Film scanner recommendations, anyone? - Page 2

Venturi · 03-30-2009, 12:37 PM

Thanks for that link, Steve! And for your input Gooshin!

I had pretty much resigned myself to the cost of the Nikon 5000 in order to get *good* scans without a hefty investment of my physical time babysitting things.

ScanDig gives decent ratings on the Reflecta scanners. It appears these are now branded under "Pacific Image". At $520 here in the US that would be 1/2 the cost of the Nik 5000 and solve the headache side of things with scanning and not require purchasing "accessories" for 35mm negs/rolls. Anyone here given the 7250 a try? I can stomach $520 a lot easier than $1100.

*hwblanks* · 03-30-2009, 08:07 PM

I posted the same question on photo.net and here's the thread for anybody who's interested in some other points of view:
Film scanner recommendations, anyone? - Photo.net Digital Darkroom Forum

At this point, I'm almost for certain that I want a dedicated film scanner. If you take a look at the photo.net thread, one person mentioned that he uses a Plustek 7200 running VueScan and he gets great results with it.

Does the software you run with a scanner have anything to do with the IQ of the scans?

Thanks!
Heather

*sholtzma* · 03-30-2009, 10:21 PM

Heather,

I used to have a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400ii, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Loaned it to a friend, he lost it, and is now buying me a replacement. But I couldn't find the Minolta, new or used, anymore. So I am trying a Plustek. I found the following on the web....

In reply to an earlier post on Mar 5, 2009 10:15 AM PST
Cathy A. Kennedy says:

"Narrowed it down to Epson V700 or V750 (flatbed scanner) or Nikon Super CoolScan. While researching, I kept running across the Plustek. First, I kept hearing that while the Epson is great, it is a flatbed, and nothing will beat a dedicated film scanner, especially for slides. In my online hunt, I also found out that all the issues with scanning Kodachrome slides (the bulk of what I have) has been solved with software- specifically the SilverFast 6.6 Ai. I read David Brooks' article on scanning Kodachrome for further info (Shutterbug: David B. Brooks Blog Look for Kodachrome article posted Jan ,2009). Then, since I was still confused about which scanner to get I emailed him directly (he also does the Digital Help column for Shutterbug [magazine]) with the above info. He said:
1. a flatbed scanner (Epson) will never perform as well as a film scanner for what I want;
2.Rumor has it that Nikon is discontinuing its scanner line after current inventory is sold out and Nikon hasn't been keeping up with software upgrades. I've also heard that their support is fading out as well. Presumably it will only get worse once Nikon is out of the scanner business entirely.
3. He's using the Plustek OpticFilm 7500i Ai now and thinks it's the best (film scanner) he's used, with the exception of a Minolta which hasn't been available for a long time. It also sells for less than the other 2, which is good for me. Once I started researching the Plustek, also all comments were favorable."

Mike Cash · 03-31-2009, 06:54 AM

One thing to consider, Heather, is whether you ever foresee yourself monkeying with medium format film.

*deadwolfbones* · 03-31-2009, 10:11 AM

If you're considering the 8800f and aren't interested in MF scanning, you might check out the new LiDE 700f from Canon:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/p...f-scanner.html

*hwblanks* · 03-31-2009, 10:30 AM

That LiDE 700 looks promising. The only thing that it doesn't have that I would like is a setup to scan 35mm slides. As for medium format, it's something I've given some thought to, but haven't made up my mind up about yet. If I did go MF, it would be a good ways down the road and I would simply sell the scanner I have and buy one with MF capability at that point.

I'm beginning to think more towards farming out the scanning of most of my older negatives. The vast majority of those are personal and family snapshots, anyhow, so I could deal with lower-res scanning on them. Anything that was really important could be held back and scanned by me personally.

Heather

*gawan* · 03-31-2009, 11:32 AM

I wonder if there exists a dedicated film scanner for medium format? I have 645 film and have been considering so far only flatbed scanners.

Gooshin · 03-31-2009, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by gawan

I wonder if there exists a dedicated film scanner for medium format? I have 645 film and have been considering so far only flatped scanners.

nikon coolscan 9000ED

*gawan* · 03-31-2009, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by Gooshin

nikon coolscan 9000ED

Found it, but 2500 euros, autch!
No wonder I did not find any similar devices from regular consumer shops!

Looks like a real solution though, if only I had the money...

*hwblanks* · 04-01-2009, 07:12 PM

After some more reading, I've basically narrowed my choices down to the following:

Flatbed: Epson v500
Dedicated film--this is where I'm still confused:
--Plustek 7200
--Plustek 7500
--a used Nikon Coolscan: either the III, IV, or LS2000

What I'm still confused about is a couple of things:
--How much DPI do I really need for good 8x12 or 11x14 prints?
--Is ICE built into the body or is it something that's built into the software?

Thanks for any help you can give me.
Heather

*k100d* · 04-01-2009, 07:47 PM

i've seen coolscan 4000's go for $400 USD, but it requires firewire
ICE has at least a hardware component, the latest Nikon Scanners have a newer version of ICE

*hwblanks* · 04-01-2009, 08:12 PM

This would all be real easy if I had $1000+ to plunk down on a scanner--the Nikon would be a no-brainer.

I have no idea whether or not my PC supports Firewire--I'll have to ask the husband about that. To me, computers are like cars. With either, I expect to turn it on and have it do what I want it to do without having to jump through a bunch of hoops to get it done...sigh...

Heather (who's still confused)

*k100d* · 04-01-2009, 10:09 PM

how about this? no idea if it's any good
Rangefinderforum Photo Equipment Classifieds - REDUCED AGAIN! - CanoScan FS4000US Film Scanner - Powered by PhotoPost Classifieds

Barry_S · 04-02-2009, 10:15 AM

I've been using the V500 and very happy with it. The software is very easy to use. I've been scanning at 2400. Seems to take 3-4 min per scan of 4 slides. Everything gets dumped into one folder. While it scans I put names on the slides.
What really slows you down is, thinking about where I was and what was gong on when I took the picture.

Gooshin · 04-02-2009, 10:19 AM

Heather, i would like to mention however that with the Nikon, the Nikon Scan software is... a hard pill to swallow, it has not been updated in 4 years or so...

i am used to it now, but it definely takes some time to get down a smooth process flow. I'm not sure about other softwares, but Nikon Scan shows a full scan of the image, and i think their compression algorithms are sub par, because i crashed my computer for the first time in years from simple overload after having 12 of those images open, and i'm packing 8 gigs of ram! So you have to close them after you scan them, LOL.

also there is rumor that they will soon stop making them all together.

3rd party software may add to the cost.

this Plustek seems to be a pretty good deal if you are not gung ho about "ultimate" quality.