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Thread: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

  1. #31
    bob carnie's Avatar
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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    Quote Originally Posted by Jac@stafford.net View Post
    I am concerned that some of our contributors do not understand the terrible burden of scanning everything. Simple arithmetic will show how unrealistic it it is to scan the whole collection. And to what end? The original media - slides, negatives will likely survive longer than their digital representations.
    .
    I think the reason is for others than the OP can look at the collection, evaluate and help curate the work.. When one is dealing with thousands of images , it becomes difficult to evaluate what one has.. The OP may be wanting to show to curators that have different values when looking at work..

  2. #32

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Watson View Post
    That's like claiming that you can't afford a darkroom enlarger. People give them away, both darkroom enlargers and drum scanners.

    You're going about this backwards: define your problem first, then look for solutions.
    People give drum scanners away? I guess I don't know enough about them and am probably looking in the wrong places or don't know what to look for. I was looking at all the new Hasselblad, etc. ones and my jaw hit the table when I saw the prices. haha. I don't know if you'd be willing to share how to find one of these cheap, but, if so, I'd love to find out! As far as the "problem"...I guess it's simply that I'd eventually like to make large prints out of my mother's work - maybe a gallery show one day?? But if I'm going to take all that time scanning, I'd like to get as much bang for my buck - money and time-wise. Thanks much!!!

  3. #33
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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    One more quick thought before I start my print session in the darkroom...

    I don't think you mentioned what percentage of the images are 35mm in slide mounts vs. larger formats or unmounted. If a large percentage of your collection is 35mm mounted slides, you might take a look at this scanner:

    https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...Scan_6000.html

    It's expensive, but it batch scans 50 slides at once. You could blow through your scanning and then resell it for likely 75% of the expenditure. I don't actually have experience with this scanner but have heard good things. That's what I would do if it were me.
    Bryan | Blog | YouTube | Instagram | Portfolio
    All comments and thoughtful critique welcome

  4. #34

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    Quote Originally Posted by SuzanneH View Post
    It's all coming together for me now. I almost purchased the v800...but after your post and doing some more research, I think the v850 is the way to go.
    The V800 and the V850 are nearly the same hardware, single difference is that V850 has internal lenses coated, this can make some difference in some particular conditions, but the most important difference is bundled software, V800 includes Silverfast 8 SE while V850 includes SilverFast SE Plus, if you purchase V800 then you also can Upgrade to SE Plus version, here explains it:

    http://www.stockholmviews.com/epson_...850-page3.html ... and the SE Plus version suports Multi-Exposure. The other included software, EpsonScan, does not include Multi-Exposure...

    Silverfast Ai is the top versión, but find it not better to me than SE Plus.

    V850 also includes "Two sets of film holders means you can prepare a second set of orginals for scanning while the first is still scanning." https://www.scanyourentirelife.com/e...r-differences/


    Both the 800 and 850 uses a LED illuminator that does not need pre-heating, so it never delays starting an scan, and may require no calibration over time becuase LEDs are stable, the previous 750/700 model had a cold lamp...

  5. #35

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    And plus 100 for Michael. I got my refurbed IQsmart 2 from him and he provides a lot of support. Great guy.

    As Bryan said, it might be best to start with what you have and send out the really best stuff. The only reason I brought up the Eversmart etc discussion was that it's another option that I think you should be aware of. These machines were originally used for high volume scanning of transparencies etc and the flatbed workflow is (IMHO) a lot better for high volumes than a drum scanner. The scanning bed on my IQsmart is 12 x 18 inches and there are precut masks that would let you easily mount 6 4 x 5's on the bed. The drawback is that they're old (like me!) and pretty slow (also like me!) I normally load up the machine in the evening and go to sleep while it scans. They're also big and heavy (Again - just like me!) and are in the neighborhood of 100 plus pounds and 2 x 3 x 1 feet in size. Not where I'd start as a beginner, but definitely something to keep in mind. I get good 4300dpi scans with my machine and some of the other machines get up to a true 5500. Drum scanners probably have a bit of an edge quality wise, but I think the workflow is better with the flatbeds which is why I got one.

  6. #36

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    Quote Originally Posted by Jac@stafford.net View Post
    I am concerned that some of our contributors do not understand the terrible burden of scanning everything. Simple arithmetic will show how unrealistic it it is to scan the whole collection. And to what end? The original media - slides, negatives will likely survive longer than their digital representations.
    .
    Very true Jac, but I (for one) scanned my entire archive (40yrs+) at a medium resolution just to provide a computerised catalogue allowing me to easily check and find content. Essentially using the computer as glorified lightbox/contact sheet.

    The negs/transparencies will be around for a long time, so if needed, I can pull anything from the archive and re-scan or fire up the enlarger.

