Looking for a good 35mm Slide Scanner Solution

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Messages 21 - 35 of total 35 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Dec 1, 2012 - 01:46pm PT
I also use Vuescan. It is quite good and reasonably priced.
The other big one is Silverfast but it is quite a bit pricier and doesn't
support as many scanners as I recall. Silverfast has a fancier interface
and bells and whistles but supposedly isn't markedly better.
climbski2

Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 5, 2012 - 03:47pm PT
Thanks for advice regarding Epson scanners!

Ok did not hear back from Weezy so today I went out and purchased an Epson Perfection V500 flatbed scanner. Not too expensive and I figured if it sucked I could take it back. This scanner has ICE which I thought (correctly) would be pretty important.

I am pleased with the first few results so far. Not sure sharpness is quite as good as original hard to tell without a loop or good projection surface. I am sure I can do even better with some more experience with the software and some fiddling. It is a tad on the slow side so many hours will be spent on a few hundred slides.

So here are a couple decent early results.

April 1991 trip


Sept 2001 A guy from Chamonix taken from fixed lines to Heart Ledge.


climbski2

Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 5, 2012 - 07:14pm PT
I am having too much fun with my scanner. Gotta show a few pics :)

SUMMIT ELATION !!!!!!


Dick Erb

climber
June Lake, CA
Dec 5, 2012 - 09:15pm PT
I tried scan cafe, the price was reasonable, but I didn't like the results. So, I decided to improvise and made a slide copier for my camera. My only expense was a set of extension tubes that I bought from Adorama for about $70. The rest were a few wood scraps. The extension tubes fit between the lens and the body of my DSLR. By moving the lens further from the sensor they can provide a very close focus.
The tubes work best with a lens that is slightly telephoto. A 20mm tube and my zoom at about 55mm worked well for my Nikon D300.Something bright and white behind the slide is needed. After a little tinkering to get it dialed in you can start changing the slides and take pictures. Shooting a raw images gives me enough data to work with the image in Lightroom to get the tones and colors right. I can get better details in the shadows than the Scan Cafe images have.
climbski2

Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 5, 2012 - 09:24pm PT
Yeah I'd like to have gone that way DE. It would definitely be quicker and I suspect get even better results.

I have been wanting to get a good DSLR but have not had enough extra scratch to justify it. Right now I have to settle for dreaming. I lust for a Canon 7D and some nice glass. About $1500 with just the first lens I'd like to have.

Dick Erb

climber
June Lake, CA
Dec 7, 2012 - 09:01pm PT
Here is a comparison.It was this slide which disappointed me with subbing out the scans and got me going on making a camera copier.
JLP

Social climber
The internet
Dec 7, 2012 - 10:06pm PT
I tried scan cafe, the price was reasonable, but I didn't like the results.
My color negatives turned out the best, by far. My slides not as good. However, all I see are color issues, which are pretty fixable with software. 95+% of my photos were print film. Overall, I was pretty happy with the results. Out of 1000's of images, I'd say just a few dozen are worth additional attention, which I could certainly do.

Meanwhile, I even have those accidental shots of my feet - and I remember them - everything triggers a memory and I have it all - it would have taken me months, possibly years to scan all of those in on my own. I'm pretty happy with scancafe, for sure.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Dec 7, 2012 - 11:09pm PT
cool direction the thread has taken...

This image was of a Jim Herson Salathe Wall free attempt, his partner on this day way Derek Powell... I snapped it on Ecktachrome 100 with my 180mm f2.8 Nikon lens mounted on my FM2N. This is the second of 2 shots, the first is blurry, both shots are "hand held." These images are all 520px wide by 800px tall "full crop" (which is to say there is no pixel compression)

here is the scan attempt from my Cannon Lide-110 at 600 dpi
I would need to figure out how to get the focus on the film, which is to say I'd have to take the film out of the slide to get a good scan.

here is an attempt at the "Dick Erb" solution, 50mm f1.4 Nikon lens with a 50mm extension tube shooting with my FujiFilm S5-Pro. This gives a 1-to-1 image, so the entire slide doesn't fit on the DX format camera (funny that!)
you can see that you have to have Dick's sort of setup, the depth of field is very short and being perpendicular to the film is essential to getting a good overall focus.

Here is the Nikon scanner at 4000dpi, this is the one I use:

and here is a commercially scanned image of the same slide at 8000dpi

this last one scan was printed at 24" x 36" and hangs on my wall... at 300dpi resolution the print is quite sharp...

weezy

climber
Jan 7, 2013 - 12:40pm PT
climbski2,

sorry i didn't return your message. it got caught in the spam filter and i just now saw it. glad to see you got a nice scanner. probably was a ton easier to set up than the old minolta i have.

anyway, i still have the scanner if anyone else is interested. i'll sell it for cheap or trade for something.
nature

climber
Boulder, CO
Dec 19, 2013 - 03:28pm PT
Last night I decided to dig into my slides/photos/negatives and decided it's time to get some of them scanned. I have 17 years or so of B&W negatives and color slides to dig through. I'm tempted to use a commercial scanning service but given the total number I'd probably end up scanning it's probably more economical to use a scanner.

I've scanned slides before but to be honest I found the whole process a total PITA.

So I'm looking for recommendations on a decent/good scanner that lends itself to an economical workflow.

I realize these things should be illegal for assault rifles but do they make 100 capacity clips that you just plug in and the scanner does the rest? (I'm kidding but you have to admit that would be pretty fast workflow so you get the idea).
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Dec 19, 2013 - 03:31pm PT
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-SF-210-Auto-Slide-Feeder/dp/B0001AVVRA

routinely does more than 50 slides if the slides are in good shape and aren't too "frictiony"

I don't recall mine being that pricey...

if you interested, I can scan slides and negatives...
nature

climber
Boulder, CO
Dec 19, 2013 - 03:36pm PT
oh that is pricey.

My issue is less with my slides - I probably only have about 800 that were worth keeping. Probably only need to scan maybe 500 of those.

It's all the B&W negatives I need to work through. Seems like the easiest way is to slowly work through them.

Nice offer Ed - maybe I can start with a handful to see how it goes. I started shooting slides back in 88. Rainer, JTree, Lurking Fear, Lunar, and more.

Plus I found a couple dozen shots of Ms. Summit from when she was not even 2 years old.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Dec 19, 2013 - 03:55pm PT
B&W is a bit more of an issue,

cut or uncut?
if cut, what is the typical number of frames? (4,5,6?)

there are also auto feeders for film rolls:

http://www.filmscanner.info/en/NikonSuperCoolscan5000ED.html

but apparently there is a "mod" that can be done (I'll probably try it on mine, it would kick ass to be able to scan a whole roll!

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.periphs.scanners/-LdJf3r23h4
nature

climber
Boulder, CO
Dec 19, 2013 - 04:13pm PT
Canon 60D and S100.

LightRoom 5


Ed - cut but the length varies. I spent two and a half years taking B&W photography in school and I usually cut them to a length of 5.
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Dec 19, 2013 - 04:21pm PT
5 is typical, 6 is more efficient with the negative feed I have

but I often setup in the scan frame and just push it to the next position, depending on how well the software is doing finding the frame edges (sometimes underexposed frames are difficult).
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