I have a big mess of b&W 35mm film strips. Want to scan FAST not good.

[straightlife]

I know how to scan good. it's slow. I just want a record of everything I have. I want to work FAST. When I look online at recommendations, they talk about quality. I HAVE a great scanner for quality. I need fast and preferably CHEAP. (I also have slides, but not so many, so scanning those not urgent.)

[Chuck Uebele]

I copy my old B&W negs with my DSLR, very fast. Then correct them in Camera Raw. Only issue is that you have to invert the curve to make it a positive, then all the controls work backwards.

[straightlife]

My dslr is broken! But I've got an iphone. And a light box. And a couple pieces of glass to put the film strips in....

[Conrad_C]

First, remember that the classic saying about the reality of any kind of work in the real world is:

“Fast, cheap, or good…pick any two."

The usual ways of accelerating film scanning are:

• Optimized hardware: What kind of scanner do you have? Can it scan the whole filmstrip at once to separate files? Do you have the proper setup to use an interchangeable lens camera (e.g. DSLR or mirrorless) to digitize film fast with a macro lens?
• Optimized software: Is your scanning software able to be set up to do things like keep scan filenames consistent with the numbering of the film rolls and frames? Or apply scan presets appropriate for different film types and film speeds?
• Optimized workflow: For example, you posted in the Photoshop forum, but the fastest way to efficiently process thousands of film frames is not through Photoshop. It is through bulk workflow software like Adobe Bridge+Camera Raw, or Adobe Lightroom Classic, where it is fast and easy to apply the same settings and metadata to large numbers of film scans in a few seconds.
• The other thing about optimized workflow is having a good plan, in advance, as to how you’re going to quickly handle common problems like exposure/tonal curve correction, dust, scratches, grain, sharpness, focus problems because of warped film, etc. You can’t let any of those slow you down, it will be the difference between being able to process 100 images an hour vs 5 images an hour if you have to spend too much time fixing each frame. You have to already know what to do, fast.

Peter Krogh has written extensively on getting high-volume scanning done efficiently. You might try reading his book Digitizing Your Photos with Your Camera and Lightroom, because he goes over how to accelerate every step of the process while maintaining quality.

Cheap is not possible if you send them out, so if you want cheap, you do it yourself. But then your time has value, so the responsibility for doing it fast, good, and cheap depends on how well you master all of the above. If you can’t optimize every single step of your operation, it’s not going to be fast.

[straightlife]

Thanks but I just want fast fast fast. And cheap if possible. I've got an excellent scanner to use when I want quality. I DON'T want quality. I've got a zillion film strips and I just want to see what is on them. If I like something, I'll scan it properly.

[Rob_Cullen]

https://photomyne.com/faq/filmbox-how-to

If you subscribe to Pinterest, there are endless suggestions for 'quick' scans.

Or use your scanner to make Contact Sheets of multiple neg strips on the flatbed- one image.

[straightlife]

just lay them on the flatbed!? I'll try. I didn't think that would work. That's what I WANT. Digital proof sheets!

[straightlife]

And P.S. I've got a lightbox. 

[Conrad_C]

I misread your original post then, I thought you wanted fast and cheap and good. But I get it now, you just want to take the fastest possible look at what you have.

WobertC’s post is a good one then. All you have to do is find the biggest screen you have (laptop, TV, whatever). Show something solid white on the screen like a blank Photoshop file. Tilt the screen so it faces up. Now you have a big white lightbox. Put a large number of B&W filmstrips on the big white screen and take a high resolution photo of all of them at once, a recent smartphone camera is OK. Open that photo in Photoshop, invert it, zoom in to see what you have. It will be low quality, but good enough to identify scans you want to do individually at a higher quality.

That will work best if you avoid all camera shake. It would be worth it to rig up a tripod or some kind of boom to suspend the camera on over the lightbox, to maintain perfect focus and no shake. Because if the photo is blurry, you won’t be able to read the individual filmstrip frames.