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Question about the Canon's film negative scanning function

spincut said:
I was just curious if anyone knew anything about the Canon MG8120's film negative scanning function. Does it actually scan a film negative and develop picture? Or do you just have a scan of a film negative??

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-MG8120-...412K/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1297649669&sr=8-5
Click to expand...

From the first site by Google:
The MG8120 also features a transparency unit for scanning strips of 35mm negatives and slides. Which can immediately be printed as photos in as little as 20 seconds for a 4x6 print.
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I guess I want to understand (or see) more how that works. I suppose I am a little confused how it is able to scan a film negative and come out as a fully developed photo (which still needs to be developed though doesnt it? I mean, if you shoot a roll of 35mm film, you cant just pop it out of the case because it would be ruined wouldnt it?).

Is there any blog, review or anything that shows someone actually doing this? I mean, I beleive you, heck, even the Best Buy guy did tell me that's how it works, but I still imagine it just scans you a blown up film negative, how does it take a strip of film and get photo's out of it? I'd really like to see that in action somewhere.
 
The negative-to-positive conversion is actually done in software. That Canon flatbed scanner does include software that lets you do just that.

Image quality is a completely different matter: None of the flatbed scanners scan tiny film images with anywhere near the same high resolution as an expensive dedicated film scanner. Thus, at best you'll get only an effective 8MP image out of a given 35mm film image while $1,500 dedicated film scanners can deliver well over 20MP out of that same 35m film image.
 
E4g1e said:
The negative-to-positive conversion is actually done in software. That Canon flatbed scanner does include software that lets you do just that.

Image quality is a completely different matter: None of the flatbed scanners scan tiny film images with anywhere near the same high resolution as an expensive dedicated film scanner. Thus, at best you'll get only an effective 8MP image out of a given 35mm film image while $1,500 dedicated film scanners can deliver well over 20MP out of that same 35m film image.
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So in essence are you saying the feature isn't worth it....but it's due to the software, not the hardware in said printer model?

I assume when you say dedicated film scanner, you mean the type they use at photolabs?

Mean, the only difference between the 8120 and the 6120 (I dont beleive there is a 7120) is this feature, so I'd save a little over 60 bucks...but it does intrigue me.
 
spincut said:
So in essence are you saying the feature isn't worth it....but it's due to the software, not the hardware in said printer model?
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Actually, the sensor (hardware) cannot reverse the negative images. The reversal has to be done in software.

And most less-expensive printer/scanners cannot scan film at all. The 6120 cannot scan film at all - positive or negative.

spincut said:
I assume when you say dedicated film scanner, you mean the type they use at photolabs?
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Actually, it is not the same. The photolabs are even more limited than the home scanners: The mass-market minilabs are set to produce only 2MP images from 35mm film scans. The expensive film scanners are used more by professional custom labs.
 
You have to develop the film before you put it through the scanner. If you want to scan a lot of film, get a film scanner as the quality will be considerably higher. I have one that does 4 slides at a time, 6 frames of 35mm film, or an entire roll of APS film. It automates the process as well since it has a motorized tray on which you put the film. I just load the tray, press a button, and a couple minutes later I have a bunch of high quality TIFF files.
 
Blue Fox said:
You have to develop the film before you put it through the scanner. If you want to scan a lot of film, get a film scanner as the quality will be considerably higher. I have one that does 4 slides at a time, 6 frames of 35mm film, or an entire roll of APS film. It automates the process as well since it has a motorized tray on which you put the film. I just load the tray, press a button, and a couple minutes later I have a bunch of high quality TIFF files.
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One problem: The good film scanners cost more than $1,000. The $100-ish "film scanners" from Ion and several other brands actually produce poorer image quality than the average flatbed scanner - and no better than what comes out of a typical drugstore minilab (read: overly contrasty and washed out).
 
E4g1e said:
One problem: The good film scanners cost more than $1,000. The $100-ish "film scanners" from Ion and several other brands actually produce poorer image quality than the average flatbed scanner - and no better than what comes out of a typical drugstore minilab (read: overly contrasty and washed out).
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I spent about $250 on a Konica Minolta one a few years back and it doesn't exhibit either of those problems. Guess it's a step up from the really inexpensive ones. I would upload some examples, but they're ~20mb a piece even when compressed (lossless).
 
spincut said:
I guess I want to understand (or see) more how that works. I suppose I am a little confused how it is able to scan a film negative and come out as a fully developed photo (which still needs to be developed though doesnt it? I mean, if you shoot a roll of 35mm film, you cant just pop it out of the case because it would be ruined wouldnt it?).

Is there any blog, review or anything that shows someone actually doing this? I mean, I beleive you, heck, even the Best Buy guy did tell me that's how it works, but I still imagine it just scans you a blown up film negative, how does it take a strip of film and get photo's out of it? I'd really like to see that in action somewhere.
Click to expand...

Film development and photo development are separate processes. When done by hand, after the film is developed (in a dark room), it's put into a projector that enlarges the image onto a piece of paper coated in light sensitive chemicals. Then the paper is developed and you get a oicture.

The scanner just takes the second part of the process out. It scans the negative, inverts the colors, and enlarges the resulting image, then prints it onto plain or "photo" paper,. Obviously, the film would have to be chemically developed beforehand.

It really just a feature for people that want make their own duplicates of phtodo for their grandmas and aunts.
 
Hmmm well since I dont have a lot of negatives laying around, and I would have to take the roll to a photolab anyway to get them developed, I suppose the feature isn't as handy as I would have thought. Perhaps I will just get the 6120 since it is otherwise effectively the same device (I think the LCD is a little smaller, but otherwise there doesn't appear to be any featureset differences).

I was a little disconcerted to hear that between the 6 ink cart system and the apparent fact that it uses a lot of ink that it can be a rather expensive proposition, but I can;t imagine it's that much worse than an HP photosmart, and I just really don't want to get an Epson.
 
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