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General discussion

SCANNING old old negatives

Feb 22, 2005 11:39PM PST

I have lots (tons)of inherited old, old B&W negatives. Some are 2in by 4in, some are other sizes. Are these considered large format. does anyone know if the CANOSCAN 9950f will scan these? or is there another scanner that will. Someone told me that these are also called transparancies, but to me they are negatives. What is the best way to do this. i already have a HP 6300c but the small slide adapter is too small for the negatives. thanks Kathy

Discussion is locked

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Since it's rated for both transparencies and negatives,
Feb 23, 2005 6:35AM PST

it should do a fine job for you. Your odd sizes preclude a film or slide scanner, so you must use a flatbed that can accomodate the sizes. One key is hardware or software which will convert color negatives properly. The Canon says it can do that.

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old negatives
Feb 23, 2005 11:44AM PST

the negatives are all black and white. Will the transparancy adapter take this do you think?

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Epson 4870
Mar 13, 2005 7:48AM PST

I bought this scanner about 6 months ago specifically to deal with a large batch of old, odd-sized black and white negatives from a family collection. I haven't been disappointed. It is a flatbed, but has a separate unit for scanning film and transparencies in the lid of the scanner. Some of my negatives fit into the 4 negative holders that come with the scanner. For the larger ones, I purchased a piece of anti-Newton ring glass (~$20) at a photo supply store and placed that on top of the negative. See the results at: http://www.wilkinscreek.com/gallery/JHS_project (all images scanned with the 4870).

Hope this helps - John
scaife@alum.mit.edu