Is a Film Scanner Worth Buying?

Ever since I started scanning my own film, I've had a lot of questions as to whether or not purchasing a film scanner is really worth it. Do you need a film scanner, or should you just keep getting your scans from your lab? It's probably not a question as old as time, but it's sure a popular question nevertheless.

I wanted to look at some of the benefits, from my experience, of scanning your film at home, yourself, vs. the benefits of having your film scanned by a professional film lab.

The Benefits of Using a Film Lab

If you're asking this question, it's likely that you're currently having a professional film lab scan your negatives, and there are a lot of benefits of doing so, including, but not limited to:

Not Having the Funds or Space for a Film Scanner

When I first purchased my film scanner, something that I was shocked about was the sheer size of it. Of course, I probably should have paid more attention to the listing but alas I just didn't expect that an A4 scanner would be take up so much space.

More than space confinements, spending a couple of hundred pounds on any equipment can be daunting, let alone a piece of equipment you've never used before and you're not sure you entirely need.

Time Efficient

Let's be honest, sending your film to a lab to both develop and scan it just makes sense. It's convenient, it's time efficient and it's one job less for you to do.

Particularly when I'm working on a client project and the turnaround needs to be quick, having the lab scan my film, rather than having to wait for them to send me back the negatives so that I scan them myself, just makes more sense.

Guarantee of Good Results

One of the greatest selling points of using a professional lab is just that -- they are professionals. The results that you get from a lab is likely to be consistent and of high quality and this is something that is great to rely on, especially on client projects where the quality of your scanning is going to be more important.

The Benefits of Scanning at Home

If having someone scan your film at the lab is so great, why would you bother investing in the equipment and spending the time to do it yourself?

Less Expensive

Even though the initial investment of a film scanner can cost you hundreds of pounds, the money that you will save over time (especially if you're shooting a lot of film) from not having to pay extra for your lab to scan the film will soon add up.

If you imagine that it costs anywhere from £4-£10 per roll, depending on the lab you use, for scans as well as development, you'll soon realise that your investment of a film scanner will have paid for itself.

More Creative Control

Creative control, or creative freedom, is an artist's dream, right? Having access to a scanner and being able to scan your own film, producing the colours that you want and the quality that you wish for, is a great way of being able to control how the images look and how they fit your personal photography style.

Scanning your own film also gives you access to different software to be able to really have freedom over how the scans look. For example, I use Epson Scan 2 (the software that comes with my Epson V600 scanner) as well as Negative Lab Pro, a Lightroom Plugin. The results from using each software can differ greatly, allowing me to really push the limits of what I can get from my scans.

Complete Ownership

Similarly to having creative control, scanning your film is a great way of having more ownership of your work. The only way to have better ownership would to be also develop your film - that way, you will have taken the photo, developed and scanned it, without the involvement of anyone else.

The Third Option

There is, however, also a third option. Whilst I can't testify to this option, having never personally tried it, I've heard of a lot of people that prefer this third option over having the lab scan your work and over purchasing a film scanner.

The third option is, of course, using a DSLR or mirrorless camera to scan (or photograph) your film negatives. This can allow for high-resolution scanning at a quicker speed than using a film scanner but with all of the same benefits.

So, Is a Film Scanner Worth It?

In my opinion, yes. If you can afford the initial investment, having the option to scan your own film is a worthy investment. Not only does it offer the opportunity to have more control over your own work but it also offers the opportunity to save money if shooting film is something that you do often.

I personally use the Epson V600 to scan my film at home, but I still use a lab to scan film every now and then. Just because you have a scanner of your own, doesn't mean that you can't still use a lab when it suits you. In essence, it's the best of both worlds.

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