Topic: Filmscanner

[Clive]

Mrs Clive has seen an advert (it's also in the Dream catalogue) for a PrimeFilm photo scanner which can scan negatives and reproduce them as originals.  Is there any advantage to having one of these since she already has a scanner and this thing costs £130.

[Adept]

What model of scanner do you have Clive? If memory serves me correctly it's an Epson of some kind isn't it?

[Clive]

What a good memory you have Adept!    Yes, it's a Packard Bell Diamond 1200 plus.  If it's any help I have a Cannon N670U which she could use.

[Adept]

Hmm... Could've sworn you had an Epson   :-[

OK the difference between a film scanner and an ordinary A4 flatbed one is usually optical resolution.

An ordinary scanner can usually be fitted with a film holder so that it can scan negatives and slides. However up until recently the optical resolution of these scanners wasn't really up to the job.

With the introduction of true optical 2400dpi and even 4800dpi flatbed scanners, you can now buy a multi-purpose scanner that will scan negatives and slides perfectly. However these scanners can be more expensive than some of the cheaper dedicated film scanners.

If you have a lot of film you wish to scan then a film scanner will do the job better than a flatbed scanner. But if you want to scan negatives, slides, photos, magazine articles and do OCR etc. a flatbed is the best choice.

[Clive]

Thanks Adept.  I've passed the information on to Mrs Clive.  She wants to use it to scan negatives and old family photos.  However, the one she saw advertised only has 1800 dpi optical resolution so it's not a particularly good one is it?  Yet again pc-pals has come up with the right advice at the right time.