Looking for a film scanner with batch ability

Hi all:

I shoot sports (youth football and soccer)I'm thinking about a new

scanner, particularly one that does batch scanning, like the Pacific

Image PRO 3600 or SmartDisk SmartScan 3600 (they look the same). I'm

looking for quality in scans and speed. Any comments?

You'll get speed, but not quality. If you want quality, for any film scanner of this type you'll be looking at Canon, Minolta and Nikon. Period. IMO the PacificImage scanners are a joke, poor quality with no highlight or shadow detail. Poor sharpness and resolving power, in addition to weak software and common hardware problems.

 

I'm not a fan of Benq/Acer either, and I would only buy a scanner from one of the large optics manufacturers/camera manufacturers like I mentioned. I've used almost all of these scanners and they simply to not match up.

 

The bulk scanning of the PRO 3600 and the SmartScan is one I don't trust or like. Too many horror stories of them jamming and eating film have come to my attention.

No experience with these scanners. I saw the 3600 and was tempted till I did some research. Most comments are not good in regards to the build quality of these scanners. Unfortunately if you want batch scanning of a long roll the options are limited. the Nikon LS-4000 has a $500 option for this. I am not sure but the Kodak RF3600 may do the same. Though I am told that the Kodak is made by Pacific Image, I would hope that the Kodak was built to Kodak standards.

 

Otherwise you could have your lab scan at the time of processing.

 

Happy shooting

 

Chip

The Nikon Coolscan 4000ED is great. And expensive. The full roll batch scanning attachment would be really cool if you had to scan a lot of pictures, I would imagine.

 

Of course, at those prices, you might start to consider something like a Canon D60 or Nikon D100 and dispense with the scanning altogether. It can be quite a pain.

While digital cameras have come along way, they still have away to go to be able to beat film. In the case of sports shooting highlights can be problematic in digital at times.

I have been looking at the Microtek 4000. Anyone out there have any experience with one?

 

Thanks.

 

B2 (;->