I need to be able to scan thousands of medium format negs (120 and 70mm)quickly and at high resolution. Where can I find the necessary equipment?

-- William G. Van der Mei (WGV@csi.com), September 12, 1998

Answers

Minolta produces nice Film scanner. I tried the one designed for 35 slide and negative. It is very good. You may check the model for 120 at the following site. http://www.minoltausa.com/new_products/scanners/dimage_scan_multi.htm

-- Ron (bigcamera@bigfoot.com), September 13, 1998.

I agree with Ron that the Minolta Dimage Scan Multi is currently the clear choice for scanning medium format at an almost-affordable price (about $2300 with SCSI card from Camera World of Oregon in the US). The next step up would the Nikon 4500, which runs about $5500.

But to answer your question more pointedly, at this time there is no way to scan thousands of medium format images quickly at high resolution. The equipment to do it well costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the amount of storage required for such a project would be staggering. ProPhoto CD, which in volume costs about $15 PER IMAGE is still the LEAST expensive way to scan and store medium format images at very high resolution. Perhaps you could choose a set of your very best images to be scanned onto ProPhoto CD, and use the Minolta or Nikon for the others?

Best wishes with this amazing project! Please let us know what worked best for you -- you will have much to teach us.

-- Mark Hubbard (hubbard@humboldt1.com), September 17, 1998.