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#1
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newbie slide scanner advice
Hi,
In addition to my own collection of slides, I've just inherited 20+ carousels of slides from my late father. I need to scan them, both to keep as digital images and for making prints (up to 8x10) and would like to do it myself rather than send them out. I'm looking for good info on possible scanners to purchase, and of course am balancing the quality vs. cost concern for the equipment. Can anyone recommend a website with info and reviews (I'd love an overview of what's out there, and price ranges), and/or a particular slide scanner to purchase? Many thanks for advice! Sally |
#2
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newbie slide scanner advice
Im no pro at this but looking for the same for old Kodachromes. From
what ive read a dedicated slide- film scanner is the way to go. If 8x10 or larger and quality is what you will want then the better Nikon scanners are a minimum starting point and should do well. |
#3
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newbie slide scanner advice
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#4
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newbie slide scanner advice
Don't know if Minolta is still selling the 5400 slide scanner. It was a
good fairly priced product. Otherwise Nikon scanners are excellent. I'll get crap for this, but Epson is bringing out a new set of flatbeds that are supposed to be as good as a slide scanner. They are the V-700 and V-750-pro, The V-700 is listing at $599 , generally no discounts on Epson scanners. Their current consumer top of the line, which doesn't quite meet film scanner quality, though may be OK for 8x10s is being heavily discounted. Tom |
#5
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newbie slide scanner advice
tomm42 wrote:
Don't know if Minolta is still selling the 5400 slide scanner. It was a good fairly priced product. Otherwise Nikon scanners are excellent. I'll get crap for this, but Epson is bringing out a new set of flatbeds that are supposed to be as good as a slide scanner. They are the V-700 and V-750-pro, The V-700 is listing at $599 , generally no discounts on Epson scanners. Their current consumer top of the line, which doesn't quite meet film scanner quality, though may be OK for 8x10s is being heavily discounted. Tom Let me reprise my post, now 45 days old, in response to a similar question: ==== There are several threads in this and other rec.photo.* groups about slide scanning. Most of what they contain is good fact- and experience-based advice. The bottom line is always: you are going to pay, either through money, or money and time. Good slide digitizing costs money, and unless you walk the subject matter into a shop where it is done on the premises, there is a chance the slides will be lost and gone forever. Good slide digitizers cost money. The higher-end ones keep their value pretty well, so you can do what you have to do and get out by reselling. More likely, you'll become attached to the machine and its skills, and keep it around. On the subject of skills, slide digitizing requires some. Few if you aren't too critical, with auto-modes reasonably well-tuned by now; much more if you have subject slides that are of real worth, and you want the best from them. Even basic life-to-life scanning takes learning time. Some of the grunt labor is removed from the equation by Digital ICE and its associates, without which scanning-at-home is wasteful and may be of a nature to extinguish itself due to the excessive time and attention required to eliminate spots and scratches. There does remain some grunt labor: you do have to read the manual, learn which of myriad options suit your project, and feed the monster (scanner). Good scanning programs allow for modifications to be applied across batches, and the (expensive) batch-feeders will help. The one I know about will do fifty without attention. I have no experience with the length of time it takes to do such a batch, but I'd reckon it depends on the detail in the photo and the number of optional features called into play: multiple scans to draw out detail, ICE, etc., are boons, but they cost, too. Then, of course, there is storage of the images. BIG files. Scanned at 4000ppi, an ordinary 35mm scan will take up about 60 MB of your space. Way too few of those fit on a CD-ROM, so get your DVD burner ready. That stuff is relatively inexpensive in dollars, but it takes time to write and verify. You can see the underlying point: Unless you intend adopting Scanner Operator as a lifestyle, at least temporarily, you may be better off researching the pay-for-it providers in your area and becoming a Good Customer, paying in dollar installments rather than slice-out-of-your-life payments. You pays you money/time and you makes you choice. Now in a perfect world I'd be in a position to select, teach, and supervise an intelligent, intense intern who would do the work and take the blame for booboos, while I contemplate the philosophy of capturing an preserving moments of time for all time. (What's it good for, anyway? Some day it will all be dust.) Me, I'm working on my fifth or sixth scanner. Of course I'm one of those who enjoys the process as much as the product. Usually. -- Frank ess |
#6
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newbie slide scanner advice
It seems that we all have different priorities. Some people
value time above money, some the other way around. Some want the highest quality images, some just want decent, serviceable images that will produce the kinds of photos they used to get from the drug store. If you're on the cheap side, and if you don't have a scanner now, and you want to spend only a small amount to get a very general purpose scanner, I can say that I have had pretty good luck with the Epson 2480 flatbed scanner. It has a light diffuser in the cover (which the atrocious documentation didn't really explain was there) and a plastic frame plus software that makes it possible to get way better than drugstore quality from negatives, slides, and prints, all for about $85. However the quality and convenience will not equal the dedicated slide scanners. Alan |
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