Slide Scanner

[CaverScott]

I have a TON of slides from the 80's and 90's. I want to get a reasonably priced slide scanner that will yeild good results.... any hope?

[Evan G]

I have a TON of slides from the 80's and 90's. I want to get a reasonably priced slide scanner that will yeild good results.... any hope?

Depends on what you call reasonable and what dpi you want. I have had a few flat bed scanners that could do 35mm slides, heres some:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/884812/V100-Photo-Flatbed-Scanner/

http://www.superwarehouse.com/HP_Scanjet_5590_Flatbed_Scanner/L1910AB1H/p/423566

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/348598/V350-Photo-Flatbed-Scanner/

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/581875/V500-Photo-Flatbed-Scanner/

[tncaver]

CaverScott,
I was a digital drum scanner operator for 28 years and I have a flatbed scanner at home that can scan
slides and prints. Sure the drum scanner was a great slide scanner but who could afford one of those?
The drum scanner cost $500,000. Nowadays drum scanners still cost over $8000 for a cheap one.
Frankly my flatbed scanner does a great job on prints and a poor job on slides.

Take my word for it, the best way to digitize those slides today is by using a slide scanner that is designed specifically
to scan slides. A good slide scanner can be had for a
more reasonable price and they do a much better job than flatbeds do on slides. There are several brands available.
Do your research and pick one. If possible, go to a professional digital camera shop and take a slide with you for
a demostration. Be sure to have them scan the slide at 500 to 1000 percent if you are using 35 mm. That way you
will get to see how it will look as an 8X10 enlargement.
My two cents.

[Komebeaux]

Look for a Canon FS4000 film scanner. It is made specifically for scanning 35mm slides and negs. It has a film takeup mechanism that is similar to a camera drive unit. It will scan up to a 4000 PPI or about a 6 or 7 micron pixel. You can find one for about $300-$400 if not less than that.

[Squirrel Girl]

Try Costco to get your slides digitized. Doug Medville told me a few months ago that they charge 29 cents each.

I have an old slide digitizer and it was a slow and painful process. Now I'd probably take my best to Costco and have it done for me. I will sometime when I get around to it.

[cavemanjonny]

I have a Nikon Coolscan IV here at work. It does a great job, but it is also kind of pricey:
http://www.google.com/products?q=nikon+coolscan+iv

Looks like the Coolscan V is a little cheaper:
http://www.google.com/products?q=nikon+coolscan+v

[Wm Shrewsbury]

I have scanned a bunch of slides for Peter & Ann Bosted, who demand quality (as we all should) as well as a quite a few other cavers. I regularly scan caver's slides for 0.25 each if they do more than 25, plus $1.00 for each CD I require to burn them to. I can save them in both JPG and TIF format, up to 4000 DPI. If I need to do more (corrections for color balance, take the blue out of old faded Ektachrome, etc.) I charge a little more, but not much.

Peter said that the job I did on their's surpassed the quality they got from a service that charged a lot more. I can scan a couple and email them back if someone wants to try me out.

Wm