35mm Slide Scanner

[SlaveToTheMan]

Back story:

My parents are RV folk, sold their house a few years back & are just travelin' the country. I was "entrusted" with storing the family Slide Collection - lucky me! It's about 10 carousels plus several loose boxes of slides, going back to like the mid-60s and probably numbering 1000+ slides.

Now, they're in town for the summer & Dad's Project is to scan 'em all and burn CDs, etc. I've looked at a few models and it comes down to:

1. Buying a reasonably priced scanner (Ever heard of Pacific image?) that may not be all that friendly, or wonderful.

2. Sink about $1000 into a Nikon Coolscan LS500 with Slide Scanner. May be able to sell it after finished on Ebay, but that's large gamble.

3. Send all the slides to a service. They're around, but from what I've seen for pricing, it'll cost as much as Option Two.

Anybody have a slide scanner they'd part with reasonably, or even rent for a few months? Or even tales of woe or experience with a project like this would be helpful at this point.

[NutCase]

I don't have a scanner to lend you, but I can provide all kinds of other useless info

Digging up all my old links........


Yes, I've heard of Pacific Image. That's about all I know.

A couple other places you may want to try asking this question are:


http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthrea...t=0&Board=UBB7

and

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a....nners%3 EFilm

I came across this review of a Pacific Image device

If you go with the Nikon scanner and it has a bulk slide scanning attachment, you might have issues with the batch scanning. It really depends on the mounts. Some people have no problems and others need the credit card fix. Not sure if the one you're looking at has the adapter though.

If you already have a flatbed scanner, you can make your own transparency adapter for it.

I've used it before and it doesn't do that bad a job. Some slides produce better results than others. I took some cardboard and made a jig for my scanner and used some glossy photo paper to make the attachment. Just be sure to process the paper first or it won't be white

There's also this page but the stuff seems a little out of date.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN1.HTM


You might also like to consider an epson flatbed with built in transparency adapter. Depending on the model you buy, I think you can scan anywhere from 1 to 8 slides at a time. Price is anywhere from $100 to $600, depending on what you want. Digital ICE is nice but doesn't always work as well with Kodachromes compared to other types of film. Do a google search and you'll find plenty of info on it.

[SlaveToTheMan]

Dayum Nutty, that's a hefty post! :P


I'd seen that review page also. Priceless, if only for the level of disappointment in the product. "In summary one of the worst products I've ever had the misfortune to own." :lol:

The outcome: I think Dad is going to send 'em off to a professional service, after much convincing on my part. For the time & aggravation he'd encounter doing it himself, it's well worth the money.

Heh, maybe I'll take up a collection from the Family and call it a Father's Day gift!

Thx for the info though man. 8)