Scanning 1/2 frame film to CD delimma

[gb hill]

I fired off an e-mail to one of the companies that develops my photos, asking if they could develop my c-41 process film for my Oly-Pen 1/2 frame camera and then scan the negs to a cd. I don't have a neg. scanner btw, and they said they could develop the film but couldn't scan to cd. I was wandering if anyone knew why? I would like to use this camera but would like to be able to post to the internet. Guess I just need to brake down and get a neg. scanner.

[raid]

Try Walmart or Sam's Club. They will scan the film.You will either get one frame per digital file or two frames per digital files. Both methods work out well.

[gb hill]

Thanks Raid, I get good results from my Sams Club. I'm going tomorrow anyway and i'll ask them about it. I just can't understand why the other company said they couldn't do it.

[raid]

Sometimes it is better not to say anything. My Sam's Club photo department has been doing a great job for me. I even have them scan uncut B&W negatives for the cost of scanning (about $2.50). This way, I have the B&W film developed somewhere else and I get a CD too.

[gb hill]

My lips are zipped. So my next roll of film from my 1/2 frame, I'm just going to go to Sams and have it developed & scanned to cd like I normaly do & see how it turns out. Do yoiu use the editing program on the Sams club cd or do you use something else? This is what I hate. Everybody has their own programs on cd and some are pretty easy, others, like York Photo, are a pain in the butt.

[kb244]

Originally Posted by gb hill

I fired off an e-mail to one of the companies that develops my photos, asking if they could develop my c-41 process film for my Oly-Pen 1/2 frame camera and then scan the negs to a cd. I don't have a neg. scanner btw, and they said they could develop the film but couldn't scan to cd. I was wandering if anyone knew why? I would like to use this camera but would like to be able to post to the internet. Guess I just need to brake down and get a neg. scanner.

it's not that they can't they just won't because its not dry white bread standard full frame 35mm + C41. Everything they do is automated so they won't do anything that requires some work to change settings or something.

[gb hill]

Originally Posted by kb244

it's not that they can't they just won't because its not dry white bread standard full frame 35mm + C41. Everything they do is automated so they won't do anything that requires some work to change settings or something.

So do the settings have to be changed for the lab to scan the film to cd? If so then I guess my post #4 idea of just getting normal dev.+ scan to cd wont work. How confusing.

[raid]

Originally Posted by gb hill

My lips are zipped. So my next roll of film from my 1/2 frame, I'm just going to go to Sams and have it developed & scanned to cd like I normaly do & see how it turns out. Do yoiu use the editing program on the Sams club cd or do you use something else? This is what I hate. Everybody has their own programs on cd and some are pretty easy, others, like York Photo, are a pain in the butt.

I have a basic PS Elements software, and I skip Sam's Club's software.
If you get two frames per digital file, just crop half of each file and save it. This way, you get both frames separated.

Raid

[raid]

Originally Posted by gb hill

So do the settings have to be changed for the lab to scan the film to cd? If so then I guess my post #4 idea of just getting normal dev.+ scan to cd wont work. How confusing.

It depends on which Sam's Cluib you go to. I never had any problems. Just don't say a word. You may get 72+ digital files back from a 36 exposure roll of film.

[gb hill]

Raid, That sounds right to me. I'll try that and when/if the time comes of needing help in seporating the 2 images i'll start a Raid I need help! post. My wife just installed a new photoshop program and showed me how to use it to move my pictures to edit from a cd. May be the same as yours. I'm a novice to all this but eager to learn.

[laf]

Bill:
I normaly get my colour negative 1/2 frames scanned into CD, two negatives in the space of one. Sometimes I must insist on the job, because they are not used to such requests. But it works so in Buenos Aires Argentina.

[Trius]

Just tell them you have a special camera that compresses two shots onto one frame, so they can ignore any extra framelines.... just scan at a ratio of 2:1.

[ampguy]

Does anyone know how Costco handles 1/2 frames?

[digitalintrigue]

NCPS will do half frames no problem, same price as full frame.

Last roll I sent, there were 78 shots!

[ampguy]

Great info.!

Originally Posted by digitalintrigue

NCPS will do half frames no problem, same price as full frame.

Last roll I sent, there were 78 shots!

[JoeV]

I taught my local CVS pharmacy to deal with my half-frame film. First, I called them up on the phone, told them I had a special camera that shoots half-frame (had to explain in detail what that was); then made a visit and talked to the gal in person, gave her the film for drop-off processing. She called the Kodak rep who services their machines, he told her how to scan and print each frame individually, meanwhile she processed the negatives while waiting for the rep to call back.

I picked up the prints and CD later that afternoon; a good job was done. The film was Ilford XP-2, which in itself can be confusing for some mini-lab attendants. I think one key is to develop a relationship with your local lab, which is one reason why I like to use the corner drug store, rather than a big-box retail place like Costco or Sam's Club.

~Joe

[Dana B.]

Originally Posted by ampguy

Does anyone know how Costco handles 1/2 frames?

Yes, beautifully. Simply request 135H -- for half frame. And the Fuji developer/scanner will separate each image. Sometimes the clerks will insist it won't work, but don't take no for an answer. It's one of the few automated labs in the U.S. I know of that does half frames.

Now if only their scans were decent -- but that's another issue.

[ampguy]

Here's an update - my local Costco does this very well if you tell them in advance. They will scan 2 1/2 frame images onto a single scan, but they will ensure focus is on the image, and not on the center area between 2 images. The Noritsu scanners they use accommodate for this.

[ZeissFan]

I just have them process and return the negatives uncut. I scan myself. No reason to trust others with scanning. It's just another opportunity for mishandling and damaging the negatives.

[Dave Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by ZeissFan

I just have them process and return the negatives uncut. I scan myself. No reason to trust others with scanning. It's just another opportunity for mishandling and damaging the negatives.

but do you scan to CD delimma?

[camera.bear]

My understanding is that when the PEN series was developed, Olympus took care to make sure that the film could be developed without a proplem using standard processing. The PEN EE manual states that "The film is processed in the same way, through the same places as other 35mm film."

My local Walgreens has done a great job dealing with my half frame film. I just advise them and they scan two images to one file. It is easy to separate and resize these in Photoshop. They cut the negatives without incident.

[Doug]

I'll second the suggestion of making friends with the lab tech. The local branch of my lab produces lower-res scans than the main lab. But the main lab's automated machinery is confused by half-frame's many frame divisions... their results are two frames on each scan, but the spacing is off, always cropping a bit off both sides or ok on one frame and losing more off the far side of the other. Very hit or miss as to usability.

The gal at the local branch hand-scanned the rolls for me so that I had a separate scan for each frame, centered in a full-frame size scan that I could later crop. So I had a good scan of every image, but at lower resolution. Halved further of course by the necessary cropping. But good enough for seeing what I had, and for forum uploads.

But now that lab has closed their local branch in my town, and "my gal" lost her job. I will have to talk with the Costco folks when I go in there next...

[JoeV]

Although I have processed my own B/W film, I've gotten away from it, and like the convenience of XP-2. It's the scanning and printing that's the problem with local labs.

Last week I dusted off my Beseller 23C enlarger and printed half a dozen half-frame XP-2 shots to 5x7, on glossy fiber paper. The results are so much better than the mini-lab prints. Now I need to convince myself to process my own B/W film again; the problem has always been dust collecting on the film as it dries; I don't have my own drying cabinet. But after seeing the spots and scratches on the XP-2 negs processed by the mini-lab, I can't do any worse myself.

~Joe