Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/25

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Subject: [Leica] Bring Out the Negative Scanner
From: Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)
Date: Sat Jun 25 01:01:07 2005
References: <2b.75d557ff.2fede050@aol.com> <42BD097D.2050605@planet.nl>

I agree with the points you are making and would like to add that  
getting the best scan you can from a slide/negative can be a lot of  
work and also that, I believe because of grain aliasing, there is a  
risk of scans being quite poor in resolution. I get great resolution  
from low speed slide films but most of the scans from 200asa print  
film have been extremely disappointing. I use a 4000 dpi Nikon scanner.
As a result I have not scanned any way near as many of my 40 years  
worth of negatives as I expected.
Frank


On 25 Jun, 2005, at 08:36, Nathan Wajsman wrote:

> Afterswift@aol.com wrote:
>
>
>> Whether a PC or Mac circa 2025 will be able to read CD-R's is  
>> problematic. What may happen has an analogy to 8mm movie film. I  
>> don't think 8mm or Super 8 projectors are being made now. You can  
>> still find 8mm cameras in flea markets. We can still access these  
>> films but at some expense and trouble.
>>
>
> CDs have been around for about 20 years now, and are still readable  
> on all relevant devices. In any event, I do not indend to have  
> anything stored on CD-R in 20 years. Already now I use only DVDs  
> and external hard drives. As long as the computers in the future  
> continue to have USB ports, my hard drives will be readable. I also  
> expect that DVDs will continue to be readable on new equipment,  
> since given the number of DVDs people have, it is safe to assume  
> that future generations of DVD readers will be backwards-compatible.
>
> However, when the next generation of blue-ray DVDs comes out and  
> the format is stable, I will convert to that because of the  
> additional space they will provide.
>
> I am personally much more concerned about file formats. I hope that  
> TIFF will continue to be supported. If not, then there will be some  
> work involved in converting all my images to whatever new format  
> emerges as a standard. But again, I hope that TIFF will be like  
> standard ASCII--a text file created 20 years ago is still readable  
> if saved in that format.
>
> There is no question that storage is the big challenge for digital  
> photographers.
>
>
>> That's why I suggest that we make good printouts on high quality  
>> papers of our favorite image files. On subjects that I want to  
>> have a more permanent record, I use a film camera so I can have a  
>> negative backup.
>>
>
> Printouts as storage? Not very convenient, to put it mildly. I make  
> prints when I want to hang a picture on the wall or give to someone.
>
>
>> Which reopens a question: why doesn't one of the major camera  
>> outfits market a high quality yet reasonable 35mm negative  
>> scanner? Kodak and Fuji and Leica should be in the lead. Nikon and  
>> Polaroid featured film scanners a few years ago, but the market  
>> seemed to have lost its drive. That may be due to the low cost  
>> transfer of negatives to CD positives now.
>>
>
> As others have pointed out, there are plenty of good film scanners  
> out there at much lower prices than a few years ago. But because of  
> the shift to digital image capture, the market for film scanners is  
> small and shrinking, and so it does not makes sense for Nikon etc.  
> to invest in product development in this area. And for Leica to  
> enter such a market would be commercial suicide.
>
>> If you have a good negative scanner, you can skip the CD-R and  
>> produce a fresh print from the negative itself at any time, either  
>> digitally on in the darkroom.
>>
>
> You still need to store the scanned image somewhere, unless you  
> want to re-scan the negative every time you want to make a print.
>
> Nathan
>
>
> -- 
> Nathan Wajsman
> Almere, The Netherlands
>
> General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com
> Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com
> Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman
> http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507
> Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com
>
>
>
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In reply to: Message from Afterswift at aol.com (Afterswift@aol.com) ([Leica] Bring Out the Negative Scanner)
Message from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Bring Out the Negative Scanner)