Scanning Black & White Negatives
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- Опубліковано 5 січ 2015
- Scanning Black & White Negatives: Photographer Dave Vickers shows how to scan negatives into your computer. This allows you to then work on the images and archives them just in case the worst should happen to you originals. Scanning the negative will also allow for larger prints to be made than would be possible in a traditional darkroom.
/ thephotoshow
www.photocoordinates.co.uk
Thanks for this very informative video. I was a professional ski photographer in my earlier years and I have thousands of B&W negatives that I would like to print via your method of first scanning these negatives into usable files without going back into the darkroom. Thanks so much!
Shiny side up, upside down! That brings back so many memories!
Hi Capt Mike, yes it reminds me of my darkroom days as well. Thank you for watching, have fun Dave.
This is the first video I've seen on this subject with the EXACT same scanner I have. Many thanks and great info!
+Courts Griner My pleasure, thank you for watching.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I didn't know I could go into the advanced settings and change over to black and white. I don't have that many pictures of my parent's wedding in 1954 and found some black and white negatives. I was scanning them on the color settings and they just come out kind of like an x-ray. So grateful for your instructions!
Hi Remcat, I am glad the video was useful, scanning your parent's wedding photos is a lovely idea. Thank you for watching, stay safe, Dave.
Regina Mullen(Linked Comment) reply: The only downsides I have found scanning the B/W negatives in colour is firstly the file sizes are much bigger and if the negatives have marks or damage these sometimes show as a colour mark. Scanning in colour does allow you to add tints like sepia toning to the images as well.
I bet your school friends loved you putting up a 30 odd year old photo of them! Great video that kept it simple.
I'm sure they wouldn't mind too much. Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
I read that Epson says to mount the film with the slight bow upwards, not downwards as you did. When curved down, it could touch the flatbed. I have a set of anti-newton glass coming for this scanner which should completely flatted the negs, hopefully netting better focus. Side benefit: I'll no longer need to futz with the lousy snap-in top film holder part. The 4490 is old but still relevant today, with some operational caveats.
That is brilliant, I have found marks on some scans from the glass, thank you for the great tip. Have fun, Dave.
Been scanning the same settings, but in color...which opens up some interesting possibilities. It adds a step (although it's easy to convert in Lightroom/Silver Efex), but wondering if there a downside to scanning in color in terms of preserving negative information? Thanks!
Nice one Dave!
mamiyapress Thank you very much.
so to scan them you have to have a negative bracket and a special scanner that shines through the top.
Just learning, thanks, very informative
+Diane Bilbrey Thank you for your comment, have fun.
what a wonderful photo that is dave of times gone by cheers from trev
Thank you Trevor. It was so long ago that I was at one of the guys 50th birthday recently! Have a great Christmas, Dave.
thank you dave a and sorry i forgot to wish you a happy christ mas and i look forward to more of your films . time seems to fly by i am 69 at the moment i never thought i would get this far but still here so all the best from trev
so if something does happen to the orig negatives, can u still develop it with it scanned? i have very old large single square negs from the twenties
thanks Dave - heck of a good image that
Hi Simon, thank you very much. Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
Hello Dave and The Photo Show team, what would be a contemporary equivalent of the Epson scanner you're using? Would you recommend the Epson Perfection V550 Photo Film and Document Scanner? thanks a mill and great tutorial, very simple and straightforward!
Hi Miki, the two modern equivalent scanners are the Epson V370 and V550, both will scan negatives and transparencies. I think that the V370 will only scan 35mm where as the V550 will also do medium format. I hope that helps. Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
how cool is that! thanks
+ReviveUK My pleasure, thank you for your comment.
does it have to be in the holder? i don't have one nor is my film strips
Aaah I'd love to have seen you scan all the images off this negative so we could see the bikes from 1983 :)
Hi Steve, I probably have a print sitting around somewhere, I'll have a look and see what they were. My guess would be a couple of Grifters and bmx's! Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
I think I may have deleted my comments, didn’t intend to, not really sure how this works so forgive me if I did. Anyway, the concert pictures I mentioned were mostly taken in the Los Angeles area in 1972 and 1973. I’ve got many negative strips which have been stored for all those years in glassine envelopes, so they should be in good shape. They were all shot with available light, Tri-X film pushed to 1600 ASA (Accufine developer if I recall correctly) quality of photos is very good, not grainy. Also have Humble Pie, John Mayall, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Elton John, T-Rex, Joe Cocker, Bad Company, and others. Hopefully I can get them scanned.
