Advice on which flatbed scanner to buy.

[michael_c._goldman]

I need advice on which flatbed scanner to purchase. I use primarily

Leica M6 TTL's with 35mm Summilux and 90mm Summicron and would like

members flatbed scanner reccommendations for digital conversion of

slides and photographs, color and black and white.

 

Michael C. Goldman

[carl smith]

If you require a Leica for your photography, you should seriously consider putting some real money in to a film scanner rather than a flatbed. Film scanners don't have to be expensive, the Minolta Dual III is at most $300 and they have a new version coming. The III is a superb scanner however.

 

There are more expensive, higher resolution options but that scanner will give you a sharp 60mb(ish) TIF in 16 bit color. It will also pull out much more detail from your film than any flatbed twice that price will.

 

If you need to scan prints just add an inexpensive flatbed in addition to the film scanner and you'll be covered.

[carl smith]

In fact the Scan Dual IV is $300 at B&H now, and provides more resolution than the Dual III.

 

I suspect that scanner would be a wise purchase.

[EricM]

I really like my Epson 3200 flatbed, it has al the neg carriers up to 4x5, comes with great sotware, The Silverfast. Film only scanners are limited to only film, and usually only 35mm in this budget.

[ralph_barker]

<p>To a large extent, Michael, your choice will depend on what you want to do with the scans. If you plan to do high quality, reasonably large digital prints from the scans, you should consider investing in a scanner that gives you the highest D-Max, the highest optical resolution, and that covers the film sizes you use (or, anticipate using during the next couple of years), and that is within your budget.</p>

 

<p>I use an Epson 3200, which does a reasonable job on 35mm film and also handles up to 4x5 film in addition to prints up to 8x10. Epson has a newer model coming out that is even better. If you only use 35mm film, and don't need to scan prints, one of the dedicated 4000 DPI film scanners might be better. But, the Epson 3200 is nicely versatile. </p>

<center>

<img border=2 src="http://www.rbarkerphoto.com/misc/Travel/BshipPk1203-0303bowshot-600bw.jpg">

<p>M6 TTL, handheld, 50mm DR Summicron on FP4+, Epson 3200 scan</p></center>

[luisarguelles]

As has been said, a 35mm slide scanner gives excellent scans. I owned a very good Minolta Dual II, but it was lacking flexibility. Now I'm a lot happier with my 3200. Scans very well 35mm (providing a lot better grayscales than my Minolta) and MF scannings are just impressive. But if you shoot color slides, a good 35mm slide scanner is the solution.<div></div>

[gerry_szarek]

Any film scanner that does better than 2,000 dpi will be fine for shots up to 4X6. If you are serious about this and want to make LARGE photos (16X20) or need to crop seriously, get either the canon FS4000U, the Nikon, or Minolta 5400 dpi unit. If you shoot slides be sure to check out the scanner reviews on (imaging resources, dpreview, dcreview etc) slides especially Kodakchrome is difficult to scan (note this won't be a problem in another year since the film is history). I stongly recommend you get a dust removal system such as ICE or FARE.

 

BTW you will need a HUGE disk with a CD/DVD backup.

 

Gerry

[mskovacs]

<p>I have an older Nikon LS-30 and the Epson 3200. I plan on testing them head to head with colour transparancy materials, but straight up I can tell you that the film scanner is much faster and easier if you only need 35mm. I'm certain the Epson can match on negative materials, the jury is out whether it will have the dynamic range for slides, keeping in mind that I'm comparing it to a 3-year old film scanner and not the latest.

 

<p>Dust removal on the Epson with Photoshop can be time consuming and you must fiddle more to get strips and slides in the scanner, keep the glass clean, etc. Digital ICE on my Nikon is a real time saver but do keep in mind it doesn't work with B&W or Kodachromes.

 

<p>If you have 120 and 4x5 to scan, I do not hesitate to recommend the Epson. $270 with the rebate is unbeatable. <a href=http://www.photo.net/bboard/image.tcl?bboard_upload_id=16452784>See the detail it manages on a contrasty 120 Velvia trannie?</a> I guess those people in the bottom right are at least a mile away!

[peter_n1664876959]

There is a new Epson scanner on the market that will scan in 24 negs at a time. Looks promising. Ongoing review at <a href="http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson%204870/page_1.htm">Interactive Review - Epson Perfection 4870</a>.