Perhaps you’ve got a huge backlog of film you’d like in digital format as well. The logical solution to either of these problems is to buy a scanner. This months newsletter will help you to decide whether you need one and which one to buy.
There are two types of scanner that you may consider purchasing, a flatbed scanner or a film scanner. Undoubtedly the biggest differences between the two are price and intended use.
Flatbed scanners excel at scanning printed photographs and paper documents. Film scanners however scan only one medium-35mm film but they do it exceptionally well. So, if you have slides or negatives you want to scan then a film scanner will provide the best results. For photographs or documents, a flatbed scanner would be better.
Specific advantages of a flatbed scanner are the ability to scan a variety of media including photographs, documents and even three-dimensional objects. In addition some scanners have adapters that take film slides. They also have a significantly lower price than film scanners (a good quality model can come in at less than a £100).
For a film scanner the main benefits is the resolution of the image it provides (typically 2, 700 to 4, 000 dots per inch). The higher resolution provides more detail in the scanned image and, therefore, prints can be larger because of the higher quality.
Whichever you choose be sure to remove dust or hair from the photographs before you scan them. Handle film carefully by the edges because fingerprints will scan extremely well.
