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Film Production  » Advantages of Using a Dedicated Film Scanner for your Negatives

Advantages of Using a Dedicated Film Scanner for your Negatives

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Film Scanning has become a necessary piece of equipment for the

digital darkroom that enables the photographer to continue to

shoot pictures the traditional way with film and slides. The

scanner allows you to convert the film to digital files and take

advantage of the use of software editing, enhnancing and

publishing. There are some clear advantages to using a dedicated

film Scanner over a flatbed scanner when scanning film or slide

negative transparencies. Both a film scanner and flatbed scanner

operate using a light source and sensors that scan through the

transparency. A dedicated film scanner utilizes a transmissive

light source while a flatbed scanner uses a reflective light

source. A transmissive light source is a direct linear light

source that reflects through the transparency. A reflective

light also shines through the transparency, however it is

contained or diffused under the glass bed of the scanner and

relected off another surface. This is the lid or top surface of

the flatbed scanner. The result is greater density and clarity

scanned from the transmissive light from a dedicated film

scanner. Current higher quality flatbed scanners offer

transparency and negative holders and often include an

additional light source on the lid to mimic the transmissive

light. However, the ultimate operation of a flatbed scanner is

still very similar to that of a copy machine. Although some may

see an advantage in the flatbed scanner to scan batch negatives

or slides quickly, the disadvantge becomes the ability to

customize each individual slide or negative that may have

different densities or exposure. With a dedicated film scanner,

you have the ability to expose or scan each frame at varying

degrees of resolutions and corrections. Most dedicated film

scanners also offer the batch feature as well. Two main

components are essential for a quality scan: resolution and

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dynamic range. Resolution is the mesurement of pixels the

scanner can capture within the scan. Dynamic range is the degree

of tonality that is captured within the scan. Most dedicated

film scanners offer dynamic ranges greater than 3.6 with 0, the

purest white and 4.0, the deepest black. While flatbed scanners

have improved greatly in the past few years with higher

resolutions, you must be careful on those claiming very high

resolutions. This is often interpolated resolution or in simple

terms, the scanner guesses on the number of pixels rather than

contain the true optical pickup of pixels in the film scanning

process. Author: Kimberly Renter Copyright, 2005 Owner of a

Film, Photo and Slde Scanning Service at http://filmnfile.com

This site also offers more scanning information and a forum to

discuss photography. email at inquiries@filmnfile.com

About the author:

Amateur photographer and owner of a web-based Film, Slide and

Photo Scanning Service. Have worked