COMPARING FILM SCANS // Lab vs DSLR vs Flatbed

Do I still feel the same after all those years of scanning? Let me know what your thoughts are about these different methods and what your favorite one is!

If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments down below. I'll answer them to the best as I can!

Welcome to another episode of ''Let's Talk It Over''.

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[George-pgii]

Thanks for making this video. I learned that there is no perfect system. That's very good to know.

[BenjaminTrillington]

I actually preferred all of the v600 scans without seeing all the results. Guess I'm getting a scanner over a macro lens and stand👌

[dzkilnd]

Good point on the operator / scanner. This is important because unless they have a mood board on your preferred style/colors, they’ll adjust to what looks good to them.

[_SYDNA_]

Thanks. Valuable comparison. Digital camera sensors have a tendency to increase contrast, so it's harder to sustain a gradual transition across darker areas of an image. In my opinion, that's why Canon adds the DLO option ("digital light optimization") in their cameras. You can see this In your beach picture. The Noritzu (sp?) Is able to sustain a mild shadow on the berm to the left of the pathway. I think that's closer to how your eye sould process that scene.

That being said, the DSLR would be the winner for my goal of restoring 1000's of film photos and slides. Your detailed analysis and experience give me the confidence to go ahead and use my mirrorless. The workflow seems better, and from your examples, scanners seem to have the same tendency to boost contrast a tiny bit and the resolution is actually better with the camera.

I believe I heard somewhere that some of the software people use with scanners have good capabilities for removing dust specs and maybe even correcting color shift in aging echtochrome slides. Do you know if it's possible to run your digital images from a DSLR through the scanner software packages?

Thanks for making the video.

[angelojosegobbatoneto]

Congratulations, thanks. Valuable comparison.

[ApostolosNikolaidis]

The V600 looks great and with the most dynamic range and highlight rolloff specially in the first portrait.

[Shutterspeed]

Thanks for this, Lab scans are crazy expensive in LA and not happy with Flatbed scanning. Need to try DSLR.

[williamburkholder]

I gave up my V600 pretty quickly. I scan with a mirrorless camera. I used to run a massive scan lab for a high volume portrait company here in the USA, and the combination of a good digital camera, raw files, Negative Lab Pro, Lightroom Classic, and a bit of knowledge and experience often beats that old scan lab for quality. We used Kodak Bremson HR500+ scanners. Results from camera scanning are at least as good. The key is the light source.

[JORDANANDLONDON]

1) Epson V600 is an entry model; I have V850 and I compared with my friend's V600, the result is significantly different; not even mentioned to the Hasselblad Flextight X5
2) Nortitsu is designed for commercial use - patch process. You can scan a lot of film without taking too much time, just their software is quite outdated
3) with Epson V850 you can scan much higher resolution than DSLR (in terms of similar budget of camera and lens), but you can only output jpg and tiff
4) scanning with DSLR, you need a good output of light source, the light panel has to be even, and strong enough to penetrate films that has higher density to obtain all details
5) cont. 4), if so you can shoot in RAW and obtain more details than flatbed scanner

there is actually no best choice, just depends on your preference;
As I am a large format shooter (up to 8x10), and I shoot BW film most, V850 is the best choice for me, as you can scan 16bit TIFF for black white

[johnsciandra-ei]

I still don’t have good frame of reference with DSLR scanning. What is the camera and pixels needed. I want to shoot medium format film but does it make sense to scan it with a lower resolution camera? Can you give more details on the specs of the lab/DSLR/scan resolutions? Thanks.

[slammermx]

If the lab used a drum scanner, or a high end flat bed scanner, they usually use a lot of unsharp mask to sharpen the scan.

[demz]

Great overview of different ways of scanning. Thanks for sharing. Just started SLR RAW scanning of old diapositives and 35mm negatives and the workflow is fast even without Negative Lab Pro for the negatives. It all depends on your subjective view of colors, whether it being the highlights or shadows.

[IoRobot_]

Thanks a lot, your video has been decisive for me on what to do to scan my film pictures... I've been wandering around for weeks trying to find out the best way to digitalize film photos, ranging from €2.000 scanners, labs that asked for €8 per PHOTOGRAM! And wacky scanning software, you just made me realize that at the end of the day... DSLRs are just better... so I'll gladly walk the paradoxical path of shooting with a film camera a roll of film, develop it on my coffee table on the couch while listening to Spotify... and then take a pictures of those negatives with my DSLR... even though I could've shot the picture with the DSLR to begin with... but where would the fun be in that?! 😂 thanks again for the help!
PS: EIGHT FUCKING EUROS TO SCAN ONE SINGLE PICTURE?! I CAN BUY A Sony Alpha 7 IV AFTER 10 ROLLS!! AND HAVE SPARE CHANGE!!

[AndyAgulue-wbjp]

Very informative, might try dale scanning myself

[blacksheep]

I think the DSLR should always yield the best result because you have control over all the variables by adjusting camera settings and lighting,
But for consistency across every scan I’m going with V600

[tsbrownie]

I made a DIY slide scanner that cost around $5 usd and will copy at the max capability of your camera / macro lens. The parts are a board, two 3D printed pieces (on thingiverse), and a bolt to hold the camera. For light, a flat panel LED with diffuser that is placed as far away as possible. Shoot at max aperture to ensure blurry background. Can be modified for film of various sizes.

[faiosung]

i prefer to load a roll into my scanner and come back to a file of 36 cropped and corrected tiffs. if i want 36 megapixels of perfection i would have just shot it on my digital camera to start with

[asadavis]

Thank you for this video. I think I’ll get a v600 initially and if I stick with it spring for the dslr set up 🫡

[dzkilnd]

Awesome comparison! Do you happen to know which model of the Noritsu the lab is using?

[artifintel]

your color preset in the videos are outstanding! Is there certain LUT that you use?