Anyone Scanning Film?

So decided to get a fully manual camera, an old but in great shape Minolta xd11. I love my digital but something about cranking the film, setting the apature, focsing its nostalgic. Plus its been helping me think through my shots a bit more. It sucks for taking pictures of the always moving kid, unless he is sleeping, but for walking around I've really enjoyed it so far. Plus the dynamic range of film and the feel film gives you is hard to recreate. That said I'm looking at archive options. The photo lab will scan negatives for me but it's not terribly cheap. Plus I'd like to do it. Word is the old Nikon film scanners are the cats meow, but also way out of my price range. I'd have access to a Nikon at work for slide film (e6) but for home use I'll primarily be scanning color negatives (c41).

This is more for fun so I don't need the highest quality scans need to keep it around 300 or less. I'll color correct in Lightroom so color accuracy isn't the primary concern but getting as much detail as possible is. I'm leaning toward the pacific image primefilm 7200u. Seems like these dedicated film scanners give a bit better detail than an Epson flatbed or the like. Anyone have any experience or advice?

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That's hip dude. Asking a question about scanning film from your smart phone.


You can find old versions of the Nikon Coolscan on ebay for near your price range. You can also talk to relatives/older friends to see if they want their old collections scanned to digital which is a good way to make up the cost of owning one and what I did. It is very mindless but if you know how to do batch work in a Photo Workflow system, it is very, very easy once everything is digital. They love it when you make a powerpoint of their old slides/film.

Thanks maybe I should figure out how to scan with my phone ;). I have a coolscan at work but it's only for slide film, the color negative film adaper looks to be about 300 bucks, if you can find one. Hmm all the coolscan 5 and 5000 I've seen seem to run between 800 and 2000 depending on model, condition, and accessories. Seeing as this would be purely for fun it may be a bit out of the price range but I'll look. Thanks for the info.

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