A new toy!

[mjs1973]

No, it's not a film camera. I purchased a scanner so I can digitize some slides. It's not new, but it seems to do a pretty decent job. It's an Epson Perfection 1240U Photo. It's a flatbed scanner with an attachment to scan film. It will do up to 4x5. I got it from a girl at work for $30! She purchased it new in 2001 and the transparency adapter was never taken out of the box. Here are my first 3 samples. All from Velvia 50. The first image may look familiar because I posted an almost identical image that I shot digitally a while back.

[photophorous]

Cool photos! Looks like you got a great deal. Now that you have the means to digitize your slides, you can start shooting more of them.

Paul

[cameron665]

Really nice pictures, great colors. You look like you have mastered the scanning side already.

[mjs1973]

Thanks Paul and Cameron.

Paul, I went for a hike yesterday morning, and took my AE-1 with a couple rolls of Velvia. I think I'm going to start carrying that kit with me to work, just in case I see something. Digital is still going to be my main rig, but I do love looking at slides on a light table.

Cameron, this scanner seems pretty easy to figure out so far but I'm still learning. There doesn't seem to be a lot of manual controls, but enough that I can tweak things to get a decent scan and not so many that it's overwhelming.

I think this scanner will work nicely to digitize the boxes of my grandma's slides that I have had sitting around for a long time now.

[photophorous]

Thanks Paul and Cameron.

Paul, I went for a hike yesterday morning, and took my AE-1 with a couple rolls of Velvia. I think I'm going to start carrying that kit with me to work, just in case I see something. Digital is still going to be my main rig, but I do love looking at slides on a light table.

Cameron, this scanner seems pretty easy to figure out so far but I'm still learning. There doesn't seem to be a lot of manual controls, but enough that I can tweak things to get a decent scan and not so many that it's overwhelming.

I think this scanner will work nicely to digitize the boxes of my grandma's slides that I have had sitting around for a long time now.

Velvia is awesome, and it's so easy to carry a little camera like an AE-1, you might as well.

As far as the scanner controls go...if you find that you need more control than the software allows, you could always try a third party scanning software like VueScan or Silverfast. Vuescan is pretty cheap and you can download a free trial. It allows more control than you would probably ever need.

Paul

[cameron665]

Mike,
Any hints on how you eliminate the dust spots? My first attempts at negative scanning always result in some dust spots on the scanned image.

[mjs1973]

Mike,
Any hints on how you eliminate the dust spots? My first attempts at negative scanning always result in some dust spots on the scanned image.

I use my rocket blower to blow the dust off of my slides before I scan them. I also blow of the scanner before I put the slides on them. Some dust does get through and scanned though. It's a simple fix in Photoshop with the spot healing brush.

[brmill26]

Beautiful shots, Mike. Congrats on the scanner. I definitely need to get one soon!

[Xia_Ke]

For $30?!?! AND it does 4X5?!?! You suck!!!...LOL Congrats on the great score. I'll be looking forward to some more scans :thumbsup:

[mjs1973]

For $30?!?! AND it does 4X5?!?! You suck!!!...LOL Congrats on the great score. I'll be looking forward to some more scans :thumbsup:

Yeah, I low balled her. She was asking $50! I have been scanning some of my grandmas old Kodachromes from 1970, but they aren't looking so hot. They are going to need some cleaning up. My newer slides seemed to scan much better. Here is a scan of Tri X 400 from 2004.