OT but relevant to digital ?

I need to get a decent scanner that will do slides. I only have about 500. The Epson 1650 photo scanner is $249.00 with a $50.00 rebate. As far as I can read, it is the best quality in the price range. From what I read the next step is much higher. Any experienced scanners out there?
Thanks, John--Seabee MCPO (ret)

I would get them scanned. You're not going to get a whole lot for that kind of $$$.

john said:

I need to get a decent scanner that will do slides. I only have
about 500. The Epson 1650 photo scanner is $249.00 with a $50.00
rebate. As far as I can read, it is the best quality in the price
range. From what I read the next step is much higher. Any
experienced scanners out there?
Thanks, John
--
Seabee MCPO (ret)

Click to expand...

--richc-700, d-510 http://www.pbase.com/iceninevt

I got a scanner that purports to scan slides, but I have not been happy with the quality. Mine is a Microtek that's a year or two old. I don't know the model number.

Has anyone had great success doing this?-- http://www.pbase.com/julivalley/galleries21oo , B-3oo3o4oJuli

john said:

I need to get a decent scanner that will do slides. I only have
about 500. The Epson 1650 photo scanner is $249.00 with a $50.00
rebate. As far as I can read, it is the best quality in the price
range. From what I read the next step is much higher. Any
experienced scanners out there?
Thanks, John

Click to expand...

The Epson 1650 with the transparency adapter is an excellent 35mm film
scanner. Shutterbug Magazine has reviewed the Epson 1200, 1600, and
the new 2400 series for film scanning and each of them has gotten superb
reviews.

I have used the 1200 for 2 years (I'll post a sample or two when I have more
time) and its quality is slightly better than Kodak Picture CD scans which
are the usual standard if you have your pictures scanned elsewhere.
I'm thinking of upgrading to the 1650 since I already have the transparency
unit that will work with it. I occasionally do scanning for website designers.

The 1650 is significantly better (according to the reviews), providing
better resolution and better dynamic range.

The newest 2450 is supposed to be equal to many dedicated film scanners
but costs considerably more than the 1640. Flatbed scanners are now competitive
with film scanners and you'll find a lot of pros are switching since they
can also scan larger film sizes with the flatbed scanners. Check the pro
forum too -- lots of discussion lately.

I'll try to add a sample picture later.

Darrell

This is a scan from an old 35mm transparency using the Epson 1200.
I have found that it does a better job from negatives, but you seem to be
interested in slides. The 1650 is considerably better from what I have read.



Hope this helps.
Darrell

Hi Darrell,

That is a quite a decent sample. Actually much better than most that I've seen from a flatbed scanner. If the 1650 does even better than that then I'll be satisfied.

As I said I only have about 500 slides to do but I want them to be passed on to my grandkids in a digital format .

FYI, There are 2 -1650 scanners. One is the 1650 and the other is called the 1650 photo.The latter having the slide/transparency/film scan capability.

I saw a slide scan demo on a $135.00 Acer (discounted) 1240 UT today and wasn't impressed at all. The reviews on both 1650 model scanners are excellent.
Thanks for your input. John

Darrell Spreen said:

This is a scan from an old 35mm transparency using the Epson 1200.
I have found that it does a better job from negatives, but you seem
to be
interested in slides. The 1650 is considerably better from what I
have read.



Hope this helps.
Darrell

Click to expand...

--Seabee MCPO (ret)

... http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN1.HTM for slide and film scanners. Be sure and look at the sample photos for each scanner. I have an HP Smartscan which does ok on negatives but not as well on slides. I am waiting to finish and move into my new house and I plan to buy something better -- at the least maybe the Nikon Coolscan IV, possibly the Coolscan 4000 ED.

You need to consider the dynamic range of the scanner. Lower cost ones will give you "noise" in the dark areas of slides. Also, what software comes with it. For old slides (unless they are all Kodachrome), Digital ICE and Digital ROC are supposed to be very helpful with dust and discoloration. Something to consider is buying a higher-priced scanner and then selling it on E-Bay when you are finished. Another option if you live in or near a big city is the possibility of renting a good scanner for a couple of days or a week until you do the scanning.

