Are Professional Scans Worth It?
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- Shipping your film off to a professional lab can be quiet costly quickly, especially when you're shooting more than just a handful of film rolls. However, the other side, scanning your film at home, can be a cumbersome task that takes up a good chunk of your free time. That being said, both have their pros and cons, and in this video we'll look to see just how much of a difference does a costly professional scanner vs. an epson v600 make. After, we break down how you know if you should bite the bullet and be scanning your own film at home, or just be sending it to a pro lab.
0:00 intro
1:44 scanning 120 film
5:47 comparing 120 scans
6:54 scanning 35mm
9:13 comparing 35mm scans
11:14 who needs pro scans?
15:30 outro
Keaton:
/ bazooka_mouth
#filmphotography #35mm #filmcamera - Навчання та стиль
I use the Plustek 120. It’s a beast when it comes to home scanning and it does auto batch scans. Very high quality results and better than any of the labs I’ve used thus far.
I considered that scanner but just switched from Primefilm XAS to the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED. Really nothing better than home scans mostly because you get to tweak scans to your taste.
@@cggg490 The Nikon is a huge flex. I would’ve went with the Nikon, only thing that stopped me was not being about to find a new one. Plustek still manufactures new hardware and releases newer models which is extremely rare to see 🙏🏾
Does silver fast support it now? I always heard that it got really weird colors
@@trippwilsonphoto silver fast ships with Plustek. You can use it for conversions or you can use it strictly for the raw scans…which is what I do. I often manually covert my raw scans but sometimes will use negative lab pro
@@inkaststudio yeah but what I'm asking is if it works now, I had seen a lot of people saying the 120 isn't supported by that software and that it shipped with a different software that cost really weird color casts
Great video dude! I love my Epson for 120 film, but I haven't been super happy with it for 35mm. I'm starting to get comfortable with scanning with my mirrorless camera though! I wish there was a way to take camera scans and put them into Silverfast because I love the way Silverfast renders colors and tones.
Yeah, I refuse to scan 35mm in the Epson. My hands are too big and the trays are too finicky for me to have the patience for 35mm, haha.
I haven't ventured into the world of scanning mine on my own yet. Good information here! Thanks.
Where have you been sending out your film? Same lab for the last handful of years?
@@metalfingersfilm The Darkroom never lets me down - and to be honest, I love their app. Super handy!
Really good breakdown of the differences: I only shoot 35mm atm so picked up a plustek opticfilm for about £200. In the uk developing and scanning is about £20 a roll and it’ll be 3 weeks before I see the scans but I can get 24 hour development (no scans) for £5 and I work from home so can scan during my breaks etc.
For me home scanning makes the most sense because it halves the total cost of a roll, is quicker and gives me more control of the final images. But other’s with more disposable income and less disposable time will probably prefer lab scans etc
Yeah being able to scan from home while working remote is a blessing, haha. Cool to see so many people using a variety of different at home scanners!
I began scanning my own film at home three years ago when I took film shooting it again. I used a lab for a short while for both developing and scanning but it’s just too expensive and it takes a few days at least. I began with a Primefilm XAS Super Edition and it was challenging because there’s no one to “teach you” except by following online tutorials and a lot of trial and error. However with the Primefilm, it took nearly 5 hours to scan a whole roll pushing it to the max to get the most resolution. I finally just switched to a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED which can do a whole roll at 4000 dpi in about an hour or so. Quality of scans are significantly better. There is nothing like a dedicated scanner and really do not like DSLR scanning. Not even interested in it.
Yeah DSLR scanning seems to be very polarizing, so many people saying it's the only way to go, and many people who don't want to go that route. You think the Primefilm scanner has been worth the learning curve?
Wow, totally misread that you just switched to a Nikon. Man, what a beast. Has that been worth it so far?
yea i have the coolscan V, amazing results like the 5000 just slower. Digital ICE is the best. i have a lab in town with 24 hour turnaround so i just develop there and get to scanning. takes about 2 hours in .NEF raw format
I love professional lab results but I like having the ability to Color correct and tune my photos myself . I used to use a flatbed but now I use a valoi easy35 for my 35mm and I got an EFH kit during BFD for my 120 film. Both are a relatively fast process compared to a flatbed.
At the end of the day cleaning dust off is probably the most time consuming and boring part of the job. The easy35 does an an amazing job removing dust before it gets into the scanning area. I do need to figure a way to keep get my EFH workflow more dust free.
I think DSLR scanning is a good long-term solution for both results and speed, if you can afford to have a decent digital camera along with your film gear. I home develop black and white but lab develop color (necessary in my opinion). Develop only saves a lot of money at the lab!!
Yeah seems to be a digital scanning setup is the move for the future. Thankfully it seems to be more accessible than ever to be using or creating a setup to use!
any opinions on getting unconverted scans from the lab?
Hehe it's crazy you don't use Negative Lab pro still:p It's amazing man. You get more control in your scans and you can batch convert negatives:)
I know I know, I keep hearing how much better it is. I think you've all convinced me, haha
@@metalfingersfilmYea! It is an amazing software. And it is developed by one developer only. You support him and his support to the film community.He gives free software updates aswell.
@@metalfingersfilm it's one of the best $99 I've ever spent. Using it for 3 years straight and there's no competition.
