I have come to the point where I need an affordable film scanner. Since Sams Club won’t scan medium format film, I don’t really have much of a choice. Currently, I have an HP Scanjet 4470c that works great for scanning photos, but the film scanner attatchment has never impressed me. Now that I am shooting medium format film, I need a scanner that can accomodate the bigger film size, too. Since I am on a tight budget, the main two medium format film scanners are the Canon CanoScan 8400F Flatbed Scanner and the Epson Perfection 4180 Photo Scanner. The Epson Perfection 4180 costs a little more at about $190 and the Canon only costs about $140. After reading the reviews on Amazon, I was undecided. The Canon had great reviews, but it seemed that I might get a bit higher resolution on the Epson. A little more research, I found a couple of great reviews on PCmag.com. You can read the review of the Canon here, and the Epson here. With a better price, less problems, better reviews, and equal if not better quality, I decided on the Canon Canoscan 8400. I should get it in a week or so, so I will let you know how I like it.

Ebay is my favorite place to find deals on photo equipment. Here are the film scanners on Ebay right now:

NEW! 3-in-1 Digital Photo/Negative Films/Slides Scanner

US $89.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 20:43:14 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

3-in-1 Digital Photo+Negative Films+Slides Scanner~NEW

US $84.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 21:02:08 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

3-in-1 Multi-Fuctional Photo Print+35mm Film+Slide Scanner w/ 2.4" LCD & SD Slot

US $112.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 21:16:44 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

T VuPoint FS-C1-VP Film and Slide Digital Scanner

US $47.19 End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 21:23:37 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $47.19 Buy it now | Add to watch list

NEW Digital Film 35mm Negatives & Slides Scanner~FS1000

US $48.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 21:37:40 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

Multi-Functional Digital A6 Photo & Film Scanner~NEW!

US $69.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 21:49:07 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

NEW! Digital Films 35mm Negatives & Slides Scanner~SVP FS1200

US $44.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 21:52:11 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

NEW! 3-in-1 Digital Photo/Negative Films/Slides Scanner

US $114.73 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 22:43:13 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

Microtek LightLid 35 35T+ 35mm Film Scanner

US $34.99 End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 23:16:39 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $34.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

1981 Press Photo Stephen Lack Actor Science Fiction Thriller Scanners Film Movie

US $24.88 End Date: Wednesday May-16-2012 23:22:49 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $24.88 Buy it now | Add to watch list

I have been thinking about pinhole cameras since last week when I was describing the photography of Abelardo Morell to my creative director. If you are unfamiliar with Abelardo Morell, the link above will take you to a gallery of his work. What Morell is famous for is essentially turning entire rooms into cameras. By blocking out all the light in a room except for a small aperture on the window, the image outside the room is projected across the room. Morell, standing inside the “camera” used a long exposure to photograph the inside of the room with the outside projected upon the interior. With a little more research, I learned that what he was building is actually called a camera obscura, a tool that dates back to the 5th century BC. The reason I bring this up is partly because I took some heat a few posts back for criticizing Paula Scher, a technophobe, for endorsing the G5.

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Although my pinhole camera (part 1 and part 2) experiments led me to this subject, this post isn’t specifically design related. I wasn’t able to find a great resource online for this subject, so I thought I would share my experience with anyone looking for an alternative to the Nikon MC-EU1 Remote release cord. If you are interested in this kind of thing, here is how I made a Remote Shutter Release Cord for my Nikon Coolpix 5000 digital camera…

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Digital Sucks. That’s the name of a website dedicated to photography taken with Holga and other toy cameras. They have some pretty nice photos, and I would be curious to know if they would be offended by my digital pinhole camera. Although the site is on “life support,” and hasn’t been updated in a while, the sermon on the site is an interesting read:

“With digital the geeks have turned the photographic process into a video game. The artform is being corrupted and buried under a mountain of technology. And not only the artform is suffering – the art itself is evaporating.”

Over-the-top, yes, but it is somewhat understandable that a group of low-tech camera enthusiasts would be repulsed by the digital explosion recently. To be honest, I don’t understand why the average consumer has embraced digital photography the way they have. Without a hefty investment in a camera, computer, software, and printer, the quality of digital still can’t compete with even the most inexpensive film cameras. That’s not to mention the huge learning curve and the organization headaches. There is no doubt that we are in the middle of a digital reformation with technology changing many aspects of our life. I don’t think that necessarily means doom for the low-techies. As technology continues to increase, so will the backlash. As more and more people look for low-tech alternatives, I think anti-digital groups like Digital Sucks will also increase in popularity. Maybe pinhole cameras will see an increase in popularity, too.

Originally published on Be A Design Group.

I read a very insightful article on the Corante Blog titled Many-to-Many: Moblogging from the front and the new Reformation. The article compares the impact of the invention of the digital camera to the impact of the invention of the printing press. (The printing press allowed Bibles to be widely distributed. The church could no longer control the direct perception of scripture. The result was the Protestant Reformation.) The article sites the distribution of digital photos of torture in Iraq and the release of photos of coffins of American soldiers as examples of the military’s loss of control over information. As we begin to recognize the tremendous impact digital photography is having on our world, I think there are very important questions we need to ask. The one that come to mind first is: How do we recognize truth in photography? Any graphic designer knows how easy it is to manipulate an image. A photo should never be confused with truth. Working in advertising, that is not something we want people to recognize. We want people to follow the equation that product = happiness = reality. I think that the digital revolution is starting to crack that formula for success. Perhaps like the church, advertising will benefit from a reformation.

Originally published on Be A Design Group.