In the course of 60 years, I have acquired hundreds of negatives that range in size from 5 x 7cm to 10 x 8 inches. Having prints made is ruinously expensive. I know there are scanners for 35mm film, but are there any that can handle larger negatives? JW Tarrant
Large-format negatives are usually scanned professionally on drum scanners, but these are very expensive. Fortunately, some of the better flatbed scanners can scan negatives, perhaps with an accessory adapter from BetterScanning.com. Your best bet is probably the Epson Perfection 4990 Photo, which can handle 10 x 8in negs with a film adapter. It's very good value at under £300.
The Epson Perfection V750 Pro is better but is more than twice the price (around £650). The CanoScan 9950F has also been a popular choice for the job but only goes up to 5 x 4in negatives.
The Large Format Photography site is doing collaborative tests of large-format scanners.
Make sure the negatives are really clean before you start: dust specks can be a problem, and the built-in Digital ICE does not work with black and white images. You may want to invest in VueScan software to do the scanning, and PictureCode or similar noise reduction software. You will probably need to do some retouching in a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
