I'm in the market for a new negative scanner. I had an older one that was working fine, but ran on an older PC system. When my PC broke, I switched to Apple and now I need something else.

Any recommendations? My budget is $200 tops, and I need at least 2400dpi.

I can tell you I use an Epson V300 and it does the job. Also that it cost only a little on Craigslist.

Posted by shadeblanco I'm in the market for a new negative scanner. I had an older one that was working fine, but ran on an older PC system. When my PC broke, I switched to Apple and now I need something else. Any recommendations? My budget is $200 tops, and I need at least 2400dpi.

See if you can get the Apple drivers for it...
W10 is enough to make any sane person want to jump ship.

Posted by blackhawk See if you can get the Apple drivers for it... W10 is enough to make any sane person want to jump ship.

I wish it was that easy. It was a CanoScan 9900f and there's not a driver for Mac at all much less Mojave 10.14.

Posted by shadeblanco I wish it was that easy. It was a CanoScan 9900f and there's not a driver for Mac at all much less Mojave 10.14.

Have you tried it to see if the OS has a preloaded legacy driver for it?
I'm not Mac at all. Make sure the OS really can't "see" it and not it's a program glitch.

Canon's Europe site may have the driver for Mac's.
That site has software not found on USA Canon.
It can be a bit witchy to find software there at times.
You can also try Canon support if that fails or to get help navigating that site.

To spite what some say on the internet Canon should support Mac's as well as it does PC.
Many pro's use Mac.
Use a 3rd party driver with extreme caution; best to download from Canon.
Macs are not malware proof...

You need 2400 dpi? What are you doing with that file? Printing it on the side of a bus?

Posted by blackhawk Have you tried it to see if the OS has a preloaded legacy driver for it? I'm not Mac at all. Make sure the OS really can't "see" it and not it's a program glitch...

I haven't given this a look, and my hopes aren't high but I'll give it a look.

Posted by randomesquephoto You need 2400 dpi? What are you doing with that file? Printing it on the side of a bus?

I don't make prints from the files. I have a local darkroom that I rent out if I want to take the time to blow up some enlargements on photographic paper.

But my dad has a degree in printing technology and used the scanner for work, so I couldv'e put it on a bus if I wanted I suppose. Most negative scanners now a days are at least 2400dpi by default, and I have seen higher end models that go up to 7200dpi. I really appreciate the precision when scanning 35 and medium format negs. It produces a file truer to the grain. Since I can't always afford to make enlargements, I want to make sure that my digital scans are capable of "replacing" my negatives in the event they are damaged or lost.

Try this:

https://www.canon-...rs&language=en&os=

I scan 35mm at 2400dpi.

Posted by shadeblanco I haven't given this a look, and my hopes aren't high but I'll give it a look. I don't make prints from the files. I have a local darkroom that I rent out if I want to take the time to blow up some enlargements on photographic paper. But my dad has a degree in printing technology and used the scanner for work, so I couldv'e put it on a bus if I wanted I suppose. Most negative scanners now a days are at least 2400dpi by default, and I have seen higher end models that go up to 7200dpi. I really appreciate the precision when scanning 35 and medium format negs. It produces a file truer to the grain. Since I can't always afford to make enlargements, I want to make sure that my digital scans are capable of "replacing" my negatives in the event they are damaged or lost.

Cool, I didn't realize it needed to be that high for good quality scans.

Posted by skatchkins I scan 35mm at 2400dpi.

What do you use?

Before you buy a new scanner, you should try to get your old one working.

Try using Image Capture. It's built into your Mac and it has native support for tons of scanners and multifunction printers. You can find it in the Applications folder.

You could also try Preview, which is also built into your Mac and can be found in the Applications folder. Launch Preview, then click "File" > "Import from scanner".

A quick web search also turned up a cross-platform software product called VueScan, which promises to support 5,600+ legacy scanners, yours included. I have no knowledge of this product, but they seem to have a free trial.

https://www.hamric...hnical-information

You could also dual boot Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp, or you could run Windows directly in MacOS via VirtualBox. You can also try running the scanner's software for Windows in Wine, but I wouldn't count on that.

Finally, you could just set up an old Windows PC dedicated to scanning negatives.

Try Wine on mac. I run several applications through it on my MacBook air wit zero issue. installed a bunch of mods for simcity with it. I don't see why you couldn't use a scanner program as well.

If you can't get the old one working again...

I use an Epson V700, I've had it since around 2013 and scanned literally thousands of negatives with it from 35mm to 8x10. It's never given my any grief. It looks like it isn't made anymore though.

I'd recommend something Epson, the V600 might be closer to $200? It looks like it's just under $300 Cdn. Used/on sale perhaps?