Digitize black and white negs

[ZorkiKat]

You best choice would be to keep your flatbed scanner, buy a dirt-cheap (but real) enlarger, make a temporary darkroom in your bathroom like some fellow APUGers do (and they do so well), and scan your 5x7" or 8x10" darkroom prints to post online.

By the way almost of all the flatbed scanners don't work well for 35mm film strips. You need a dedicated 35mm film neg scanner to at least get the bottom-line result for your 35mm negs. But that's not a suggested topic here.

The newer generation flatbed scanners from Canon and Epson (eg "Perfection
4180 photo) are equipped to handle 35mm negatives and transparencies. Unlike ordinary flatbeds, these scanners have a "real" lens capable of really high optical resolutions. I use the 4180 for scanning my film and the results have really high quality which can rival that of a scan made through a 'dedicated' film scanner. I've scanned with it 35mm slides for magazine publication- the largest I've seen printed is a two-page tabloid-sized magazine spread.

Enclosed is a part of a negative (original area approx. 10mmx10mm on the original 35mm negative) scanned with the 4180. Negative is Chinese-made
generic ISO 100 BW developed in paracetamol "rodinal" 1+100. Shot with a Leica M3 and 50mm Jupiter-3 at f/1,5.

Jay