The Film Scanner I Always Dreamed of Owning
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ย. 2024
- After many years obsessing over the Fuji Frontier SP3000, I finally decided to buy one. In this video, I'm scanning some film and discussing what makes this scanner so special.
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Since I started working with film, the Frontier SP3000 has been my favourite scanner. I absolutely love the look of the files when it comes to colour and contrast. And over the past few months, I started to think more seriously about buying one for my own use, and also some bigger plans I'm hoping to make happen in 2025.
In this video, I'm giving a rundown of the system, showing you how it works and what it's like to scan film with. We'll scan a bunch of 120 and 35mm film that I pulled from my archives, and I'll run you through the conversion process and show you what makes the SP3000 so special.
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You posting this just after williem feels like fujifilm is secretly sponsoring these videos 😂 but in reality they are distancing themselves from film day by day 😢
The Squarespace bucks are adding up! Seems like this channel really has gone through every possible method of film scanning. You might say Kyle has reached the final... Frontier.
Dad I told you not to comment on videos!
@@Good_Rituals 🤣
These prescan speeds are mind-blowing and the images are so sharp! Now you have a full-fledged professional photo lab.
It's amazing how it gets the color right immediately! I'll be building myself an RGB light for camera scanning, the initial tests show very promising results and explain why I've had so much work to do in post when scanning with a high CRI white light. There's no doubt Fuji knew what they were doing when they installed RGB lights in this that scanner
Have you profiled you camera to the white light? The good results from the RGB light is almost all in the processing done automatically.
Damn, bro got himself professional grade lab gear.
I really miss hearing computers click and clack while they're processing. Really takes me back.
But can you imagine if they made a modern version of this thing? It'd be crazy.
Crazy that there are no modern scanner that have rendered these obsolete
There is no financial incentive for any manufacturer to invest in making a new, professional-grade film scanner, therefore there are none.
Also Camera-Scanning has technically surpassed these scanners already in terms of Resolution and scanning speed.
There was one startup working on one for 35mm only, much more modern, I forget the name 😅 Aurora, something like that, they wanted to provide them to labs
I used one when I worked in a film lab around 20 years ago. Loved working there👍📸
McDougall Labs - Opening soon.. lovely machine and amazing shots.
Dream machine and very nice pictures scanned... Excellent results.
Would love to have one of these. I've seen one floating around online but the amount of money is just crazy
This guy will not stop finding new ways to scan film!
I think that when i talk about how i love "the film look", this machine takes a lot of credit for that. I'm lucky enough to scan my own rolls of film with it and i love it. I love how the screen renders not only a low res image, but also an extremely contrasty and saturated one. It's like it's showing you the extreme version making it easier for you to identify clipping points, and if you manage to leave it roughly ok, the results will be amazing. I also love the sound of it running through an entire roll of 35mm
Wow, Congrats! I gave up home scanning once I saw the drastic difference from a lab using this scanner.
same, also because the simplicity, dust removal, time saving, etc etc etc. Home scanning is really just for people who loves (or have time) to play with them...
Amazing to have that level of immediate color control at your fingertips, Kyle. Happy scanning!
Congratz, we need some scanning setup comparisons next!
I need to show this to my wife. She's already mad at me for "cluttering" the house up with a Patterson tank and a Plustek.
I used one of those in the early 2000’s. I think this is the best scanner aside from the drum scanners.
Unless you already have a way to install the OSes and softwares make sure you have clones of the disks in each computer.
I ran those scanners for years! They are amazingly good. Congrats! Id love to get one as well.
Absolutely gorgeous, now that was a find!
Oh, congrats! This brings me back, I used to use one of those a couple of years back when working in a photo store. I remember using "Highlight Soft" often for landscapes in particular.
What a lovely machine to work with, so intuitive!
Aw, heck ya... that Win2kPro screen; nostalgia!
A comparison with the Nikon Coolscan you had would be really insightful! Thanks and enjoy!
Congratulations on the scanner Kyle, I am so happy for you. I missed the address as to where I was supposed to send my film to have it scanned. All the best my friend!
Fun machine to work with, used to work with these back in 2000. Hypertone gives funky shadows in some cases and especially bad for clothing that have reflecting details , for instance ugly Christmas sweaters, dresses with shimmer or glossy polyester. Fun working at the lab the first Christmas when my boss at the time still was fine tuning the machine. Pro tip : avoid emptying your coffee cup the scanner keyboard. A collage of mine did, but luckily it went fine, but as he got told : a new keyboard for the console would be 4500 usd (the part where 50 000 nok in the 2000s) Happy scanning
Interesting, I've never had any of these artifacts. Using the latest sw version, never had to turn Hypertone off.
