BW negative scanner for apple

[mob]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and hope to gain a lot of knowledge. I wish to begin scanning my old BW negatives into my apple computer. Are there any recommendation on basic scanners. I do not wish to spend an arm and a leg on a scanner. I do have a couple of hundred negative but once I am done I am done. I very rarely shot in film anymore.

I was also wondering if it would be better to use a service to have the negative scanned but have learned there are not many companies working with BW due to dust and scratches.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MOB

[mistermonday]

MOB, welcome to Retouch Pro! I don't think the issue is B&W vs Color - it probably has more to do with format. Are the negatives 35mm or other size?
Regards, Murray

[TommyO]

I haven't heard of any services avoiding b&W's. Their fees can be cost prohibitive when scanning large numbers of slides. At $3 to $5 per slide, many users elect to buy a scanner and use it again or resell it.

The real problem will be time. Slides are slow to scan and getting the software to crop the images properly proves difficult for most first-time users. If you don't scan slides often, you're looking at spending roughly an hour per slide (not per tray) in total, from start to finish. That does not include retouch. So, as you can see it could mean many many days (or weeks) in front of the computer. It may be easier to spend the one-time fee and use a service, especially if they run a special.

[mob]

The negative are 35mm.

After reading TommyO's comments I should rethink. I do think I would like to try and scan. Are there any places that allow one to walk in and try to scan or does it require a huge investment to get the equipment. I can also see there is a serious time commitment. Thanks for the input so far.