Photoclubalpha

Okay, I've got 30+ years of negatives and slides to convert to digital, and both my Dad's and my Uncle's will be added.

So..... I need to invest in a slide and negative scanner. Is there anything out there currently being made that's up to the task? If not, what am I looking for in fleabay?

I've also seen posts in some forums that indicate a problem with Kodachrome slides from some scanners. Since most of the older slides my Dad and Uncle took are old Kodachromes, and I have a fair amount of them too, are there scanners that can do them as well?

Please feel free to tell me about 'good enough' scanners that are cheaper, as I could always send something special off to be commercially scanned.

Thanks,
Dusty

http://www.adorama.com/VUFPSCAN.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I haven't tried it myself, but it's cheap.
Otherwise I'll probably go for this one: http://www.adorama.com/ICDP7200.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you decide to buy a second hand scanner, look for the Minolta 5400 or the Dimage Scan Dual IV (or one with ICE technology)

From 1998 to 2000 I went through 3 scanners and the last one was the Minolta Dimage Elite. I still have it packed away. Of course, now there are better and newer ones. Make sure you get one with ICE because the dust spots are a killer and you will spend the rest of your life scanning and cleaning up the scans if you don't have ICE. Even with ICE it is a ton of work. I have scanned a bunch over the years, although not recently, and a single scan from beginning to finished post-processing (which each one will need) can be quite awhile. I prefer using Vuescan rather than the Minolta software and I have been using it since it was beta version 0.7 in 1998. The way I normally work is I scan to a 64 bit raw scan file (16 bits for each of the color channels -- RGB -- and 16 bits for the infrared channel) and store them in a folder. Then later I can run Vuescan and point it to the raw scan file and have it process it. Coincidentally, a couple of days ago I spent a few hours working on some raw scan files that I made in 2004 and are stored on my external hd. I have been meaning to process some of them for years and finally got around to doing some of them. Here is one I processed a couple of days ago. I took this photo in Chiba, Japan in 1991:

Kodacrome is one of the best if not the best preserved transparencies ever made. I have the Coolscan from Nikon for Med. and 35mm film. It does a very good job once you overcome the learning curb dealing with Kodacrome. Although I am not a fan of Nikon, today they make a very good scanner. Beyond Nikon in scanners unless your willing to make some serious, and I mean serious investment into a Drum Scanner, I think it's a very good bang for the buck (dollar). 35mm starts around 1,000.00US and Medium Format + 35mm at 2000.00US. Drums range from 14,000.00US ~65,000.00US.

Right now, Nikon is 'the last man standing'. Actually, none of the scanners were or are made by the names badged on them - including Minolta. The Nikon scanners have more in common with the Minolta models than you might think!

David

I bought a KM Dimage Elite 5400/II when Konica Minolta called it quits and now use the VueScan software.

However as Pako has pointed out there are the PlusTek models available which look rather similar to the KM and Nikon models but are rather cheaper to buy. If you are simply looking to scan for old memories sake then the 7200 model would be all you would need, if you intend to keep on using film then perhaps look at the 7500 models.

I have an Epson Perfection 4870 flatbed scanner which can do negs and slides as well as reflective documents and has both USB 2.0 and Firewire slots. The beauty of this machine is that you can scan a contact sheet at once if you like for 35mm (slides or negs) or several negs / slides at a time for medium format. There is a tendency for MF to bow slightly but there are third party frames available. I have found one from Doug Fisher to work well. You can find these for the Epson and othe models at:
http://www.betterscanning.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Epson has Digital ICE too. I have been very pleased with the results, which, for 35mm, are better than my dedicated Minolta Scan Dimage III. This is a few years old now and there are newer models available.

Well, I don't want to spend $1000+ to buy a scanner, so I guess it's either e-bay, or an Epson. I wonder what the quality hit is in using one of the newer ones, like the V500 or V700, as opposed to a dedicated scanner. Since my original post I thought about all the 120 film I have also, and the 4x5s as well.

If the quality hit isn't too bad, I'll go that way, as I can do all 3 formats, If it's a lot worse, I'll probably do an e-bay slide/negative scanner and eventually get the flatbed for the other formats.

Thanks everyone for the advice, and especially the link to the better film holders.

Dusty

I quickly looked through the film scanners at Adorama and found 3 with ICE that are fairly inexpensive. You can probably search around and find out how good (or bad) they are:

$330:
http://www.adorama.com/ICDP7200I.html
$350:
http://www.adorama.com/ICDP7500ISE.html
$240:
http://www.adorama.com/IPIPF3650U.html

Oh, and here is the link for all the film scanners that Adorama sells:

http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=i ... 20Scanners

Of course, there are some flatbed scanners that can scan film too.

Think about the software too. I would recommend SilverFast.

Just a quick word on silverfast..

Not easy to get into, it takes some time. But, once you do..it's pretty potent as far as scanning software goes.
Vuescan, has some nice things about it, but a horrible interface (try adjustments..way easier on silverfast)

Not cheap though, best bought with the scanner if possible, I know they bundle it with the Epson V750, and the plusteks.

I bought a V500 and it does a good job on MF, but I haven't been able to get it to do as good a job on 35mm for some reason, I redid a MF neg that I'd previously got done at the local camera dealer and the V500 actually did a much better job than their machine, so I was pleasently surprised with that, I'll have to give it another try on 35mm at some point and see if I can find out what it is I'm doing wrong...or not.
Greg

I inherited from my parents a truck load of negatives- colour, black and white of various sizes and slides. There is quite a bit of family history tied up in all that film so I took the plunge and bought the Epson V700. It can do 12 slides at a time, all negeative sizes and has the Ice and Silver Fast Lite software. The price has come down as the scanner has been out a few years now and I did not see a replacement when researching which scanner to buy. The epson software is quite easy to use but have not yet really tried the silver fast. The scanner does a fantastic job, I'm quite pleased with it and have no regrets purchasing it.

I have an older Scan Elite (SCSI) and a newer Dimage Scan Elite 5400 II. Very happy with them and the dust removal worked even though it was not supposed to work with Kodachrome. I even have an APS adaptor for the former (don't laugh). The second scanner is much faster.

Other amateurs I know went for the Nikon Coolscan models.

I would be worried about getting a second hand one due to the mechanical transport and it is tempting to force in the film carrier when there is something wrong. I probably still have the drivers if anyone needs them but the generic software people have mentioned should work.

This article mentions some of the high end choices. I hate to think how much a Aztec Premier would cost.

Harvey