15
T
hereareplentyof
compellingreasons
tousefilm.Butwith
mostimagesnow
sharedorconsumedonline,
manyanaloguephotographers
arealsolookingforthebest
waystodigitisetheirnegatives.
Theprincipleofdigitising
negativesis nothingnewbut
therearenewtoolstoaddto
thetriedandtestedmethods.
Labscansofferconvenience,
particularlyif youare
outsourcingtheprocessingat
thesametime.However,what
if youprocessyourownfilmor
wanta greaterdegreeof
controlovertheoutput?Maybe
youhaveanarchiveof
negativesyouwanttodigitise,
makinglabcostsprohibitive.If
so,thenhomescanningcould
betheperfectsolutiontowhat
youarelookingfor.FilmScanners
Thereis a lotofchoicewhenit
comestodedicatedfilm
scanninghardwarebutnotall
theoptionsaregood.The
unfortunaterealityis youget
whatyoupayforsostrikinga
balancebetweenvalue,
affordabilityandqualityis key.
Basicmodelsmay,atbest,
providelow-resscansfrom
stripsof35mmnegativessoif
youareseriousaboutdigitising
yournegatives,orshoot
multipleformats,it is advisable
tostretchfora mediumto
higher-endflatbedscanner
suchasoneoftheEpson
PerfectionV series.
Whilenotalwaysfast,
high-endflatbedswilloffer
superiorresolution,higher
Dma x(imagedensit y/g reater
shadowdetail)andbetter
sharpnessversustheirMatt Parry
Matt Parry is an award-winning travel photographer
and regular contributor to magazines and blogs.
He is also the marketing manager for Ilford Photo, a
role that reignited his love for film photography. His
images can be seen at mattparryphoto.com or on
Instagram @mattparryphotofilm.ue mono
magic
Whatever your reasons for wanting to
digitise your film archive, Matt Parry
has lots of jargon-free insights and
advice to make it a stress-free job
Negative Supply Film Carrier, Pro Riser, Canon 550D, 90mm macro lens