OT: Slide scanner for home use
 

Anyone convert a bunch of slides to digital? Any preference in scanners (or know of any Cyber Monday deals?) Looking to pick something simple but decent up for my MIL.

Thanks!

I've done it for years, and it is a pain to do correctly. The bulk of my experience is with a Nikon Coolscan 4000. A well respected unit back in the day, that is completely unsupported today. Currently use it with Ed Hammrick's excellent, but somewhat fiddly, Vuescan software. With a proper film scanner, figure on at least 2 minutes per slide. The Nikon has an IR channel, which helps for automated dust removal. However, it does not work with Kodachrome slides, or BW negatives. Can easily spend another 5-20 minutes in Photoshop fine tuning. That may not be required, if just going to post to social media, or share electronically.

I also use a custom cooked up rig, of an 75mm APO Rodagon 1:1 copy lens, adapted to my Nikon D800. The whole setup is on an old Durst color copy stand. With that setup, once dialed in, I can copy 1 slide per minute.

Not a fan of the consumer (sub $500) flat bed scanners for 35mm scans. More acceptable with medium format or large format.

Depending upon your appetite for frustration, you might consider sending out to a service bureau. Found a nice article on Wirecutter comparing some of the vendors, and talking about the process.

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/th...nning-service/

Yeah, no, we're looking for keep-it-simple-stupid (or keep it stupid simple, if you will) for this.. one of those one piece jobs that scans to a memory card, she'll never be touching up photos, just wants to preserve them..

A useful overview here . . .
 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora.../film-scanners

Those models are not likely to be current, but it's a good overview of the process and what to look for. For me, inability to scan any specific kind of slide would be a deal-breaker, as would inability to scan B+W negs.

B&H also has a pretty good selection, but I suspect it's like anything else. You will get what you pay for (or don't pay for).

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/F...gative+scanner

This one looks pretty nice! :rolleyes:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...5_Scanner.html

Well if you aren't shooting too high, perhaps skip my original advice on flatbed scanners. A bonus being flatbed scanners are also useful for digitizing printed photos.

The two budget options worth trying would be the Epson V600 ($210 @ B+H) or the Canon 9000F MK II ($170 @ B+H). Don't have enough experience with either to make a proper suggestion, but there are plenty of reviews out there. The Epson supposedly has digital ICE, for dust and scratch removal. Don't know if it works as well as it does on a proper film scanner, like the Nikon I mentioned, but if so, it could be a real labor saver.

As mentioned, there is no scanner that is going to make this process truly painless. The scanners that promise such an experience produce grossly inferior scans. To put it in context, would you have a teenage neighbor rattle can your classic frame?

o...m....g :eek::eek::eek::eek:

I think this will suffice, thanks BBD!

I’ve used an inexpensive VueScan (v500?..) from Epson for my film scanning. It does have IR capability for automatic dust spec / hair deletion, which is a great feature - trust me. In fact, after this year’s project of printing a bunch of photo books, I’m getting back to film + scanning. :-)

Nooch: please let us know how this works for you. I have a bunch of slides that I might want to convert if I could do it pretty well for reasonable $$.

Will do, Ken!

Unless I'm missing something . . .
 

. . . there is no mention anywhere there of the dpi of the scan or the resulting file size. You might want to check those out before moving forward.

BBD

Dave,

From what I gather, it is simply a small sensor camera (suggests 20mp) with a light source and fixed focus lens. Unlike a traditional scanner, it is not a device in which scan dpi is user adjustable. Although, to be fair, even with a traditional scanner, it is best to capture at full device resolution, and downsample at a later point.

Also, as you likely know, just because a scanner advertises 5000dpi doesn't mean it can resolve to that level.

Nooch,

That device may be better with negatives than slides. Slides tend to have a higher Dmax (think of it as shadow density). Better scanners are able to differentiate areas of higher density, while less expensive devices will render such areas as solid black. Try to give it a good workout soon after delivery to verify that it satisfies your requirements.

Sounds good. But yeah, again, my MIL (tossing out 60 might offend some of you, i don't mean to make it sound old) is pretty simple -- and technologically challenged -- just looking to do something with a box of slides. So anything will probably suffice :)

I know this wasn't the question but FYI, I sent mine to Scancafe.com a few years ago. They did a great job and turned it around really quickly.

I do hear you and understand. However, $130 will buy you 500 professional scans from this guy: https://www.digitalscansolutions.com...scanning2.html

I've never used him, but his pedigree is ridiculously strong:
https://www.digitalscansolutions.com/about-us.html

Wouldn't hurt to send off a test batch of 50 or so. Even with my skills, that is rather tempting to not have to do it myself.

BTW, I'm 52. Its all good.