Photo Restoration - - Newbie needs help w/110 format!

MadiTheKat · #1 08-22-2005, 03:55 PM

I have a box of 110 negatives that are mostly pics I haven't even seen that my mom gave me. I want to preserve and archive them. I have been told that the only good way to get these onto CD or DVD is to make slides out of them and then scan them. The only place I have found a 110 slide 2" X 2" mount is at gepe.com or I can buy through the US at bhphotovideo.com.

The only problem is that the slide made by Gepe is metal and glass. The few slides I have seen in my life were almost cardboard, you know, like for presentations. That is more what I am looking for as I have about 1500 individual images in the 110 format and I was planning to send them to an independent lab to have them scanned. (They need to be mounted before I send them.)

<sigh> Any suggestions??

Thanks!
Mary

Swampy · #2 08-22-2005, 04:10 PM

An independent lab may be the way to go, but it could get expensive. Especially if you ask them to clean them before scanning them.

MadiTheKat · #3 08-22-2005, 04:24 PM

Swampy,
<sigh> I know. I have gotten pricing from a few places. I thought about buying a Nikon 9000 myself. But then I thought about all of the time and energy that would go into each negative. I am 8 months pregnant with my third boy, I just don't think it is feasible at this time. I have been weighing both options. And who knows, I may wait a few more years so that I can do it myself. I just worry about how much further the negatives will degrade. Is it worth it? I just don't know right now.

Thank you for your reply and concern though.

Mary

Caitlin · #4 08-22-2005, 05:41 PM

Mounting the 110 negs is only going to make scanning easier - but if you are going to mount them yourself, I'd be doubtful it would actually save you time in the long run. It will probably take the same time to scan them as mount them! I've tried scanning some 110 negs myself just flat on the scanner and the results weren't that good, but I wouldn't think any better in a mount either.

If you have 1500 of them, have you considered getting a light box, loop, and selecting just some to copy? Copying 1500 negs will be extraordinarily expensive, and chances are 2/3rds of them may be of landscapes, or out of focus.

(Actually, another thought: I know that viewing negs is very hard, the other thing you could do is start off by making proof sheets from your negs - simply by laying the strips neg on the scanner (as many as will fit) and scanning all as one image. Probably at 300%. This way you can view them in positive, and it's fairly quick (certainly a lot quicker than scanning them all individually). Once you've created proof sheets for them all, from that you can pick out which ones you want to scan properly.

opps - another edit - this is of course assuming you have a transparency scanner with a large transparency area - probably a reasonable investment given how much this project will cost you overall. The Epson higher range ones are good.

Flora · #5 08-22-2005, 06:02 PM

Hi Mary,

Welcome to RP!

I can't help you at all with this

... I simply barged in to let you know I've deleted the twin Thread you had posted on the Help Forum as nobody had reacted there ....

Mike · #6 08-22-2005, 08:55 PM

Based on experiances that I have had with customers bringing me boxes full of either negs or slides (or both) to do something with, I would advise devising some method of trying to pick through and weed out the "bad" ones. It seems to me that most folks shoot in either a "one shot is all I need" or a "if one is good, 3 or 4 more will be better" mode.

Then of course all the senic shots of ???? (no one remembers where or when). Also the shots of all the old friends, whose names we have forgotton. And of course the frames with improper exposure, fuzzy etc.

So my point is, pick out the frames that you really want, then carry on with them. I would not however throw the others away, maybe just sort them out and place them in files with names like "senics", "unknown people" etc.

Good luck.

Kraellin · #7 08-22-2005, 09:42 PM

there is no need to mount your negatives to slides, at least not if you're willing to buy a decent negative scanner.

you do NOT generally want to use a common flatbed scanner to scan negatives. at least, this has been my experience to date. even with their negative adapters, the resolution just isnt good enough. i havent used or tried every flatbed scanner out there, so take that last statement with a grain of salt. there may well be some decent ones... i just havent seen one yet.

you can find decent scanners that will do the normal 35 mm film and slides, but also medium and large format including transparencies up to full standard page sizes. i'd suggest starting at someplace like the Epson web site and looking at their scanners.

when looking for a negative scanner you want resolution, the higher the better. i wouldnt go with anything less than 1800 dpi. a normal flatbed scanner may have a high resolution scan for normal prints, but when they do negatives, something changes, and i'm not quite sure why. so, make sure you check out their specs for the negatives and not just for prints.

here's an Epson page that has one scanner that looks like it might suit:
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/c...o&oid=49164280

ok, that was a horrible paste.

the point is, there are scanners that will work, and there are scanners that might make a dog's breakfast of things. do some homework on this. a simple google search on 'negative scanners' will turn up some good leads.

you shld also be able to find some links to services that could do what you want. compare the service price to the scanner price and bear in mind you have 1500 negatives times the service price per negative. so, even if you find one that charges only 30 cents per negative, 1500 times .30 is $450.00. that might well buy you a pretty decent scanner that you now own.

Craig

edit: another option is a light box and a good digital camera with a macro lens.

GaryRP · #8 08-23-2005, 12:17 AM

I have used an Epson 4870 Photo Scanner to scan 110 negs ... (I think this scanner has now been superceded by the 4900 series?) ... It does a decent job at 4000 DPI ... but I would not be trying to get any large prints from the scan ... They do tend to be a little soft ....

Caitlin · #9 08-23-2005, 02:56 AM

I can back Gary up on his experiences with the Epson 4870. That is the model I use at work and it does really nice 35mm, medium & large format. 110 is a slightly different matter of course, as the quality just isn't there to begin with. I'm not even sure if a dedicated film scanner would take this format?? (Having not used one, I'm just guessing though)

MadiTheKat · #10 08-23-2005, 08:53 AM

Well, thanks to you all for your replys. I do have a Nikon LS2000. I think the highest res is 2700 dpi. I tried using it a couple of years ago for the 110, but I don't have a mount for the 110 film. I had the 35mm neg mount that came with it. I tried using that, but the color was so off... very blue.

I considered getting the new Nikon 5000 or 9000 because it would cost about the same as sending them to a lab. But then I have to find the time to learn the new software and equipment. I was wondering where to get a good flatbed that I could scan them with. But I have had quite a few "good" ones over the last five years and they all get dust in them. I always have to touch up photos that I scan. Admittedly I never scanned negs on any of my scanners. I have the "HP psc 2510 photosmart" right now. I think I will try Caitlin's thought of a proofsheet. And I will also look at the Epson site.

Thanks again!

Cassidy · #11 08-23-2005, 09:04 AM

It may be worth your while to hire a high end scanner just for a weekend to achieve the result you are looking for.