@ could have been my boss that turned everything to 11, or the fashion of Christmas 2001 in Norway where a bad match for the hypertone?
@@vha42 haha, could be, or maybe they just fine tuned it.
I've been using my noritsu LS600 for the past 8 years and every time I go through scans, I'm amazed.
Was lucky enough to get it for very cheap before prices shot up and film got super popular again. It'll be part of my process until it gives out.
Likely won’t give out if you take care of it.
Willem Verbeeck just posted about this.
I too went insane a few years ago and bought a Frontier scanner. I bought the SP500, the SP3000’s little 35mm brother. These are truly beautiful machines. I hope everyone buying one of these appreciates that. They don’t make something like this anymore and I don’t know if they’ll ever make them again. Especially on that high a level! I’m saying this because we only have the ones that are left and labs need them. So in the end if you’re a rich kid buying one of these. Take good care of it and sell it to a lab if you ever stop using it!
Haha wow this is so insane that you have one of these in your house. I remember getting most of my scanning done with one of these back in the day and even working on one for a year or two when I worked at a lab. I preferred it greatly over typical drum scanning at the time, and scanning Fuji film especially seemed to be so extremely close to actual darkroom printing it was shocking. I worked right out of school as a "fine art" color printer for a few different photographers in NY, and this scanner was the first time I thought to myself "Hmm, ok there's something to this digital...".
God this looks so fun! This video could be triple the length. Just watching you scan and talk about your thinking while editing, is so fun! The colors are amazing! Makes me so envious. I want to learn to edit my digital photos like this.
Congratulation to this very nice machine. It's good to see they are still working strong (at least yours) and bringing so much joy to you and helping to make professional scanning available on a different scale. Good job you found a space to have that setup and already from your nice video one can tell that this was made for a professional workflow and therefore is less tireing than working on homebrew solutions, which I don't critisise by that, just you transfer the impression of a thoughtful workprocess on this great system in your video, just like it and had fun watching it to the end.
These scans look incredible!
300dpi scanner with sensor shifting.
It makes lovely scans and well plenty for internet.
Turning a 6x6 into a 4k x 4k pixel art.
The price though.
Very nice! congrats. It'd be good to hear a comparison of the Frontier vs. camera scanning. Obviously the Frontier will win for productivity, but for ultimate results, I'm curious. Thanks.
Do a comparasion with the gfx
Kyle is just living the dream
Wow! Happy for you!
Thanks Kyle for sharing this video
Can you make a video in which you compare this to different scanning techniques?
lol see this is how I've come full circle back to lab scans. I went down the rabbit hole of home scanning and I've never been satisfied with the results. It's fine for rolls that I didn't take seriously or for stuff like Phoenix. I've since decided to just pay for the lab scans from a lab with a fuji frontier and a noritsu that does a good job of color correcting.
Wow! thats lovely, and man, it looks very cool as well! The colour scheme looks like one of your road trip photos! i just had a Google and they are cheaper than the Flextights!
Great video. Back in the day I always preferred Fuji Frontier scans.
But I have to admit, I do not understand the full send dive into film that results in buying one of these things. It just seems to me to be a long, tedious, expensive way to arrive at a digital image.....which no longer requires film.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing. I love that people are into film. I still shoot a little bit of film. Got a rolls of Harman Phoenix in my Nikon FA right now. Still have my Nikon CoolScan IV ED which still works great but it rarely used. Its just the idea of going to the trouble to shoot film and then spending all the time and effort to make it _digital_. Sure, I fully embraced that workflow back when that was the only option. That CoolScan was not cheap and boy was it tedious. The day a viable digital camera came along those days were over and I don't miss them. I guess some people just like that process.
Sometimes I do miss the dark room process a little because there I at least had full control from beginning to end. But no way I'm going back to the chemicals and mess again.
To each his own. Its not for me but I'm glad you are doing it because it is fun to watch the process.
How much did you pay for it, I don't think you mentioned?
Yes keen to know this too!
My wife's face bringing this into the house... she already gives my Epson the ugly eye 👁
I'm happy with my Nikon Coolscan V for now. Even if the software is not nearly as slick.
What resolution are you getting for the 35mm and 120 images?
The max you can get out of a 3:2 image is 6144x4096. Subtract horizontally for ratios taller than 3:2.
yo that thing got Oregon trail?
