I've been sorting through my old negatives. Anyone got an opinion on getting prints? I've had mixed results from my local big chain store, but they are cheap. Would it be better to go to a specialty shop?
I was also thinking of getting them put on CD, they are always trying to push those. I don't know if they give you very good res though.
Some are of them are color, but I've got a bunch of kodachromes to.
If you don't mind paying for it, a drum scan is always the best way to go.
Most CD scans are only good enough for 5x7" prints. Which might be enough for you, not sure. But with older negatives, you can be pretty limited.
Your best bet is probably a specialty shop, especially for the Kodachromes, which will NOT scan well on many mass market machines.
My advice, if you can, sort out what you really want first, to limit how many scans need to be made.
If you need, I can recommend some service providers. There are some really good people out there now, and prices are coming down.
Ari, with me price is always a consideration. I want good prints, but not too $$$$.
RD, I was worried about that with the CD's. It'd be nice if they can give me a nice high res tif.
There are a couple of specialty shops in the area, I think I'll just have to test them out. I don't really want to send my negs in the mail. Seattle is farthest I'd want to drive, if you have recommendations there.
Best bet for high-res, high quality near Seattle is here:http://www.thecolorgroup.com/drum-scanning-seattle.htm
They're a bit spendy, but nothing out of the norm for this service.
Slightly cheaper, using the Imacon 848 instead of a drum scanner (still fantastic) is this place:http://www.coloroneinc.com/scanning.html
Cool! $40 + is definitely more than I'm looking for but I could try out some 8x10's at $15. I'm sure they'll look better than what I've been getting.
Send both of them a note with what you are doing. They might be able to work out a deal as well (most labs will, for any sort of quantity), or make a recommendation about another process that will save you money.
Originally posted by: arigato If you don't mind paying for it, a drum scan is always the best way to go.
Find a friendly specialist they are often cheaper than you think, drum scan is the way to go for quality.
Drum scanning is the way to go for best quality, but if you've got a reasonable dslr you might be able to use something like the Opteka HD² Slide Copier. It's a cheap alternative and the results look quite good.
I bought one (should be here tomorrow) to take a crack at some of the hundreds of old family slides my dad shot. The plan is to shoot them RAW and maybe make some HDR's from different exposures to try hold the shadow and highlight detail.
Nat - that would be tough with Kodachrome. Just because of the densities, and the way silver halide plays with dslrs sensors.
Yeah, I'm not expecting miracles, but hopefully I can get some reasonable results. The slides are mostly transparencies (I was going to say positive trannies, but remembered what forum I was on 
) as opposed to negatives so densities shouldn't be too much of a problem outside of the shadow end of the spectrum.
Oh, you misunderstand. Yes, that technique can work pretty well for some types of film. But for one of the ones jestros mentioned in particular, Kodachrome, this technique would be unsuitable.
OK. Got it
Originally posted by: Nat but if you've got a reasonable dslr you might be able to use something like the Opteka HD² Slide Copier. It's a cheap alternative and the results look quite good. .
Dang, that is pretty cool! I don't have a dslr either, so that really won't work for me. I'm gonna save my pennies and get a used one soon.
But post up the results you get, it would be interesting to see.
My family has some old crazy glass slide color positives, I wonder if those would work.