inexpensive film/slide scanner recommendation?

[jewels]

hi all, I had a canon 4200f scanner which died after less than a month of use. The images that were scanned from slides were not very good. The images off color and bw negatives were good enough for 4x6 enlargements, i didn't go bigger. Any experiences on a sub $200 scanner that will primarily be used for negatives and occassionally slides? thanks, julie

[another view]

I have an Acer 2720S which hasn't been made for a few years. It's 2700dpi and I've made nice 8x10's but never tried bigger. It's a SCSI device and if you don't have a SCSI card for your PC they can be hard to find. If you look on ebay you might find one of these scanners for under $100 with the card.

However - there's a learning curve to using a scanner, especially one like this. One of the newer ones like the Nikon Coolscan V (at about $600 I think) will give you better scans out of the box. Colors are never exactly right, but corrections in Photoshop for this aren't too hard. I would highly recommend calibrating your monitor before getting serious about color correction though...

[Speed]

hi all, I had a canon 4200f scanner which died after less than a month of use. The images that were scanned from slides were not very good. The images off color and bw negatives were good enough for 4x6 enlargements, i didn't go bigger. Any experiences on a sub $200 scanner that will primarily be used for negatives and occassionally slides? thanks, julie

Hey Julie,

I don't have a film scanner, but this is the one I've looked at getting. These have gotten good reviews for their price and performance.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

Hope this helps.

[freygr]

hi all, I had a canon 4200f scanner which died after less than a month of use. The images that were scanned from slides were not very good. The images off color and bw negatives were good enough for 4x6 enlargements, i didn't go bigger. Any experiences on a sub $200 scanner that will primarily be used for negatives and occassionally slides? thanks, julie

I've seen Nikon Coolscans (film scanners) refurbished close to $200, but you should buy a DiMAGE Film Scanner for $259.95 or the Epson 3590 Photo for $149.95 flat bed scaner but it will only do 35mm film: at http://www.pubperfect.com. I've had good luck with them. They also have Nikon and Olympus stuff but mostly stock photo stuff and some cameras, scaners, printers and supplies. As with any place you have to watch the prices.

I have an, now old Epson 1200U Photo and I've have not had any problems with it. But they no longer off any thing comparable to it, as the 1200U would take up to 4 by 5 inch negatives.

GRF

[jewels]

thanks everyone for the recommedations, i'll look into them. Don't do anything but 35mm, so I guess I don't need to complicate things. - julie

[another view]

I'd definately stay with a dedicated film scanner (as opposed to a flatbed) if you're only doing 35mm. True film scanners are also available for medium and large format, but they're expensive...

Nikon's scanners are really nice and I've heard very good things about the Konica Minolta 5400 (think that's the right number...). If you can get a re-furb of one of those in your price range then you've got a great deal.

[mtbbrian]

Hey Jules!
i just saw this post and thought I'd say Hi!
I have nothing to add, because everyone gave some great suggestions!
ALOHA!
Brian

[photophorous]

Hi Julie,

I got a Canon 8400F ($149) for Christmas. It's a flatbed that does 35mm negs, slides, and MF negs. Obviously not the best for 35mm negs, but I think it's pretty good for the price. It does a decent job, but it's slow, and much care has to be given to remove dust and fuzz from the negs or else you'll spend hours in post processing. It will do up to 3200 dpi.

Here's a few examples. The first is full frame as scanned...just resized. The second is the same scan cropped to show the detail. I'm no good with post processing, so these could probably look better.

Good luck with your decision. Let me know if you want to see more examples

Paul

[greghalliday]

I agree with the post about the Dimage scanners. They are quite nice and at a very good price point. I have used mine a lot and have loved the results in prints up to 11x17. Resultant scans are approx. 3200x2500 on mine.
I'm sure your can find a very inexpensive new one or an even more inexpensive used one. With many people going to digital (myself included), used bargains are easier to find if you don't mind the "used" factor. Good luck!

[jewels]

thanks, the pictures are helpful. Here is an example of the 4200f w/ slides and negatives.

pix 1 and 2) a slide of a statue zoomed and cropped
The original slide was professionally scanned and the 2nd one I did on the $90 scanner.

pix 3 and 4) A zoomed/cropped 35mm negative taken w/ a yashica p/s. The first one is the original from CD (costco) and last one is from the scanner. When printed they are quite good, compared to the original at 4x6 size, imo.

Paul, are you happy w/ the slide scanning ability on the canon 8400f? It seemed to get better reviews, but doesn't look that much different spec wise. Thanks.

[photophorous]

Hi Julie,

I'm pleased with it, yes, but I've never tried to make a print from the scan. I got it because the reviews made it sound like the best deal for a flatbed scanner. I do mostly B&W, and I make prints in the dark room. I wanted to be able to scan prints and negatives. I develop film at home, scan the negs, pick out the ones I like, then go print them in a rented dark room. For me, it works great. I haven't ever made a print of a scanned image, using my computer.

I have noticed that the shadow areas show less detail on the monitor than the prints I make in the dark room, but I've noticed that with professionally scanned negatives too. I think that may have more to do with the monitor than the scanner. Maybe someone else can weigh in on that.

Hope this helps.

Paul

[freygr]

Hi Julie,

I'm pleased with it, yes, but I've never tried to make a print from the scan. I got it because the reviews made it sound like the best deal for a flatbed scanner. I do mostly B&W, and I make prints in the dark room. I wanted to be able to scan prints and negatives. I develop film at home, scan the negs, pick out the ones I like, then go print them in a rented dark room. For me, it works great. I haven't ever made a print of a scanned image, using my computer.

I have noticed that the shadow areas show less detail on the monitor than the prints I make in the dark room, but I've noticed that with professionally scanned negatives too. I think that may have more to do with the monitor than the scanner. Maybe someone else can weigh in on that.

Hope this helps.

Paul

Most computer scanned images are in 8 bit per color. Line art is scanned as binary 0 for white 1 for black. Gray scale only has 256 levels. This is why you notice the difference.

My self I print a lot from my computer. I don't have a location in my house where I can even make a closet darkroom. As I'm printing mostly in color most people think it's real silver based photo paper.

GRF

[yogestee]

I have an Epson Perfection 2580 which scans both negatives and prints to a DPI of 4200..It will scan slides if they aren't mounted or cut into individual slides (who mounts slides these days anyway??)..
Its a good scanner and not too expensive..

Jurgen
Australia