Congrats!
Let me get this straight it doesn’t do 5x4? I love it but I’ve just purchased a Leica M6 and am saving money for a Hasselblad 503 CX/CXi in the New Year my wife is at her wits end with my spending so until I start making some money from my photography I really think I’m going to have to wait a couple of years before I even think seriously about purchasing this beauty.
I really wish I hadn’t seen this video because you’ve sown the seeds of my chronic GAS problem. I am blown away at how easy to use and quick this baby is. Northern Spain again in the house. I changed my profile for anonymity reasons.
Very cool!
That is crazy you have your own frontier, the only ones I have see are at a nice photo lab in Atlanta
You are working your way to a drum scanner, gradually. What heppened to using the GFX to digitalise the negs?
Drum scanner is very slow. The appeal of the fuji is the quality and speed.
@@ironmonkey1512 Are you really equating the output of a drumscanner to that of a Frontier whose main purpose was to produce 4X6 or 8X10 prints for the general public? We are into film photographyt, if I want speed then I shoot digital. What is the point of the rush anyway? I don't see people lining up to buy our prints in their dozens, do you? For most people these sort of equipment is just irrelevant.
@@lensman5762 I'm speaking to Kyle's use case, not yours. Very few people actually sell very large prints compared to people in social media. Also, grow up.
YES!
Looks great. What’s the largest format it can scan in a single exposure? Can it do 6x9? I’m guessing it can’t do 6x17 or 4x5?
Very interesting to see. Very nice, balanced and "clean" scans, What is the maximum effective resultion you can get?
I want one so bad
It is so satisfying to see how fast you can run through frames with this and the quality is just out of this world. Will this scanner replace the medium format camera scanning setup?
I always thought that Fujifilm went toward the purple hue which I never liked. I always look for places that used Kodak equipment.
I operated a Frontier for many years in my photo lab days (late 90's-early 2000's). This video takes me back. This machine was such a pleasure to use. Did the technician you purchased from have experience with the software side as well? The hardware is very robust. I hope the Windows side of things is equally so.
Nowadays you can run a Frontier of an iPad with a virtual machine.
It does fascinate me that we mostly view photos through the filter of this or a similar by now quite old piece of digital equipment.
How good can it really be? What if a contemporary imaging company were to fit one of their modern sensors into a similar form - would the results be much better?
It wouldn’t be much better than this. Resolution wise certainly but color and contrast wise the Frontiers get everything there is to get out of a negative. And your question has already kind of been answered in the video. A Frontier is not that different from scanning with a camera in the way it’s built. What makes it different is the B&W sensor, RGB light sources, and Fuji’s color science. The B&W RGB combo is what differentiates it from camera setups and helps the color science truly work and special. These things were built to make images onto analog RA4 silver halogen paper. The color science matches that of the papers, so you can actually make the scans look like a darkroom C Print. And that’s why people are still obsessed with these. The photochemical print look is probably the most beautiful way to prepare an image for display and it’s timeless.
Proposal for a new video title: Scan your film in easy mode with the Frontier
I used to operate one of these but we sold it years ago
next episode: I am selling my self scanning gears.
Well do you open the lab?!
maybe I missed it, but what is the output resolution of scans? can it be adjusted?
So how big can you scan your images?
have you had any issues with the third party 120 masks? I’ve heard mixed reviews
I'm curious to know if the resolution of the files gets higher on 6x7 than it does on 35mm?
Also, do the RGB lights get used on the full scan (and the adjusts you do are done on the image itself) or does it change the lights as you do the adjusts?
Does it use an infrared light to remove dust like on the Epson scanners?
I'm really trying to figure out how these things work under the hood (or bonnet I should say).
Resolution is the mostly the same across most formats. A 120 6x9 frame will have the same resolution as a 35mm 3:2 frame. It gets reduced horizontally as the format gets taller. So resolution for a 6x7 frame is slightly less horizontally than 35mm.
The RGB lights change for the fine scan based on the corrections you make.
The dust removal works with infrared similar to an Epson scanner.
i miss the blob-y 2000's Y2K look 😭
So was this say $ 10 ,000.00 ?
How much did it cost?
do you scan 4x5 with this scanner
It goes up to 6x9.
Admit it, you are just borrowing Linus' Frontier scanner :)
You sly dog you, it seems pretty rapid. Good luck with it.
Windows 2000: dont connect your PC to Internet, it is highly vulnerable.
Don't shoot Phoenix film 😅
Congrats!