4x5 B&W Negative scans

[3Yankee]

What is the best practice for scanning 4x5 B&W Negatives. They are all Kodak and either PlusX or TriX. I want to digitize a large number of these from many years of working with view cameras. I have found that the cost is prohibitive for having these done on a drum scanner and want to use an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo, with SF Ai. Thanks.

[LSI_Morales]

Hi 3Yankee

It depends on what you intend to do with the pictures afterwards. If high quality is a top priority, then you should better go for a dedicated film scanner. The Epson Perfection 3200 photo is a good general purpose scanner, however dedicated film scanners offer superior quality levels.

One issue in this case might be the size of the negatives, since most of the relatively inexpensive film scanners are only capable of scanning 35 mm slides and negatives, finding a scanner for 4x5 negatives might be a bit hard.

There is a relatively good market of second hand Nikon Scanners, in your case an 8000 or 9000 will do, these are expensive but they are really worth every penny.
After you are done with your scanning work you will be able to sell the scanner for the same price you've got it.

If your budget is very limited, you might want to go for the Epson Perfection V750 Pro, it has a wet mounting glass film holder, this will give you very good scans.

Cheers

[3Yankee]

Thanks, I will spend some time looking for the Nikon scanners or the Epson.

[Bill Wood]

I think you will find that the Epson Perfection 3200 Photo, with Silverfast, will make a very good film scanner. Especially with medium and larger format film sizes. I have used an Epson 10000XL for scanning 120 and 4 by 5 negatives, both color and black and white, for several years. The 3200 uses the same Epson transparency technology as the 10000XL in a smaller scannning size. The 12 by 17 inch capacity 10000XL will be overkill for your needs.