Monday 29 June 2009

To scan or not to scan that is the question?

About ten years ago, when I first moved to Nottingham, I estimated that my film archive amounted to between 750,000 and 1,000,000 images, transparency, C41, and monochrome. As I largely shot black and white until the early nineties, that would make the bulk of my archive in monochrome stock. Whilst it got a lot of exposure in the early days I rarely now even look at my film archives, and like many of my contemporaries concentrate on getting the most out of my current digital work.


So to access this stuff one needs a scanner. But which one?


One respected professional reckons that he can get suitable scans from a £175 flatbed scanner with 35mm attachments.


Another says that nothing less than a drum scan will do!


Should one utilise the offers from Indian companies to send valuable originals over to the sub-continent for drum scans?


How easy are scanners to use and really get a good quality result?



Well I plan to find out….