Scanners for Large Negatives?

Ironsides asks: "My family has a number of old negatives that we would like to digitize. While we could spend the cash and have them all turned into prints and scan the prints, we would prefer to scan the negatives directly. One other problem is that several family members scattered throughout the country also have collections that would need to be scanned in and we could not possibly pay to have them all turned into prints. Now, here's the catch: a sizable number (at least 100 hundred, possibly several hundred) are 1:1 negatives that are 4x5 inches in size (yes, these are very old negatives). Now, I've been looking at slide and negative scanners and unfortunately it seems they only go up to 2.3x3.5 inches (6x9 cm). Does anyone know of a high quality scanner that will handle such large negatives?"

Digital?

[Tyger]

What does scanning old photographs have to do with DEC?

Scanners and DEC

[linguae]

I don't know if I know my DEC history correctly, but what do scanners have to do with DEC [wikipedia.org]?

Re:A drum scanner is designed for this.

[Telvin_3d]

I agree. This is a one shot deal, as in once the scanning is done you are never going to have more of these to do. Take them to some sort of professional shop, either a photo shop (not a 24 hour developer, but a high end photography store) or design shop or whatever else you can find. Places that specialize in old photos and restoration are other good places to check. Many of these place will digitize your slides for far less than the cost of turning them into prints. Even with a large volume it is almost always cheaper then whatever bizarre hardware you can find to buy, and even if it costs a little more, at least it is done by professionals on extremely high end equipment that you could never afford. Drum scanners were mentioned above, they are wonderful things. The other part of this is that scanning a lot of slides without the proper equipment is slow. Do you really want to spend the next three months of your free time doing nothing but feeding a single slide into the scanner, scanning it, checking it and then doing the next one?

Pay the cash and get it done professionally. Less hassle, quicker, higher quality and potentially cheaper.

Re:Too expensive - get a flatbed

[imsabbel]

With a flatbed scanner, you are pissing away any reason to use large format to begin with. Even the more expensive ones such at scanning film, not to mention negatives. (at least compared to dedicated film scanners. And if you are happy with mediocre quality, why not ust a digicam?)