Looking through some old photo albums of my parents, I've found some old negatives but the pictures seem to be missing . I've tried scanning one in ( on it's own and using a white sheet behind it ) but it's difficult to make out any detail . Tried a copy of Gimp2.6 ,and Photo Shop elements ,but I might as well stick negative up against the screen . Any other ( preferably freeware ) stuff ,or am I not using Gimp properly ?

Any help appreciated - got a stack half an inch thick ( from way back 1935/6) and another stack from the 40's -most likely old family photos where the photo will now be pretty well shot .

Edited 10 October, 201015 yr by VWD

You really need dedicated hardware to do the job properly.

To get anything decent from a negative you will need a scanner capable of at least 1200dpi.

Make sure when you scan the negative that the scanning software is set to maximum dpi scan resolution.

Its normally worth turning off any automatic correction settings built into the scanner software. Playing around with the gamma correction, brightness and contrast can yield better results too.

As with any image capture process (be it scanning or photography), getting the best possible raw image is invaluable.

Gimp is a perfectly capable piece of software, but at the end of the day, it can only work with what you give it.

Aldi has a negative scanner on offer this week, will come with software.

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/offers_week41Thursday10.htm?WT.z_src=main

Assuming it's 35mm film.

Edited 11 October, 201015 yr by Aspman

^ That's the ticket. My aunt and uncle do all that kind of stuff. After attempting to rig all sorts up with the enlarger they had for developing conventional film, they just bought a proper scanner!

Not sure if the cheap ALDI scanner deserves to be called "proper scanner". I bought one in the same price category a year ago, and although it works there's a lot to say about quality. Colours are distorted, giving my pics a distinct David Lynch touch. And edges are blurred, since the scanner doesn't flatten the negatives completely. Acceptable results with B&W negs, though. Prepare for paying £200 and upwards if you really want good results.

I got one in a previous offer to use for our wedding snaps (photographer got a brain tumour so we never actually got the pictures just the film).

They are difficult to use. I did consider buying a much more expensive one then selling it on. It's worth a shot though at that price.

You need to cut the film to a 5 picture length to fit in the carrier so think about a film cutter or a very sharp knife and a steel rule.

Here's my dubious results with a scanner in the £50 range. The B&W (from 1968) is more or less OK, but you can see how only the centre has decent sharpness. The colour photo is not from "Life on Mars" but from a trip to Ireland in 1977 - the pic possibly from Limerick - and no credit to the original (Leica M5, 35 mm Summicron, Kodachrome X). Nice cars, though

Edited 11 October, 201015 yr by swedishskoda

Guess it show the importance of the quality ofthe base image too.

These where scanned using a £100+ Epson 2400dpi scanner with an integrated negative and slide tray

Taken using a cheap 35mm automatic, which was packing up in the cold (-25 on the Svalbard icecap)

Thanks ,lads - the negatives are from an old box brownie - and are now circa 70 years old + the fact that my scanner(s) are not designed for negatives -they do photos ok, so it's try something else .Probably not the software ,and don't really want to spend a lot at this moment .

Thanks ,lads - the negatives are from an old box brownie - and are now circa 70 years old + the fact that my scanner(s) are not designed for negatives -they do photos ok, so it's try something else .Probably not the software ,and don't really want to spend a lot at this moment

70 yrs old... B&W negs then, I guess, and most likely 6x6 centimeters or 6x4.5? Then I would try a possible makeshift and cheap solution: Find an opaque (white) glass plate, place negative on it (tape the corners), a ligth bulb behind, take a close.up with your digital camera. Invert to positive in Gimp ('colors' - 'invert')

You need to get light through the neg, that's why a standard flatbed scanner doesn't work.

swedishskoda-thanks- the negs are approx 7.5x 5.5 cm .Looks like the only way as my scanner is too low res .