I need an intervention

[justiceischeap]

I've started buying film cameras and I can't seem to stop...and I need to. My first purchase was a Canon AE-1 with the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens cause I wanted to see what the fuss with Canon cameras and lenses is about. I'm half way through my first roll of film.

Then today, I went Minolta crazy. I won 2 actions netting in 4 film cameras (3 of which I don't know the actual model numbers of).

And, and, and... I'm looking for a rangefinder too, cause I want to see what all the fuss about those are.

It's a good thing film cameras are so cheap.

So, anyone that still shoots film, do you know if I can just place the negatives on the scanner glass and that'll work or do I have to get something special? I have an old scanner that's been discontinued and don't want to have to buy a new one but I don't want to rely on my local CVS' scanning skills to get the CD. Or, would you just scan the print at hi-res and then save it as a TIFF or what not?

[Major Nikon]

1. You can certainly scan negatives through glass, but that's not going to work all that well

The problem is that scanning negatives and slides requires very high dpi settings which are also going to reveal defects and optical aberrations in the glass itself. You are probably better off having them professionally scanned unless you want to invest in a scanner designed for that purpose.

The fuss about rangefinders is mostly size. If you compare a Leica rangefinder with your AE-1, you will easily see a big difference between size and weight. The addition of a mirror and prism adds size and weight to the camera and also requires much larger lenses for the same optics.