General Chat

Is look through the 100s of negatives we have but don't know what to buy to do that or what they are called so any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Do you mean a lightbox or a loupe?

I think you can also scan them with an iphone app (if you have an iphone).

Haven't you got the actual photos you could look through?

Kath. x

I scanned dozens of negatives and then inverted them to be the correct image..


slides were a different thing entirely...

Hi ZZzzz
I initially thought you could use a microfiche scanner - but not everyone has one!
Looking it up, I came across this site - which, although it's for scanning microfiche, it may work for negatives - and most people have a scanner/printer. I know I wouldn't want to fork out money if I don't need to! :-D

https://www.familytreeforum.com/forum/research-tools/computer-help/100-microfiche-reading-part-two-flatbed-scanner

If the above doesn't work, there's this one:
https://www.popphoto.com/gear/2011/07/how-to-scan-negatives-using-standard-scanner/#:~:text=Everyday%20flatbed%20scanners%20don't,light%2C%20and%20make%20it%20happen.

There are quite a few YouTube tutorials as well.

Edit: sorry, I've probably expanded the page :-(

Hmm,the articles I quote don't mention an adaptor. Not sure of the size of ZZzzz's negatives, they may be older than 35mm size, but the chances are, they're not A4!
Most people don't look at a negative and say 'Oh, that's a 35mm, that's a 120mm from the old Brownie etc - most people aren't concerned with that. They are negatives, not film.
But never mind, that's irrelevant.

Are you a salesman, RTR - surely it would be best for ZZzzz to try the scanner/printer they already have, rather than go out and buy some of the stuff you've mentioned, and then changed your mind about, which may or may not work, depending on the resolution, make, size oojamiflip, age, hairstyle, BCG, Americanisms etc - but all appear to cost money?

It's just that I want to look at the negatives, some are very old and then decide which ones I want to keep and destroy the rest. The ones I keep I hope to be able to put on a memory stick, I no techie so may get someone to do them for me.

Strange, I've printed off digitised images, and they've come out the same size as the photo :-S Sometimes, I've deliberately made them bigger, as they were too small for my purpose.

So a 35mm adaptor for whatever you recommended is now not needed, as you have now assumed a 620 film was used.
It's negatives, ZZzzz wants to look at, it's not a film that needs developing. What difference would the type of film make to viewing a negative?
It's unlikely they're glass plates - the clue is in the word 'negatives'.

maggiewinchester, Thank you for saying that, :-)

ZZzzz, have you got a scanner? I was doing a bit of googling and looking at an Argos ad for a Canon scanner. Somebody asked if you could do negatives on it and the answer was "No". The person replying then added this, which wouldn't cost anything and might work for your purposes.

That being said there are some ways you can do it but they can be hit and miss and results vary. If you place a negative into a scanner, place a piece of white paper on it then stand a bright light such as a desk lamp above it you can often see what the negative is, sometimes you can get a print off it. You can also make a little triangular box, bit like what you buy sandwiches in and make a cardboard light box.

Good luck. :-)