Although a search did bring up some threads, they were all at least a year old and I wanted something a little more up-to-date.
I shot 35mm slides for years, and probably have a couple of thousand. I'd like to migrate them to digital and I've been looking at the Nikon Coolscan V (LS-50) which Vistek has in Toronto for $719.95.
I'd like to do this right. Does anyone have any other suggestions or am I on the right track?
Scanner technology hasn't really changed in the past few years, most manufacturers are still selling the same ones they sold last year, but cheaper.
I don't know about buying a new one in this day in age, especially at that price that Vistek wants for a new one. I'd try to rent one from them if I was serious.
If I was in the market for one. I'd try to find something used. Back in January or Feb. there was somebody selling a drum scanner for $200 here on ehmac. So I would check out classified sites and ebay before I went out to blow $7XX on a film scanner that will have limited use.
You also mentioned you have thousands of slides. You should sit down and figure out how many of the thousands you actually want scanned. Looking at a few binders and thinking this won't take that long is probably not the best way to go. Looking at them with a loupe on a light table will really help to see how many keepers your actually talking about. Trust me, I went through this myself. I bought a dedicated film scanner, and planned on scanning all my film, when I actually sat down to do it, I realized. This sucks. Packed it up and sold it, and now just using a flatbed and scan as I need them. Scanning 35 mm is very time consuming, it's a slow process, and if you add ICE, you're looking at a 3-5 minutes to scan and save a single slide, and if you're planning on doing a few thousand, that's a lot of wasted days. This is time that you will never get back! When you could be out shooting new pictures. Or doing something that's more fun and worthwhile.
So what I'm saying is, figure out how many keepers you actually have. Then from the keepers, figure out how many you actually want to see printed. Do you have enough to justify spending almost $800 with tax on a piece of hardware that will loose it value faster than a Dell?
This is what I would do your situation:
Option 1) check classifieds for used Professional scanner(i.e drum, Imacon 35mm etc.)
2) Buy a flatbed instead.
3) Take new pictures and stop living in the past.
4) Take the stars to a service bureau and have them scan it.
Except this one from about a week ago. And this one mentions some scanners from about six months ago which may be on sale by now.
Hmmm, I put the word 'scanner' into the search field here on ehMac and neither of those threads were in the results list. I do remember the one from 6 months ago.
Scanner technology hasn't really changed in the past few years, most manufacturers are still selling the same ones they sold last year, but cheaper.
I don't know about buying a new one in this day in age, especially at that price that Vistek wants for a new one. I'd try to rent one from them if I was serious.
If I was in the market for one. I'd try to find something used. Back in January or Feb. there was somebody selling a drum scanner for $200 here on ehmac. So I would check out classified sites and ebay before I went out to blow $7XX on a film scanner that will have limited use.
You also mentioned you have thousands of slides. You should sit down and figure out how many of the thousands you actually want scanned. Looking at a few binders and thinking this won't take that long is probably not the best way to go. Looking at them with a loupe on a light table will really help to see how many keepers your actually talking about. Trust me, I went through this myself. I bought a dedicated film scanner, and planned on scanning all my film, when I actually sat down to do it, I realized. This sucks. Packed it up and sold it, and now just using a flatbed and scan as I need them. Scanning 35 mm is very time consuming, it's a slow process, and if you add ICE, you're looking at a 3-5 minutes to scan and save a single slide, and if you're planning on doing a few thousand, that's a lot of wasted days. This is time that you will never get back! When you could be out shooting new pictures. Or doing something that's more fun and worthwhile.
So what I'm saying is, figure out how many keepers you actually have. Then from the keepers, figure out how many you actually want to see printed. Do you have enough to justify spending almost $800 with tax on a piece of hardware that will loose it value faster than a Dell?
This is what I would do your situation:
Option 1) check classifieds for used Professional scanner(i.e drum, Imacon 35mm etc.)
2) Buy a flatbed instead.
3) Take new pictures and stop living in the past.
4) Take the stars to a service bureau and have them scan it.
vince
I appreciate your comments. I've looked for used versions of something like this and haven't been able to find them, although I'm never bought from eBay so my 'searching' skills are probably not that good.
As for your number 3 comment, I haven't shot anything on film in over 5 years now. You probably meant well, but one thing you might not have thought about was the passing of generations. My Mom is 84 and was the youngest of three sisters. Both aunts passed away in the last 5 years and one of the things that my cousins have regretted is that they now have photographic collections which are undocumented. In addition to scanning my own stuff, I'd like to scan my Mom's stuff and display them for her on a TV or other large screen and get her to make some notes for me. That way my kids have some history that means something to them.
And this is one reason for wanting to do my own stuff as well. I'd like to be able to provide copies to my friends of 'our growing up'.
Besides, having a system set up beside me and changing slides every 2-3 minutes while watching a playoff hockey game or reading a book is good multi-tasking.
As for your number 3 comment, I haven't shot anything on film in over 5 years now. You probably meant well, but one thing you might not have thought about was the passing of generations. My Mom is 84 and was the youngest of three sisters. Both aunts passed away in the last 5 years and one of the things that my cousins have regretted is that they now have photographic collections which are undocumented. In addition to scanning my own stuff, I'd like to scan my Mom's stuff and display them for her on a TV or other large screen and get her to make some notes for me. That way my kids have some history that means something to them.
Hey, no disrespect intended. I was thinking more nature and art pictures, just cause most people don't use trannies for snap shots or pictures of family.
I still standby my comment of justifying spending almost $800 for a piece of hardware, although is really nice, that can be purchased for something cheaper like one of the Epson Perfection series of flatbed scanners that can scan more than just 35 mm film. I would say the difference in quality is not worth an extra $400. We're talking about being able to make huge prints. The Epsons are good enough to make 8x10s without noticing any degradation, and I have one of the first gen Perfections (2440 is you have to know)
Here's one more option. Maybe not the most practical, but maybe for your most important shots. Have Ilfordchromes made. These are Museum quality archival prints. Any of the Toronto Pro Labs should be able to make these for you. Pretty much the best possible print you can get printing from slides. The standard art print before people started making Glyclée from their Epson Printers.
Linear Mode
