Frequently Asked Questions on scanning minox

Loading, processing and scanning has to be done by hand. Even if we had a Fuji Frontier lab unit, we would still have to use manual positoning for the scan. 

However, if you want your local film lab process your colour film, tell them to buy a 110-sized processing cartridge for their film processor. That will fit minox film and it can be run through as a normal 35mm film.

Because the minox film has no guide holes or sprockets, no film lab can pass it through their machine automatically.

We can reload your cxassette though.

In fact my price of processing has fallen by half over 20 years, to match the decline of customers and Minox users.

a Digital camera and close up lens will give excellent results in black and white. The dust filter on the Hasselblad Imacon is superior but very slow and let down by dated software.  Use chromagenic films such as XP2 and CN400BW to have scanners remove dust and scratches. you will also get a mich bigger file with the right lens, but you have to stop down to get all the negative in focus.

The Minox enlarger is excellent for well-exposed negatives especially those with an opal filter. That removes dust and scratches

If your scanner has Kodak's digital ICE3, then it will do a good job of removing dust and scratches from  colour negatvies and slides. Digital cameras do not have this, and you will have to manualy remove all marks. Remember a digtal camera will give you a larger image area to edit.

if you have a lot of negativesm use the maid of all work, Vuescan. Fast, and capable of batch work. For Epson flatbeds, Epson's own software does a better job of dust and scratch removal and a better job of multi-selection of negative strips.

Vuescan's excellence comes at a price: if the scanner has digital ICE installed, it will be not be used. Vuescan does use the infra-red channel if available. This means that image restoration is not as good as the hardware/software based Digital ICE

If you have a small number of 8x11 negatives and want the best out of your scanner (see -best scanner), you will need the wallet-thumpingly expensive Silverfast 8 or 9. I hate to admit this, but the Silverfast is great, but outrageously expensive. Silverfast is licensed to use the Digital ICE embedded hardware. Compared with native scanner software (Nikon Scan/Dimage Scan) or with Vuescant is superior. But you pay an awful lot more.

The dimage 5400 takes the prize. The resolution and the Digitlal ICE solution for colour means that, for Minox and 110, performance is superior to my Imacon III. The Imacon had higher resolution (6000 vs 5400) but the lack of digitlal ICE, poor software, cost of scanner and cost of special holder puts the Imacon out of contention.

Imacon Flextight is superior but very expensive. a decent digital camera with a decent close up lens comes second. 

Minolta Dimage 5400/Nikon LS5000 come third. Using a camera c

By a clear margin the Canon Macrophoto 20mm F3.5. With aperture stops and a small FL15 extension tube, this exactly fills the frame with the Minox 8x11 image on a full frame camera. Removing the extension tube allows you to copy 110 negatives exactly.

A close second, only let down by its lack of aperture stops, is the astonishing lens used in the Minolta Dimage 5400. Having used this lens, its resoliving power is superiuor, but there is minimal depth of field, so the negative holder and the negative mus tbe flat.

For sizes greater than 8x11 and 110, you cannot go far wrong with the Canon FL50mm F3.5 macro and bellows. 

If you already have a decent lighting source then the pixellator is an excellent modest-cost solution: there is an Minox-sized holde as part of the range.

If you want a more automated permanent system, then the Valoi products are recommended. We assited with the design of the Minox holder for them.

In tests,. from 11mp to 22mp there is an improvement in resolved detail. Above 22mp no more detail is resolvable, but the scan can be displayed on larger devices such as 4k TV's. Minolta's Dimage 5400 scanner is a 24x36mm sized sensor but when scanning a 8x1mm sized image you only use around 600 ppi. However, the 5400's dynamic range of 4.8 (same as Nikon Coolscan LS5000 and better than my Imacon (4.2).

Any camera sensor over 22MP will fine: the limiter is the size of the screen you wish to project your images.

The Minox BL - no competition. you can over-ride the meter reading without having to mess around with the ISO dial underneaeth.; its mechanical shutter needs no batteries. And there is something about the shutter sound of a BL (try it) that simply oozes superiority compared with any other mechanical Minox.

he Minox BL - no competition. you can over-ride the meter reading without having to mess around with the ISO dial underneaeth.; its mechanical shutter needs no batteries. And there is something about the shutter sound of a BL (try it) that simply oozes superiority compared with any other mechanical Minox.

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