Best HQ scanner w/ batch slide processing?

What I'm looking for is the a nice quality ~4000dpi, Kodacrome-friendly slide

scanner with at least 42bit @ 4.0 Dmax and most importantly 20-30 pcs or more

feeder. Budget as needed but I would like to keep it under $2k if possible.

We have a fairly large slide archive - thousands of medical images on Kodachrome

- and we want to digitize them but I don't want to waste the time of our artists

so I need something that requires the least 'human intervention' for the whole

process.

First I looked at the Microtek 4000tf but it cannot take more than a few slides

so it's out of question.

Nikons are famous of their Kodachrome-problems except the latest 9000 ED but it

doesn't have batch feeder either.

Pacific Image has a great price tag and supports large Braun magazines but has a

pretty inferior Dmax value of 3.8 @ 3600dpi.

Imacons are way too expensive: if I understand correctly only 848 or 949 support

the 50-slides feeder (which alone would cost more than $2k) but even a refurb

646 is already over $8k at Bitec...

 

... which leads me to the question: is it possible there's no such thing I'm

looking for? Or is the difference is pretty subtle between 3.8Dmax of Pacific

Image and, say 4.3 of Microtek?

 

TIA

i'm no scanning pro, so those technical details lose me. however, assuming that you're no longer shooting slides and this is a one time deal, would it not be more cost effective to ship the slides to a vendor to scan? between $2K for the scanner and probably a few man-weeks of labor, i wouldn't be surprised if you could negotiate a bulk rate with a vendor and come out ahead that way.

Your hospital or university should lease a Hasselblad 928 if you have thousands of slides to

scan. Even better would be a Kodak/Creo Eversmart.

 

The desktop scanners that you ask about are not high volume machines which is what you

need for your application, and the Eversmart and Hasselblad Flextights are

If you can get a good price for renting an Eversmart, I'd say go with it. They can scan a hundred or more slides per hour (40pcs/batch) and deliver outstanding results with chromes.

Nikon 5000's scan Kodachrome fine. I have 2 5000's and 2 batch feeders ( SF-210 ). That scanner/feeder set-up is your best choice IMHO.

 

The Nikon 9000 would do NO better with Kodachrome than would a 5000.

 

The difficulty scanning Kodachrome on MOST CCD scanners is the dense emulsion, especially in under-exposed frames or the shadows of a properly exposed frame.

 

If Digital Ice (dust and scratch removal) is used on Kodachrome, the film type MUST be set to Kodachrome or artifacts will be visible.

 

BTW the Nikon SF-210 batch feeder DOES require babysitting. It's not trouble free. I've posted some fixes for the batch feeder here on photo.net in a different thread.

Any ideas on where to rent these scanners in Ohio? Could not find anything on the net.