Settings to scan 35mm Negatives ????

[kirbinster]

I have an Epson Perfection V500 scanner with negative tray and would like to start scanning lots of old 35mm negatives I have laying around. What is the best way to do this? What resolution and DPI settings should I use? Am I best to use the software that comes with the scanner, or is there better software to use for this task?

[OsmosisStudios]

My mother just purchased one and has been using it for a while: I've yet to lay may hands on it. I'll ask her when I get home thursday and PM you.

[Jim Bryant]

I scan my negatives/slides on a Canoscan FS 4000, USB. Normally, I set it for 2000dpi, (it goes up to 4000), but takes too damn long to scan. Then I save as a TIFF. I get big files, but I want the best quality for retouching purposes.

[Thunder_o_b]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

I have an Epson Perfection V500 scanner with negative tray and would like to start scanning lots of old 35mm negatives I have laying around. What is the best way to do this? What resolution and DPI settings should I use? Am I best to use the software that comes with the scanner, or is there better software to use for this task?

If you have lots of film and slides, and you are scanning with the intent of producing the best possible prints you would be better served in your effort in getting a dedicated slide/film scanner. All flat bed scanners are a compromise in this area.
This is the one that I have, and it gives outstanding files for printing.

Plustek OpticFilm 7600i SE Scanner 60-A29-BBM310-C B&H Photo

[Jonbar18]

I had a big project scanning slides for my dad with an HP photo scanner (sorry don't remember the exact model). I scanned at 3MP resolution, and 300dpi. I could have gone higher, but they were just old family pics that weren't going to be used for anything but looking and sending by e-mail. Saved to file as a JPEG and edited in PhotoScape and Gimp.

[rosserx]

I picked up a v500 about a year ago to scan all my 120 film. When I'm not shooting digital, I'm shooting 120. I've always used the Epson software and never had a problem. One thing though, don't use the CD that comes with the package. Go to Epson's website and download the latest software. That's a good practice to follow with any piece of equipment you buy.

My best results:
use 48-bit Color or 16-bit Grayscale, for whatever type film you got in the tray at 300 dpi. Now scale it to what ever size print you're making, for example 120 film exposures are 2.25" square and when I scale it 400% I get a 10x10" print. I don't know what scale you'd use to get an 8x10 from a 35mm exposure, you'll have to figure that one out!

Finally I always keep the Digital Ice Technology checked. Seems to give really good results. Now when you save the file, for print always save as TIF. For the web save as JPG. Overall just play around with the settings (you can do all types of color adjustment as well) and have fun!!

[kirbinster]

Not very happy with results. I scanned these two negatives at 900% as suggested. I then brought them into Lightroom3 and slightly adjusted some levels, added some sharpness and a lot of noise reduction. What am I doing wrong, or is this the best I can expect to get:

Does it have anything to do with the age of the negative? The littlest one in the shot is my son who is now a junior in college.

[rosserx]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

Not very happy with results. I scanned these two negatives at 900% as suggested. I then brought them into Lightroom3 and slightly adjusted some levels, added some sharpness and a lot of noise reduction. What am I doing wrong, or is this the best I can expect to get:

Wow 900%? I think that's why they're so noisy. I dug up an old 35mm negative from 16 years ago and just scanned it. I did some minor level and noise adjustments in LR. But that's basically it. Here's what I did on the scanner:

I knew I just wanted this to post on the web so I set the Target Size at 700 px wide, hit tab and the height automatically set to 443 px. The scale size read 536% with those dimensions. When you scaled at 900%, that's where all the noise came from.

[kirbinster]

But 900% is what you need to print a 35mm negative at 8" x 10" at 300dpi. While I scanned it at 900% it is downsized for the shot I posted. I only exported it at 1200 pixels on the largest edge and then it was posted here at roughly half that size.