  7. #37

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    We're talking about an archive of tents of thousands of images, mostly transparencies, and I understand in various formats. The issue of scanning quality has been discussed quite extensively already, but I think a much more relevant issue is that of the time investment. With this archive size, the real question becomes: how much do you value your time and to what extent do you find the process of digitization enjoyable (i.e. does the activity have inherent value)?

    Of course, technical quality of the scans as a function of the intended purpose (how much detail and/or enlargement are required) is a qualifier for any chosen method. The chosen method must of course match the intended purpose and yield sufficient quality for this. As this is not explicitly stated (or I missed it in reading the posts, sorry if that's the case), it's a bit of an unknown factor.

    As to the matter of time investment, I think it makes sense to compare the different workflows in terms of how much time they cost per image, as Jim Andrada also hints at. Then determine how much you value your time - does the time you spend on digitization come at the cost of your own work, or in other words: are there opportunity costs? Or is it time that you'd otherwise spend idling around and you can afford to invest the many many hours without any penalty on your private or professional life? Depending on this, it may be worthwhile thinking about what kind of investment in equipment would be justifiable to set up this operation. Taking an extreme: if technical quality is relevant and your time is pressure, it may be worthwhile investing in a high-resolution digital medium format system (at a large to gigantic cost) if it saves you a lot of time in the long run and your time is precious - provided you can handle the investment. If your time is less precious, technical quality is paramount and you actually enjoy the process, a drum scanner may be a viable option. Any approach to digitization will have its own profile in terms of capital investment, time per image and ease of use. Comparing the different methods and using your own personal requirements (image quality, available time, valuation of time, willingness to perform more complex vs. more simple tasks) is the only way to reach an answer as to what is the best approach.

    In terms of workflow, arguably the easiest/quickest approach would be digitization through photography on a kind of 'digital copy stand' setup, which you can highly standardize for a given format, allowing for very quick capture of images. You will lose little time waiting for a scanner to do it's slow work and most of the time spent will be on actually handling film and pushing the button - i.e. you have little idle time. Depending on the camera system used, reasonable to very high quality levels are possible. But this will obviously also influence the capital investment required.

    Drum scanning is at the other end of the spectrum in terms of time investment and ease of use, with mounting, dismounting and waiting time being fundamentally different from a camera capture approach. Capital investment really depends on how easy you'll get your hands on a working drum scanner setup - taking into account the fact that most drum scanners out there have been around for years or decades and getting maintenance services and spare parts may be a challenge.

    Scanning with a flatbed scanner, at least for sheet film, is an obvious choice, with the process of mounting relatively straightforward, but especially at higher resolutions, you will spend quite some time sitting idle, waiting for the scanner to do its thing. Since you already have a quite capable scanner, capital investment may be close to zero, or still very manageable if you opt to buy a new 'prosumer' grade scanner like the V800 or 850.

    Depending on the number of originals in different formats, it may or not may be worthwhile to differentiate between them and use different approaches for each format, and acquire different equipment for it.

    In any case, the essence of my post is that given the size of the archive, technical quality is only one of the parameters to consider and taking into account the time investment is very relevant.

    Edit: an example to make clear the impact factoring time and the value of time can have could go as follows (many assumptions made and quite arbitrary ones at that). Suppose you compare scanning to digital photography as a means of digitization, and you take 20,000 4x5's for which you save 4 minutes per image by photographing them, and you value your time at a very conservative $20/hour, you'd already justify a $25k investment in equipment to save this time. You see, with the number of originals you're facing, it is really worthwhile overthinking the entire project and determine which approach is feasible and justifiable to you.

  8. #38

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    Could I sneak in a quick question about older flatbed scanners? If I buy, say, an Epson 4990 or 3200, would I need to upgrade my laptop's operating system? I'm running Windows 7.

  9. #39

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ben Calwell View Post
    Could I sneak in a quick question about older flatbed scanners? If I buy, say, an Epson 4990 or 3200, would I need to upgrade my laptop's operating system? I'm running Windows 7.
    Here you can download a TWAIN driver for Epson 4990, for Windows 98, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10...

    https://epson.com/Support/Scanners/P...175012#drivers

    If you want Silverfast for the 4990 you have it new for Vista, 7, 8 and 10, https://www.silverfast.com/get_demo/en.html , and I guess that , if you buy it used it can come with XP software.

    In the same ewb sites you can also check it the 3200.

  10. #40

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    Re: Scanning Huge Archives - Help!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ben Calwell View Post
    Could I sneak in a quick question about older flatbed scanners? If I buy, say, an Epson 4990 or 3200, would I need to upgrade my laptop's operating system? I'm running Windows 7.
    I use a 4990 on a laptop with windows 7 coincidentally. The most recent Epson software works fine for this.

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