No problem, I can still read it here. That is an amazing collection of artists! I was in LA back in September and had a fantastic time. Let me know how you get on with getting the negatives scanned I would love to see the results.
Thanks Dave - I have used my Epson V370 to good effect with 35mm negs and slides, but I have just found some 60 year old b&W negatives that measure 3.6" x 2.5". I have managed to get part of them scanned by putting them into the scanning channel (without the holding frame) but would love to get the entire photos scanned. Any suggestions very welcome please … Thanks, James
Hi James, really great question. If it were me I would probably try and scan the negative twice, once for each half and then combine them in Photoshop. If both sections are scanned at the same settings the files should be the same dimensions and be fairly easy to line up. The finished image would not only be complete but also a much larger image file. If you do not use Photoshop another method would be to use a computer monitor as a light box by bringing up a white page, like a blank word document. Then carefully tape the negative on the screen and photograph it on your camera. The image file could then inverted to give a positive image. I hope this is useful, let me know how it goes. Thanks for watching, have fun, Dave.
Appreciate your reply, thanks. Im going to go for an Epson V600 and see how that goes. Best, James
Thank you.
No problem at all, I am glad the video was useful.Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave
Thank you Dave for the tutorial. I've been having a problem with my scanner as I scan in black and white negatives, I am getting a streak or line down the length of the image. I haven't noticed this before with any of my color scans, as I thought, this must be the scanner for sure...such as a compromised photo scan cell...or something of that nature. I took a good look at the negatives, and they don't have any scratches or lines down them, so what is going on? Am I making a mistake somewhere?
Whether I scan at a lower resolution or a higher resolution, I still get this streak down all of my scanned images. It's driving me crazy, because I then have to clean up each image individually in Photoshop after all the scanning is done. Granted, I have to do some clean-up anyway, due to the age of the negatives, scratches and some dust etc., but if my color image scans are not getting this streak down them, and the black and white images are...then what is going on? Any thoughts?
Thank you for any suggestions or comments or thoughts on this phenomenon.
+Blaise Gauba I have noticed on some negatives that I also get a line across the image, on mine it seems to be that the old negatives do not lay completely flat and are causing a reflection from the scanner. Have you tried scanning the B/W negs as colour? It may cure the issue and would be easily converted to B/W in Photoshop. Good luck, Dave.
+The Photo Show Oh...that's interesting scanning as color instead of black and white. I'm going to try that. Thank you.
this is incredible. they look like photos......... omg
Hi I have a the epson perfection 4990 and do a great deal of scanning of old negs just as you have demonstrated so clearly in this excellent video. However when I batch scan 35mm negs on the thumbnail setting, my scanner always cuts off a large amount of the short side of each neg giving a scan of say 3000px x 1700 px instead of the correct 3000 x 2000 ratio. Ive spent ages online with Epson who tell me it cant be avoided but when I use vuescan software there is no problem. Anyway | did a quick screen measure on your scanned image and it looked to be in a perfect 3x2 ratio, so what have I been doing wrong all these years? or do I just have a bad machine?? John
Hi John, I have had similar problems scanning some negatives. The answer I found was to flip the strip of negatives around and re-scan them, it does mean they are upside down on the preview but you can rotate that before the full scan or flip it back in Photoshop. It did not work 100% of the time but did on most negs that failed to scan fully. I think the fact that it is really a home use scanner and not a professional level item, I can forgive the occasional blip. If this doesn't work check in the software settings that it is set for 35mm and not medium format, that would also cause issues. Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
Do you find it necessary to do much adjustment to the levels when it is in Photoshop or do they look correct without any adjustments?
Hi Mark, it really depends on the negative and how much you want to work on it. I do often adjust the levels to give a bit more contrast. Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
Can I ask scan negatives of color photos? 3.5cm size
Great image
Hi Tony, thank you, it is one of my favourite photos, even though I took it when I was 16! Thanks for watching, have fun, Dave.
On 35mm black-and white negatives I prefer to use 6400 dpi at 16-bit.
I agree the higher the setting the larger the image quality. I had so many to scan that I picked settings that would give great results and let me stop before 2016.
The Epson 4490 only has a hardware resolution of 4800 dpi on the horizontal; it's mostly pointless going higher on that model.
