Is it possible to convert photos taken with a film camera (and one that is 14 years old at that) to digital format? If so, how?
A friend of mine gave me her old Canon film camera, and I'm still trying to get used to it. I don't know how the photos will turn out as the manual was printed in 1995, but if the results are ok I'd like to incorporate some of them into my blog.
Also, what is the highest quality film (both black and white and colour)?
Any other tips and secrets will be much appreciated. Thanks!
J.
Reply to this Hi Jonathan,
Yes, you can actually have the kodak (or whichever other brand) store digitalising the selected pictures for you,
That's about it...sorry...havent been using film camera for ages...
Cheers,
Laetitia
Reply to this A few pro friends of mine digitise using slide scanners - and claim this gives them the best results.
I don't know how much mileage you'll get with this - the rest of the world is going the other way 😊
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I got my first digital camera in 2007. Pretty much everything on my blog up until that time is shot with an old EOS 300 and digitalized from negatives by a professional lab in my hometown. I've also had them scan old slides and comparing to the results I've got from end user photo scanners it is clearly better to let the pros handle it.
I used mainly stock Kodak/Fuji 100/200 film and some fancier types too with good results. Even the expired old Konica rolls purchased off dusty shelves in backwater towns resulted in good images. It is getting quite hard to find film these days though, regular 200 film should suit you fine for most occasions.
I miss shooting with my old EOS because it was lightweight, sturdy and very reliable, unlike the heavy and delicate technocrap digital variant I am using now. The main drawbacks are that you can't see the results and correct accordingly while at the scene, processing is getting really expensive and the biggest problem is that you never seem to carry enough film with you.
I've also had some issues with anticipation that keeps growing as I travel and when finally getting the photos in hand I'd find myself heartbroken staring at the failed photos which were to become the centerpieces in the journal. It would be a good idea to bring your digital camera along to make sure you avoid such foul-ups.
Reply to this You can digitize ( proper term, no "al" ) photos that were taken 100 years ago. The camera doesn't matter. You are scanning the film which is a translucent medium. When "the manual was printed" is irrelevant. There are slides taken in the 1930s, 40s, 50s that have been scanned that have much richer colors than digital crap of today.
Ali, your pro friends know better than you. Slide film gives much richer colors and contrast than any digital sensor and much better overall quality. Digital SLR pictures may be clear but have an overly bright plastic quality to them. Unfortunately the shift to digital is mainly due to convenience and cost.
As for film I don't shoot B/W so I don't know but have heard great things about T-Max. I shoot exclusively slide film. For a beginner "amateur" slide film such as Fuji Sensia is easier to use. The strongest colors and more contrasty images come with higher contrast professional films such as Fuji Velvia 50 and Kodak Ektachrome 100 VS ( my current favorite ). Kodak E100 VS is easier to use and more versatile than Velvia due to a more natural gray scale and more natural skin tones. Kodak E100VS is an excellent travel film. Both of these films are used by many pros for magazine cover shots and spreads ( there are camera "magazines" with 100% digital photography ads inside but cover photos shot from film 4-5 months in a row, in 2007-2008 and today ) and will give richer colors/contrast than any digital sensor.
You can get the slides scanned ( digitized) at the same time they are developed or you can scan individual slides at higher resolutions later. I haven't mentioned negative (print) films which you could use but won't give the same rich colors of positive transparency film which can't be matched by a digital SLR.
You didn't mention whether your old Canon film camera was a point and shoot or an SLR. You kind of need an SLR with a better light metering system and a better lens to shoot slide film.
Reply to this I am currently digitizing about 1000 old family photos (mostly Western Colorado Cowboy subjects 1905-1930) including about a 100 old picture postcards ( 1 cent stamps!) given to me using an Epson V500 photo scanner which seems to produce decent results and the software lets me do about 3 at a time, but it still takes time!
Scanning technology and software seems to keep improving, so I would advise to make sure you keep the originals just in case you decide to re-scan some day!
Reply to this I helped my father convert slides to digital format. To start with, I bought a slide scanner to convert them, but the quality was pretty low and it took five minutes per slide -- a long process for 1,000+ slides.
So I took a different track -- I bought a cheap 8MP digital camera with a good macro function (essential) and set up a small translucent white board with a fluorescent backlight, made a small frame for the camera, the simply took photos of them.
The results were excellent -- just as good as the slides.
I then edited them with Picasa 3 (http://picasa.google.com) which is probably the easiest software to use for basic editing of photos.
For digital film, you can do the same thing and simply change from negative to positive with the click of a button.
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