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Scanner for 35mm slides and negatives

Paul56

Well-Known Member
I'm looking for a digital scanner to transfer 35mm slides and negatives to my Mac. Has anyone a recommendation for one that costs less than 200€, is fairly quick (I've lots to do), and produces reasonable results?
Thanks in advance.
Paul
 
There is no such thing as a quick 35 mm film or slide scanner, unless you have one of the old Kodak Pakon F-135 Plus scanners (or even a Noritsu or Fuji Frontier). These will scan a whole roll of 35 mm film in under 2 minutes. You will need a legacy computer running Windows XP and it will cost you £1000-1500.

I use an old Minolta Scan Elite 5400 with Vuescan on my Mac Pro. Great results, but it takes an hour to do a roll of 36 images.
 
i've been using an epson V700 for quite some time and find it fantastic for such things - even has it's own 35mm and slide holder. you can get the earlier models like the V550 and V600, 4990 etc which are very nearly as good for very little money ... for nearly all purposes - like printing up to 11x14 or so - it's an excellent way to go - the only singificant step up is a drum scanner - which i hire a lot too
 
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From time to time Aldi sell one as one of their centre aisle specials. I bought one for my mother and sister to use. I thought the results were pretty good. About £50 I think.
 
I use an old Minolta Scan Elite 5400 with Vuescan on my Mac Pro. Great results, but it takes an hour to do a roll of 36 images.

On a cheaper note, I sourced an old Minolta scan dual 111 2840 from the auction site for about £60, use it with vuescan and have had very encouraging results from equally old negs and reversal film. Tidied them up with a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop Elements and they are very presentable as 'memory snaps' up to 8x10's. Never actually used it in anger so couldn't give an opinion on recently developed film.
I did try/borrowed one of the cheaper scanners and found it to be an absolute no-no, quality was very poor indeed.
 
How many rolls of film do you have and how much time have you got?

You will get better results from a dedicated film scanner e.g. Legacy Nikon Minolta or a new Plustek than with a flatbed Epson. Alternatively you can photograph with a light box and static set up.

There's no way I would contemplate scanning 100s of rolls in this way. It would take forever. A roll of 36 will take 30-60 mins depending on scan resolution and workflow.

If you have 100s of rolls, buy a Pakon, do your scanning and resell it.
 
I have a Nikon Coolscan IV ED, bought new years ago. I have just (almost) finished scanning all my old negs to the highest possible resolution. It took me months in two stages, with a gap of three years inbetween. You have to very motivated and disciplined.
 
How many rolls of film do you have and how much time have you got?

You will get better results from a dedicated film scanner e.g. Legacy Nikon Minolta or a new Plustek than with a flatbed Epson. Alternatively you can photograph with a light box and static set up.

There's no way I would contemplate scanning 100s of rolls in this way. It would take forever. A roll of 36 will take 30-60 mins depending on scan resolution and workflow.

If you have 100s of rolls, buy a Pakon, do your scanning and resell it.


I probably have about 100 rolls of film but I wouldn't necessarily want to scan every frame, so perhaps about 250 to do. I have about 400 slides also (I was more creative/selective when shooting slides!).

I realise I was being a bit too optimistic with my budget/quality/speed requirements, so I'll now have a rethink. I hope to retire at the end of the year so speed should be less of a constraint.

Thanks to everyone for your replies; I'll check out all your suggestions. I suspect I'll try to buy secondhand and then sell on afterwards.
 
That's a lot more manageable. I would buy a Minolta or Nikon film scanner and run this on Vuescan software. Ed Hamrick provides Vuescan for a very modest fee. Vuescanm allows you to use virtually every scanner, without having to source original drivers (which might not work on your current computer OS).

My Minolta Scan Elite 5400 scans to 5400 dpi (ample for a large print) and has film strip holders (6 frames) and a mounted slide holder (4 frames). The Scan Elite II is an updated version. The Nikon equivalent is the Coolscan IV ED mentioned above.

If you want a lower res scanner then the Nikon LS30 or Minolta ScanDual are in plentiful supply and cheap.
 
I have a Nikon Coolscan IV ED, bought new years ago. I have just (almost) finished scanning all my old negs to the highest possible resolution. It took me months in two stages, with a gap of three years inbetween. You have to very motivated and disciplined.

I'm sure you're right. I'm going to treat it as a pastime in my retirement; the thought of doing this, rather than working outside in the cold and wet, will hopefully motivate me. That said, I've just ordered a record cleaning machine, and with a couple of thousand records to do I might well end up losing the will to live!
 
I'm looking for a digital scanner to transfer 35mm slides and negatives to my Mac. Has anyone a recommendation for one that costs less than 200€, is fairly quick (I've lots to do), and produces reasonable results?
Thanks in advance.
Paul
I've used a Canon 4400F for some years and it makes an excellent job on both prints and slides (not tried negatives but I don't see why it shouldn't do those too)

My experiences suggest Canon are best for photo printer/copier and Epson are to be avoided.
 
If you do buy Vuescan get the professional option, that offers free updates for life. I bought a copy when I got my first film scanner around 20 years ago and haven’t paid for an update since then.

Be aware that fast scanning isn’t really an option - particularly at high resolutions. If you’re scanning mainly colour negatives and slides consider a scanner with built in dust and scratch removal, it will save you a huge amount of time in post production.
 
Thanks for the tip on Vuescan - I'll give it a shot as I am currently limping along with an old windows machine just for the scanner (Minolta Dimage). I do find the quality of the scans very good, it has never been quick but worth the effort, recently did about 150 or so old family slides which have now been circulated as jpegs around the family and everyone was delighted.

DMP
 
If you do buy Vuescan get the professional option, that offers free updates for life. I bought a copy when I got my first film scanner around 20 years ago and haven’t paid for an update since then.

Be aware that fast scanning isn’t really an option - particularly at high resolutions. If you’re scanning mainly colour negatives and slides consider a scanner with built in dust and scratch removal, it will save you a huge amount of time in post production.

That's useful information. I've checked out the cost of the professional option - cheaper than I would have guessed so I'll go for that. And, as topoxforddoc says, Vuescan will allow me more flexibility in my choice of scanner.
 
I've scanned around 4000 slides with my Minolta Dual Scan Elite (F-2900). It's a little bit like ripping CDs, make sure to do it well in order to just do it once.

As most dedicated scanners are getting long on the tooth (the original drivers/software may no longer work with modern machines), I've also found that Vuescan pro is the best solution.

If looking at used scanners (which can be resold once the job is done), beware that some models, like mine, require a SCSI2 adapter card... which are becoming very hard to find at acceptable prices and usually require PCI slots in the computer (rather than PCIe, the newer standard). Ideally go for one with a USB interface for this reason.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the calibration equipment to get accurate colors is reaching silly prices (i.e. over $1000 for a single Kodachome IT8 target... which is just a shot of such target, in a cardboard frame!)
 
Succesfully downloaded and just running the evaluation copy for now. Works as well as the original minolta software (Scan Dual III AF2840) and is a little faster for some elements eg generating previews of a single frame.

In due course I shall go pro ... ...

Thanks again for the tip!

DMP
 
Re Vuescan, I find it best to set the preview at low res (for speed), which allows you to crop and adjust the frame quickly, then scan at high res.
 


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