My film scanner (Agfa Duoscan T2500) takes a long time for making contact
scans from a 36 exposures 35mm film.

I wish to add a flatbed scanner just for making contact scans (say 800 -
1200 dpi). Which is the model allowing for an easy and fast management of
batch scans from 35mm film? I would appreciate the possibillity of loading 4
or 6 film strips (6 exposures each) at one time.

Thanks,

Daniele

I don't have an answer - but more questions

What's the procedure you use for making contact prints?

Are you scanning color negs or B+W

If color negs, does the agfa software convert to positive or do you just
print out the neg sheet?

How do you light the negatives (or can the agfa scan transparent media)

I've attempted to "contact print" with a cheap Microtec flatbed but have not
had much success.

Thanks,
Mark

"Linus" <daniele.blue@laposte.net> wrote in message
news:btb71c$cvj$1@newsreader.mailgate.org...

The T2500 has dedicated plates for different film sizes:

- film strips (4 strips / 6 pictures each = 24 images total)
- mounted 35mm slides
- 120 film, up to 6x9 cm negs,
- 4x5" negs

Agfa scanning software allows for batch scanning procedures.
I make contact prints from 36 exposures films, through 2 steps: a first
batch of 24 scans + a second batch of 12 scans. Batch procedure allows for
customized scanning parameters for each single image. It also converts
automatically from negative to positive.

I scan both BW and Color negatives.

The T2500 belongs to the Duoscan family, which offer transparent scanning
capabilities through a dedicated sliding plates-holder. Such a holder is
placed middleway, between the top glass for prints and the bottom of the
scanner.
Lighting source unit rotates accordingly to the kind of original you want
to scan.
In other words, T2500 and other Duoscan units are both fltabed and dedicated
transparent scanners. They differ for the resolution they offer. T2500 was
the top of the range with 2500 DPI.

I tried to make contact prints with a cheap flatbed as you did. I obtained
fairly decent results only after buying a dedicated light source, which also
doubled as a film visor. I don't know if such kind of indipendent - third
party - lighr source is still marketed. Mine was made by Primax for their
scanners, but worked fine with my scanner too ( a non-Primax scanner -
sorry I can't remember the manufacturer's name). The major shortcoming of
such a solution was the small size of the light source board which allowed
just for four-images-long film strips.

Now, I am looking for a cheap flatbed with transparent scanning capabilities
because batch procedures with the T2500 are extremely time consuming.

I hope this helps.


Daniele

Thanks for the details.
Mark


"Linus" <daniele.blue@laposte.net> wrote in message
news:btf5lc$54d$1@newsreader.mailgate.org...

If most of your film is 35mm, I would definitely NOT recommend another
flatbed. You should be able to find a used dedicated 35mm film scanner
like the Scanwit for less than $150. It is much, much faster than a
flatbed, and the results of course are much better as well. Scan to
individual files, and then build your own contact sheets with your image
editor. Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and many others have this capability
built in.

best of luck

That advice makes sense to a point.

I have about 200 rolls of color film without contact sheets. I'm not about
to scan 4000 to 6000 images to build contact sheets...

Contact sheets are a quick insight into what's on the roll of film. They
don't have to be pretty...

I think of them as more like a photocopy (xerox)

Mark
<user@domain.invalid> wrote in message
news:bthsh102q38@enews2.newsguy.com...

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 20:12:19 -0500, "Mark Durrenberger"
<durrenm@yahoo.com> wrote:

The least expensive I have found is the Microtek 6000 combined with
the MTMA adapter for 3600 ppi. Typical price is $135 for the scanner
and $80 for the TMA.

The scan area is 7x10 with the optional MTMA which is one strip short
of an 8x10 (30 instead of 36 frames per scan), but still is probably
the largest area for the money.

Nice to see you on the net.
-Alan in Minneapolis

Thank you Alan. I'll ched for the stuff you suggested.

Daniele