DSLR scanning + Negative Lab Pro
Seems to be the consensus choice, haha
I recently bought a v550 epson and trying to scan 35mm is a hassle. I also got negative lab pro and it over cooks the colors. Especially if it’s under exposed. Definitely in my opinion scanning with a flatbed is only for 120 negatives.
Nice video, but you should have mentioned the third option. I've had several flatbed and other dedicated scanners thru the years, but now use a digital camera exclusively. It is much faster with an overall better workflow than a flatbed. And if you want a really high res scan you can always send it out.
Thanks for the suggestion Tim! I have a dedicated digital camera scanning video coming soon, maybe I'll compare all three!
a DSLR + macrolens and the cinestill cinelight will be far far sharper than an epson scan for 35mm. With negative lab pro, the colours are also already decent without further editing. I've experimented for years trying to do decent 35mm scans at home, even almost quitting film out of frustration but nothing beats a dslr scan with a good lightsource as a diy solution without breaking the bank for a highend scanner.
The epson v600 with negative lab pro does the job for me with 120 film and my instax wide. My local lab scans all my color 35mm film on a Noritsu scanner, I can't compete with scans on my epson v600. I do scan all of my 35mm black and white on my epson v600. I found scanning to be both cumbersome and enjoyable. It does save a lot of money over time if you can scan at home. Have you tried anything other than a epson v600 to scan your film?
Yeah when its serious work or any landscape that I'm going to print, it's going to get scanned on a Noritsu or Frontier. That being said, when I'm just scanning rolls that don't mean as much, I don't mind doing the smaller, less professional scans.
I've tried digital camera scanning from a custom built copy setup, and will probably look at that venture in the future, as it seems to render the best results for the price point, in my opinion.
So you recommend getting high-resolution Jpegs from the labs or Tiffs?
If you have enough digital storage, Tiffs all day.
Thank you for taking the time to reply and that's great to know 😀
You mention SilverFast as being free. How do I get it for free?
Hard to find Nikon 5000ED/9000ED in labs. Frontier and HS1800 are rubbish when compared to these scanners. 😂
Bruh, V600 had Digital ICE. If you are shooting color and not using NLP, there really isn't any reason not to use it.
Only worth it it you're shooting professionally, since negatives can get lost in shipment.
With the Easy35 from Valoi and an old $250 Olympus EM5ii I get ~50mp raw files. They're better than any lab. It's actually bizarre to me that you're talking about traditional scanners at all.
That’s for a video coming soon ;)
On a real note, I think there’s a ton of people still scanning on flatbeds, which is what this is aimed for. I’m gonna be checking out some of those other products in a video in the near future!
Also, we're talkign about a >$200 scanning setup versus over $500 with a camera scanner.
@@metalfingersfilm Well, a lot of folks are already going to have a digital camera, and there are many ways to set up a light box to get the scanning done. I also know from first hand experience that an S21 phone shooting raw makes better 35mm conversions than a v850, so even a phone is going offer advantages over traditional scanner. With property tuned height you'll get 2350ppi out of a V600, 2740ppi out of a V850 in terms of optical resolution, so ~7.5mp for the V600, and 10.5 for the 850.
I have gone beyond crazy on this stuff - I scanned Adox CMS 20 with and A7R4 on composite mode. I have hands-on with the PIE XAs, V600, V850, PIE Pro 3650, Nikon Coolscan 5000 with Silver fast AI and VueScan. For software I've used *everything*. DxO, Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One, Topaz Photo AI, Luminar Neo, Silkypix and for film inversion featues in particular, NLP, Negmaster BR, Filmlabapp Desktop 3, Silverfast Negafix, and Silkypix Pro.
I mention this as some of these may not be on your radar. Negmaster BR, in particular, deserves far more fanfare.
Having tested literally everything the last several years as my OCD went nuts, where am I at now for 35mm and MF?
PC tethered camera shooting, negatives passed through a Kinetronics staticvac directly into the Easy35 or the Blackbox120 -> Adobe Bridge -> Negmaster BR Inversion -> DxO for final tweaks.
I will literally never pay subscription fees and I hate Adobe. Bridge is currently free, and enables Negmaster. I am also really impressed by Filmlabapp Desktop v3, and am close to switching. I don't want to even use the free Adobe stuff, because that could change it any moment. Negmaster, NLP, and Filmlabapp are all excellent. Silverfast, as part of the major deliverables for version 10 release, is updating the film stock profiles for Negafix. As it stands, Silverfast is unusable for inversion. Silkypix is the one I feel like nobody knows about. It as a dedicated subsystem for film inversion, where you pick the film border just like a negative lab pro and it does the inversion. It doesn't tweak things nearly as much as others, but it's a solid alternative, probably owing to the fact that it's a Japanese company.
At any rate, my coffee is gone and I need to go use the snow blower now. Hopefully some of that rambling was useful. Have a good one sir.
Wow lots of great information here! Would love to know more about your phone scanning setup! Sounds like a really interesting video idea! Appreciate the comment and time! Lots of snow here in Wisconsin as well, so I feel you there!
I’m sorry but what’s the point of shooting film if you do not process and scan them yourself? Being able to trick the final result during development and scanning it’s one of the reasons why shooting film for me. Just imagine if you shoot digital and somebody else edit the images for you… nonsense
Several reason why not the least of which is time. I really hate how snobbish film shooters are. It’s just repugnant. I develop and scan my own film but I’m not gonna judge others for using labs for both.
You can easily get more flat scans from the lab, which allow much more creative freedom, much like a raw digital image.