Cave of the Ancients opened to reveal Leafscan 45

[9000man]

New forum member here with first post. After letting my film cameras rest for the past twenty or more years, I have been given an ultimatum by the better half: Use them or lose them! Back in the 20th century, most of my photography entailed using one of several TLR cameras, all Rolleis, shooting mostly print film. Many negatives have remained in storage and finally I am needing to use the film scanner I purchased back in the late 1990s, a Leafscan 45. It has been stored under cover inside my home storage space, heated and air conditioned, since that time, unused. In the meantime, my Mac computers have been upgraded/replaced several times. With the "use them or lose them!" ultimatum, I am pondering whether or not to put that Leafscan into service after sitting unused for so many years. From what I have read online, the Leafscan 45 is now nearly a unicorn with little support and very few, if any, current users. That said, I am hoping someone who reads and contributes to photography related online forum(s), perhaps this one, would be willing to offer up some suggestions as to the feasibility of proceeding with something as challenging as attempting to raise this old scanner from its long sleep. Before I purchased it as a pre-owned unit that actually hadn't been used much if at all, the prior owner had given it a very thorough examination, including putting in a new bulb before passing it along to me. Bizarre at it seems, after I took ownership of it, at the same time i purchased my first digital camera and embarked on what would be a quarter century adventure, at the same time leaving film photography on the back burner. It's still on the back burner, but I really should take on the process of scanning the negatives before I leave this world and someone else decides to toss them away. Living life does get in the way of attending to matters of importance sometimes, as some others reading this may recognize as well.

With that introduction, I am open to some advice on whether or not to even take the first step of raising the Leafscan back to life again. I have no old Macs anymore, so would need to find one of those, too. You will not hurt my feelings by suggesting that this is a fool's errand, as it wouldn't be the first time I have taken on a quixotic project. Sometimes they work out, many times they don't....all depending on how much enthusiasm can be mustered to begin and stay with it. Thank you all in advance for any thoughts you may care to offer.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

An older Mac with a SCSI interface is cheap. Is the software available, or do you have your Silverfast license still? Go for it. (Yes, yes, I know, you'll have the chorus advising you to scan with a digital camera....)

 

[koraks]

Welcome aboard @9000man !

Getting an old machine with SCSI interface is one way to go. Another is to get a somewhat more modern machine (preferably a PC, as they're more versatile in this regard) and add a SCSI interface to it. I did the latter with a Flextight scanner, which is also a SCSI device.

Silverfast would be the obvious way to go as it avoids the hassle of trying to get whatever Leaf original scan utility that came with the scanner to work.

a quixotic project

A bit, but not a total windmill scenario, really. This can be done. Fingers crossed the scanner still works!

However, many people today 'scan' their negatives with a digital camera and find it's quite effective and convenient once set up, and doesn't involve any arcane or ancient hardware and the hassle of getting it to work in a modern environment.

 

[250swb]

The interesting part could be when you tell your wife you need a new digital camera in order to get rid of your Leafscan.

 

[9000man]

Several "IF"s for certain....if the scanner still functions after finding a working vintage computer for it, and if the Silverfast software can be found and installed, and if I can wrap my head around how to use it....will the results be worth the effort? Anyone here have first hand experience with the Leafscan 45 and can give a thumbs up or down on it?

 

[runswithsizzers]

Normally, I tend to follow the path of least resistance, but sometimes, not.

In other words, If I already had a computer and software capable of supporting the old scanner, then I would try that first. But if I did not have the necessary computer stuff -- but instead had digital camera and a good macro lens, and I was already comfortable doing postprocessing in something like Lightroom, or Photoshop, then I would probably go that way, instead.

But before choosing one path over the other, it might be relevant to consider the answers to these questions:
1. What percentage of your negatives are color negatives, or all they all black & white?
2. Given a choice, would you prefer spending your time troubleshooting computer problems, like SCSI chains, finding and installing drivers, etc. -- OR -- would you prefer to spend time learning how to use postprocessing software?

Of couse, even if you scan with the old film scanner, it is likely you will need to spend at least a little time using postprocessing software to clean up the scans. But IF you have a lot of color negative film, and IF the scanning software you use does a good job of converting color negative scans to positives, then that might be a vote in favor of choosing the scanner over using a digital camera to copy the film??