxes containing 35mm negatives and mounted slides.
The second Law of Thermodynamics comes out to play
Every month passing without anything is done with my old precious, the quality of the poor old photos is degrading. Typically noticed on the paper copies first, but the processed films are vulnerable too. If you are like me, photographs is one of the greatest tools we have that help us maintain our memory, it is Your Life sitting there beeing degraded gradually. I for one am not letting that happen!
Scratches, fingermarks, dust that sticks, sunlight, the odd drops of Coca Cola (!) - or even worse - frightens any keen hobby photographer to the bones.
Fortunately I do not need Cyborg Implants to salvage my 35mm's and keep my memory all Fresh and Cool
So, OK a few weeks back I decided to get my hands on a decent 35mm Film Scanner for home use. This post is the first in a series that hopefully will be useful to other keen photographers.
I ordered a Plustek OpticFilm 7600i from a German web shop after reading some reviews and checking around. I live in Oslo, Norway (northernmost European country for those of you not staring at the globe map all day) - so ordering electronics from the US is often not possible.
If you are in the US or otherwise able to, I would recommend ordering from Amazon.com as they have a nice selection of Plustek film scanners.The box contains the Scanner, a Carrying Bag, One Mounted Slide Holder for 35mm slides, One Filmstrip holder for 35mm standard negative film, an USB cable, a Power Adapter, Quick Guide, Scanner Software on CD-ROM (LaserSoft SilverFast), Setup CD for scanner driver and other utility applications.
Plustek OpticFilm 7600i Box Content
The Scanner itself has a nice size and fits in rather tight places, but you will need at least 25 cm (that should be about 8 inches for any US readers dropping by) on each side. The film holder fits in a hinged slot and you have to manually move it sideways to advance from one picture and the next. If you do not have enough space on the sides you might damage the holders as they are a bit fragile beeing made of plastic (spare holders are easily available though).
The bag is OK, a bit stiff and not superb quality, but I did not buy this thing for the bag anyways so why worry about it.
The installation of the drivers and scanner software all went nicely, but you absolutely not have to install the utility program Presto Page Manager. It might well confuse you more than it helps you. But it is free bundle for those are into these things.
Up and Ready for play!
After a few minutes everything was setup nicely and I was ready to dig my old boxes of film from the basement! I must admit I was excited as a child on Christmas Eve :)
The film scanner on the right hand side of my cramped desk!
On the computer screen I am playing music from Spotify so don't get confused.
The film mount holder has room for 35mm films with up to 6 photos. Normally I have strips holding from 1 to 4 photos. A lot of my old films are a bit bulgy, having a u-shaped form. This makes placing the film into the holder a bit awkward, but practice helps. The holder contains just a open slot so the film slides sideways wuite easily too, until you close the hinged lid. Then it sits firmly.
Mounting 35mm film in the holder
I have now spent quite a few hours experimenting and scanning negative films and in a later post I will share a little of my experience and show some results.
NEXT: Scanning 35 mm film with Plustek OpticFilm 7600i - First impressions
Check the Wolverine F2D 35mm Slides and Negatives to digital image converter. Takes less than 4 seconds per image and does not require a computer to operate, very very simple. See link below:
ReplyDeletewww.wolverinedata.com/F2D
$99.99 + free shipping with coupon