Slide/Negative Scanner?

[parrotmomma]

Can anyone recommend a slide/negative scanner? I have thousands of old Kodachrome's. My budget would be a max of about $200. Needs to be Mac compatible. Thanks!

[shnitz]

Your best bet is the Canoscan or the Epson. I have the 9000F and can personally vouch for it, and it is coincidentally right in your price range. I used it with a Macbook, plugged in to an IPS monitor and was very happy with the results.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...lor_Image.html
The Epson that is comparable is the Perfection V500. They really are very close, I just went with the Canon because it was on sale at the time. Both of these will leave you very happy.

Both have digital ICE, which is nice. They are LED, so no warm-up time. Supposedly dedicated film scanners are better, but they are no longer being made (by anyone that I know and trust, anyway). Really, I think that with all of the technological advancements that have happened over the years, today's $200 flatbed scanner can give yesterday's dedicated film scanners a run for their money.

[groovyone]

I have the Canon 8800F. I chose it since it uses LED instead of the cathode to do the scanning. Keeps it cooler and takes less time to "warm up". However, you may want to look into a slide specific scanner like the Plustek scanners. I also have a Minolta 5400 Elite II and would pick that over my flatbed for any 35mm slide or negative scanning. It was not cheap, but the Plusteks are close and cost a lot less.

[ggeen]

+1 on the Canon 8800F. I am in the process of scanning my father's old 35mm slides most of which were taking in the mid-late 50s and early 60s. The template allows me to scan 4 at a time into 4 separate files.

[venchka]

For long term service with new drivers, etc. Epson wins. My Epson scanner originally shipped with Windows 2000 drivers. Epson has the latest and greatest drivers for my scanner. The scans are good too.
For $200 you will get useable scans. The Epson v700 will probably deliver better scans for about 3 times as much money. I don't know if the scans will be 3 times as good since I have not seen any direct comparisons between the v700 and entry level scanners. Just make sure that whatever you buy comes equipped for film scanning. A regular office/scrapbooking flatbed document scanner will NOT scan film.

[parrotmomma]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm probably going to go with the Canon, mainly because I've always been loyal to Canon and never had any issues with their products. As much as I want "good" images, I don't want to sink too much money into this. Most of the images are just old "snapshots" my dad took in the 50's and 60's. But I want to actually be able to view them and more importantly, preserve them. I figure if I come across a true work of art, I can always pay to have it professionally scanned to make a better print.

[lhdvies]

I have canon's canoscan 9950F Had it since Jan/2005(Don't know what their replacement model is), it has been a real work horse-no problems updating drivers (for Windows 7-64 bit). It has holders for doing slides (12 at time) & up to 5 filmstrips at a time plus certain flat film sizes. It is a 4800 x 9600 dpi 48 bit fare. I've used it heavily for over 6 1/2 years & am quite happy with it.

[venchka]

Scanning is an acquired art. It takes lots of practice. Set the software to scan in 48 bit color, either postive or negative film, 1600dpi for starters. When you get good at scanning, you can increase the file size a bit. Set the input and output to be equal. Turn off all scanner adjustments like sharpening, contrast, color correction, etc. Lightroom/Photoshop do a much better job of those things.
Good luck. Ask all the questions you have.

[iCe]

I like my Epson 10000XL. I haven't changed "lids" to scan slide or negatives yet but it's supposed to be pretty good.

[venchka]

Won't that thing scan 11x14 film? That would be awesome.

[iCe]

Originally Posted by venchka

Won't that thing scan 11x14 film? That would be awesome.

It'll do a LF negative if I remember right. I'm not sure about 11x14. You have to change the "lid" out and put it in "negative mode" but it's supposed to be pretty spiffy.

[GoldenOrb]

Originally Posted by venchka

For long term service with new drivers, etc. Epson wins. My Epson scanner originally shipped with Windows 2000 drivers. Epson has the latest and greatest drivers for my scanner. The scans are good too.
For $200 you will get useable scans. The Epson v700 will probably deliver better scans for about 3 times as much money. I don't know if the scans will be 3 times as good since I have not seen any direct comparisons between the v700 and entry level scanners. Just make sure that whatever you buy comes equipped for film scanning. A regular office/scrapbooking flatbed document scanner will NOT scan film.

Ive had the v700 for about 4 or 5 years. Still to this date, a awesome bit of kit. I think they have come down in price a bit since we brought it but are still rated quite high over here.

[shnitz]

Originally Posted by iCe

I like my Epson 10000XL. I haven't changed "lids" to scan slide or negatives yet but it's supposed to be pretty good.

That's a pretty good choice OP. It's only about 15 times your budget though, and the Xenon lamp means that it only has a limited number of cycles compared to an LED, but I'm sure that it makes 15 times better scans than the other options mentioned here.