good scanners...

<p>Guys..<br>

Probably a repetitive question here...<br>

I was thinking of getting a good film scanner for my slides, since the labs are always expensive. What models are good enough to consider and worth buying?? Or should I just stick to the labs instead?<br>

Thanks in advance</p>

<p>If these are 35mm slides, then there is only one scanner I recommend: the Nikon SuperCoolscan 5000. </p>

<p>As Bruce mentioned, the Coolscan 5000 with the slide feeder attachment.</p>

<p>The Coolscans are the best mediocre scanners you can buy. The Epson 750 is slightly more mediocre but for considerably less money. Both are excellent for making digital proofs, much better than the automatic output you get from labs when you have your film developed.</p>

<p>And the Epson 700 is even cheaper if you don't need a wet mount. Check Epson.com for a referb I got mine for under 400 bucks with shipping but I think the price went up recently.</p>

<p>"The Coolscans are the best mediocre scanners you can buy."</p>

<p>Mediocre scans are usually operator error. A skilled operator can get nice scans from an Epson, too, but there are limits on how large a decent print can be made.</p>

<p>Well I have had decent 16x20 enlargements from 35mm with the Epson V700 but my MF sings from it and it works for me.</p>

I have a flat bed Canoscan 8800F which will handle slides, 35mm film strips and 120 film strips. I haven't made any big enlargements yet but it works fine on the monitor.

<p>Coolscan 9000 is your best bet if you do/consider MF. It balances cost/resolution/noise and DR.</p>

<p>http://shutterclick.smugmug.com/gallery/3639504_X4XUj#421825839_CPsRV-X3-LB</p><div></div>

<p>Tmax:<br>

http://shutterclick.smugmug.com/gallery/3639504_X4XUj#382039618_mcLcC-X3-LB</p><div></div>

<p>Ektar:</p>

<p>http://shutterclick.smugmug.com/gallery/6499685_dJwsh#412836438_dfYZh-X3-LB</p><div></div>

<p>TMAX 35mm 400 @1600:<br>

http://shutterclick.smugmug.com/gallery/4811519_F9MBv#506169428_zjsRU-X3-LB</p><div></div>

<p>Comparison:</p>

<p>The crop on the left is from a 40D. The three crops in the middle are from an Epson 500. The one on the right is from a Coolscan:<br>

http://shutterclick.smugmug.com/popular/1/265754755_G6Dtd#265754755_G6Dtd-O-LB</p>

<div></div>

<p>Wow Mauro... those are very good scans...much better that I could ever imagine. I have some scans done by labs that don't come any close to that...<br>

Here I'm gonna just post an example...<br>

Those are Velvia 50 35mm...</p><div></div>

<p>another one</p><div></div>

<p>Oh..hey..i see that the 40D has the best colors and sharpness of the ones you showed..</p>

<p>I have a Minolta Scan Elite 5400 and a Nikon Coolscan V. The 5400 is hands down winner for quality, is much more tolerant of of scratches and dust on silver emulsion b&w and is more-or-less <em>the</em> scanner for Kodachrome.</p>

<p>I prefer the V for color negatives so far, it seems much easier to get decent color balance, running the scanner with Vuescan. It's also about twice as fast as the 5400, which is particularly an issue when either scanner's exposure is set up for color negative and the orange mask.</p>

<p>Mendel, that is another advantage of the Coolscan 9000 (over both the Coolscan V and the Minolta): It is great with both negs and pos and better with scratches due to it diffused light, and Kodachrome ICE. (In addition to MF capability).</p>

<p>Arkadiv, I drove all the Patagonias on a solo trip. I will look for some film to scan and compare.</p>

<p>Arkadiv, I recently just posted additional examples of TMAX scanned with the Coolscan 9000 here:<br>

http://www.photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00TEIY</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Wow mauro...those B&W are kickass....<br>

Congrats! I shoot B&W but digital though...u can check out my profile. Of the few pix that I have there, like 3 are B&W...maybe you can contribute with some constructive critique =), and me...learn something =)</p>

<p>What is your price range, that is the real question. At sub $200 I'd say either the Epson 4490 or V500 (they are near identical, the V500 just doesn't require warmup because of its LED light source). If sub $400 then the Epson V700 or V750. If you have $1000 or so and no medium format then go with the Epson Coolscan V or 5000, if you have a bit more change go with the Epson Coolscan 9000.<br>

The V700 and V750 qualitatively don't appear to really be better then the 4490 or V500, or if they are it is by a slim amount. However, they can batch scan twice as many pictures as the 4490 or V500 and can also do 4x5 scans which the 4490 and V500 cannot do.</p>

<p>I've gotten great results with my Canoscan 4400, which cost around $150. I can scan up to 4800x9600 color DPI, which is plenty for what I need. I use it mostly for proofs/web. If I want a large print I generally feel better about taking my negatives in to a decent print shop.<br /> <br /> Being able to scan at home saves a lot of money. Getting processing without prints/cd and just getting an index card is cheap, and with Photoshop CS3s scanning utility it is a breeze because you can scan 6 frames and photoshop will automatically break them up for you.<br /> <br /> I've heard good things about the Nikon Coolscans, but they are a bit pricy.</p>

<p>Ok, thanks for the tips guys. I did not want to spend more than a 1000, but also I didn want my slides to look like crap...<br>

So I'll see what I can get...<br>

Thanks a lot!!</p>

<p>There are people in the forum trying to upgrade from the 5000 to the 9000 (I can refernce you to them). You can get a line-new 5000 at a much lower price.</p>

<p> </p>