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Old October 26th 17, 11:00 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Alan Browne
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Posts: 12,640
Default Scanning 35mm negs and slides

On 2017-10-26 17:01, Peter Jason wrote:
On Tue, 24 Oct 2017 15:33:00 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:

On 2017-10-24 09:26, newshound wrote:
I have an ancient (and almost unused) Dimage Scan Dual IV which
I believe was well rated in its day. Is it still worth taking the
trouble to try to get it working on Win 10 (I also have a Macbook
Pro and a Unix box)? No current drivers from Minolta/Konica I
understand, should I invest in VueScan, or something else?

Or would it be easier just to buy something more recent? Not
looking to spend "professional" money, but not bargain basement
either.


I'd get it up and running, but I'm funny that way. That scanner
was a late model, the last from Minolta being the 5400 (and 5400
II). I had the 5400 and it was excellent. (Sold it and bought a
Nikon 9000ED).

Is VueScan worth it? Sure. Currently it's about US$90. Question
is: can you get equivalent (or better) scans of the photos of
interest for less cost (and hassle).


I have a Dimage scanner but it's slow. Are there good commercial
scanning services for slides, that can handle a chest full of old
slides? Some slides have disintegrating cardboard surrounds that
will have to be cleaned. Do these commercial scanning services clean
the slides too? Some slides have been stored in the open with
emulsion-side up and so have dust entrained in the emulsion. And
there are fingerprints. Can the soiled surface of the emulsion be
scraped off?


Very difficult to clean the emulsion side unless you have the right
chemicals and technique. One of those chemicals is now banned. (Google
away for the details).

ICE (in those scanners that have it) does a remarkable job and even a
badly scratched, dusty, finger printed slide comes out great but may
need a bit of touch up. VueScan supports ICE (as IR scanning).

Call a service to find out to what degree they'll handle damaged slides.