Options for Scanning Film for Stock Photography

Options for Scanning Film for Stock Photography

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Photo by Cory Treadway

So you’ve been making selects from the archives and now you need some film scanned. And because you’re uploading 125MB files to PhotoShelter you need GOOD scans. Do you buy a scanner and do them yourself? Or which lab should you go to? What about those online places? Let Dan, Jenny, Tan-ya and Ciel from SugarHill Works demystify for you…

There is a wide variety of scanning services available out there, and choosing one can be daunting. The challenge is to find a good balance between quality, service, and cost. First, let’s talk about cost. There are websites that offer scans at extremely low prices, like $0.19 per frame, however the biggest file size you’ll get is 7-12MB. Plus, you mail your film to a US address which half the time ships your film overseas – turnaround on getting your negs back can be 4-6 weeks. Not good. Also available are your drug stores, supermarkets, and 1-Hour joints. Again, scans here tend to be very cheap, but the scans are made on an automated machine and are generally only suitable for the web or a very small print. The cost of a film scanner can range from a few hundred bucks to $50,000 and more. The cheaper (under $3000) film scanners will produce results that are not a whole lot better than the drug store – except you get to customize each scan yourself and can achieve bigger file sizes.

That leaves Imacon ‘glassless’ drum scanners, which cost about $20,000 and regular drum scanners which can cost up to and over $50,000… so unless you are scanning and selling a LOT of images, most people employ the services of a good digital lab. Among the full service pro shops, prices can range from $40 to over $100 for a 50MB scan, with some places charging a dollar per megabyte. Smaller, boutique-style digital houses tend to start scanning prices at around $15-$30 for the same 50MB file.

Scanning technology can vary widely, but all decent scanners put light through your negatives and capture the image on a CCD, similar to those found in digital cameras. The quality and ‘dynamic range,’ or DMAX, of the CCD has a lot to do with the scanner’s abilities. Most consumer-grade scanners scan with a DMAX of 3.2-3.8, which causes them to have problems with noise in the shadows that require time-consuming multi-pass scans and/or retouching. Professional scanners have DMAX values of up to 4.9, meaning they can get even the slightest shadow detail out of the darkest parts of a transparency. Of course, to be sure you’re seeing what the scanner is scanning, you have to be working in a fully calibrated color environment using Eizo CG monitors or similar.


dDrum scanners (glassless or traditional) are the best option for producing high-quality professional scans. They can produce very high resolution files of hundreds of megabytes without any interpolation. (Interpolated pixels are ‘fake’ pixels put into the scan to beef up the file size/resolution claims a manufacturer can make.) A major optical advantage these scanners have is that they scan the negatives on a curve. This ensures a straight-line scan to the CCD for maximum edge-to-edge sharpness and detail. The light source also has a lot to do with your scan quality. The Imacon utilizes a light source that combines the design of traditional condenser enlargers with that of a diffused surface on prisms between the lamp and the negative. After focusing and diffusing the light, it then runs the image through a high-end Rodenstock lens. This gives the scans maximum sharpness without overly emphasizing the film grain or dust. In addition, the Imacon uses a glassless drum, which eliminates newton rings and the need for oil-mounting negatives like on traditional drum scanners. To help eliminate any noise (especially in dark areas), the Imacon also employs a CCD cooling system. Because of all this, we think that the Imacon delivers the best scan for the buck.

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original image (spider located in center of frame)

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good consumer-grade neg scan image

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imacon neg scan image

In the two images above, look at the sharpness and shadow detail differences between the consumer-grade scanner on top and the Imacon scan on bottom. Notice how you can clearly see the spider’s web on the Imacon scan. Below you can see the full-size original TIF scans with the ability to zoom in 100%. (Thank you, Zoomify export in Phososhop CS3).

The last, but not least, component necessary in getting good scans is the scanner operator. All of the scanner’s capabilities mean nothing if the technician doesn’t know what they’re doing. If you’ve never scanned before, you shouldn’t expect to just buy a scanner and automatically get perfect images. Just like printing in the darkroom, scanning is a complex skill that is honed through experience. In general, the big labs employ competent techs, but you will pay much more due to their high overhead of maintaining both digital and traditional photography services. Smaller digital houses give the same or better quality scans and generally have much better and more personalized customer service – often for half the cost of the big guys. Being able to communicate your needs directly with the very person who’s scanning your negatives, so your scans end up looking exactly how you want them to, is a big bonus you get from working with a boutique lab.

And now for the shameless plug: SugarHill Works is a small digital house in New York that offers complete film scanning services on our Imacon. We also offer flatbed print scanning, museum-quality Epson prints, web & logo design, digital retouching, and free scheduled pickup/delivery in Manhattan. We give a 20% DISCOUNT TO PHOTOSHELTER PHOTOGRAPHERS on scan jobs because, well, we’re up-and-coming and so are you.

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This article was written by

Allen Murabayashi is the co-founder of PhotoShelter.

There is 1 comment for this article
  1. dpsdave at 9:09 am

    Hello Friend
    I have seen your blog post it’s very interesting. We are also provide best service for High Definition Photo scanning service, Slide scanning & digital photographic service. You can see our website and get more information.

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