I just came across many B&W negs my parents had squirreled away in the 50's. I was hoping to find out how to get these digitally instead of breaking out the enlarger and chemicals! As your helpful video is a few years old now, I was wondering if you could recommend a good quality printer for this task. I am making the assumption that the one used in this video is no longer available or that there is a better model now available. Many thanks for taking the time to make this video. Now, I will look around to see if you have provided instructions on the basics of using photoshop to clean up the scanned image!
Hi Bruce, I am really glad that the video was useful. I have so many negatives to scan when I get the time. Epson have a few scanners that will scan film, the V550 and V600 models look like good for the job. I recently made a similar video for colour negatives, in which I clean the images in Photoshop. Here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/F3ZuJs9hhEY/v-deo.html Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
Do you have a video on how to touch up the scanned result? I can't seem to find one. If you haven't created such a video, is there a video you would recommend?
Hi Bruce, I did reply to your original message. I have another video on scanning colour negs and in that I do a basic clean up of the images. Here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/F3ZuJs9hhEY/v-deo.html . It would be very similar to what I would do with B/W negs. It looks like a good idea for me to make a separate video as well. Have fun, Dave.
Thanks! Sorry I looked at the title and saw Scanning Colour Negs and thought it was just a scanning video.
No problem at all, you have given a great suggestion for another video, Dave.
Thanks
No problem at all, I am glad the video was useful.Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
Do I need a film cell?
Hi Erika, you will need film negatives or transparencies to scan. Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
where do buy this scanner and tool to scan them?
Hi Patricia, the model in the video is an older version. If you search for the Epson Perfection V550 or V600 these are the updated versions. You should be able to buy them from Amazon. Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.
does this mean i don't really have to develop my film? and i can just scan them like this?
+NewGirl BlueGirl you have to develop them first
Can I just put the negative in the scanner with out the holder? seems unnecessary .
+Everyday Vegan The holder keeps the negative straight and prevents it from pressing against the glass of the scanner.
Thank you.
My pleasure.
Hi where can I get a viewer for 120 black and white negatives? Hope someone can help
Hi Richard, are you thinking of a 120 version of the old slide viewers that you used to hold up to the light? I'm not sure I have ever come across a 120 version. Most things that allow you to view negatives, these days tend to be scanners as well. A simple way is to use your computer like a light box by opening a blank page, word etc. And using the light from the screen to see your negatives. Thank you for watching, stay safe, Dave.
@@ThePhotoShow it's for old black and white negatives of the 1950s and earlier. Negatives are about 2-3" square.
@@richardw5375 Yes they would be 2 1/4 inch square. I found this from Amazon:
www.amazon.co.uk/Photo-Plus-Portable-Viewer-Format/dp/B009VPOTK2
None of the images looked like a negative to me. It seems your scanner converts the negatives and produces a positive image. I need to convert a scanned nagative to a positive image.
+thra5herxb12s On my scanner, if you choose to scan a negative, it automatically converts the image to a positive. If you use Photoshop or other editing software it is very easy to convert a negative to a positive simply by choosing to invert the image. In Photoshop pressing Ctrl+i on your keyboard will invert the image.
+The Photo Show Yes I see now. I am using a basic printer/scanner. No wonder I'm not getting anywhere. I have now downloaded PICASA for photo editing Thanks for explaining.
+thra5herxb12s In PICASA import the negative image, click on the green tab and choose 'invert colours'. You should now have a positive image. Good luck, Dave.
The Photo Show I am looking at pictures of my Great Grandparents that died in the 50s before I was born. My Dad never had any photos of them just the negs. Many thanks.
+thra5herxb12s My pleasure, I am glad it worked for you.
i only have 600 dpi gonna try it
+NewGirl BlueGirl mine still look like negatives. i guess i need a better scanner
+NewGirl BlueGirl The film would still need to be developed but this allows you to turn them into digital files that can be viewed and edited on a computer. The scanner needs to have a second light in the lid so that it can pass through the negative to scan. Some scanners will scan the larger negatives, the one in the video will work with medium format film, usually 2 1/4 inch square. If you have managed to scan them and they still look like negatives, then most editing software will allow you to invert the image and get a positive image. Hope this helped. have fun, Dave.
Not done correctly, to preserve the scan
Hi e pc, can you let us know what was incorrect and we can all learn something? Thank you for watching, have fun, Dave.