--Mary

Hi Mary,

This is how I am looking at it now.(this minute and constantly subject to change)

1... The Epson 1650 photo scanner is the best at $250.00. Supposedly it does pretty good on slides but not film (negatives) .Hmmm, Everything else supposedly excellent though(for the price)
2... A $50.00 rebate.(now down to $200.00)
3... Comes with PS Elements. (worth $89.00) I could use it .

4... If it don't do slides well at least it will at least be a big improvement over my UMAX 3400 astra scan for everything else I do.

5.."This is my ace in the hole". I could easily talk my brother in law into getting a better (read more expensive) scanner for his immense slide collection and then do my piddly few 500 or so on his. Note : This is a financially sound idea. At least from my perspective.

However , I will check the IR site and compare scanned samples as you suggested..
Thanks for the help.
John

mwarner said:

... http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN1.HTM for slide and film
scanners. Be sure and look at the sample photos for each scanner.
I have an HP Smartscan which does ok on negatives but not as well
on slides. I am waiting to finish and move into my new house and I
plan to buy something better -- at the least maybe the Nikon
Coolscan IV, possibly the Coolscan 4000 ED.

You need to consider the dynamic range of the scanner. Lower cost
ones will give you "noise" in the dark areas of slides. Also, what
software comes with it. For old slides (unless they are all
Kodachrome), Digital ICE and Digital ROC are supposed to be very
helpful with dust and discoloration. Something to consider is
buying a higher-priced scanner and then selling it on E-Bay when
you are finished. Another option if you live in or near a big city
is the possibility of renting a good scanner for a couple of days
or a week until you do the scanning.

--
Mary

Click to expand...

--Seabee MCPO (ret)

.. and please post a few samples. I always understood that scanning negatives was easier than slides. --Mary

mwarner said:

.. and please post a few samples. I always understood that
scanning negatives was easier than slides.
--

Click to expand...

Mary,

Maybe my earlier comments were confusing -- I have also found that scanning
negatives gives much better results than scanning slides. I will typically
get better color quality from my scans of negatives than I can get from my local
film processing lab.

Darrell

I use an Acer ScanWit 2720S which I picked up at Ubid auction for $229. It does a great job, and is often available at the auctions.

The very best flatbed scanner with film adapter is much worse that the very worst dedicated film scanner. Get a real film scanner, or better yet, since you have only 500 to do, have it done commercially. You will be money ahead.

I have a hp 5370C which does slides and negatives. I really don't like the out come from either. It does just what I consider an "ok" job. For my personal use, I will wait until I can shell out the $$$ for one of the Nikon dedicated film scanners.

There was another dedicated film/slide scanner that I read a recent review on. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the brand was and the magazine I saw it in is on my desk at work. If you are interested, I'll try and post the info for you tomorrow. I do remember that it got a great review and was only about $300.00.

john said:

I need to get a decent scanner that will do slides. I only have
about 500. The Epson 1650 photo scanner is $249.00 with a $50.00
rebate. As far as I can read, it is the best quality in the price
range. From what I read the next step is much higher. Any
experienced scanners out there?
Thanks, John
--
Seabee MCPO (ret)

Click to expand...

--Duane(Never slap a man who chews tobacco!)

I have an Epson 1200U Photo scanner that does a pretty good job with slides. It was not an expensive unit (since been replaced with 1240 I believe). In addition, I got SilverFast Ai 5 scanning software for more control over the scanning process.

Good Luck,
Frank
http://www.pbase.com/drfrank/galleries

john said:

I need to get a decent scanner that will do slides. I only have
about 500. The Epson 1650 photo scanner is $249.00 with a $50.00
rebate. As far as I can read, it is the best quality in the price
range. From what I read the next step is much higher. Any
experienced scanners out there?
Thanks, John
--
Seabee MCPO (ret)

Click to expand...

Duane,
I'll wait for you to post the info. Thanks, John

Duane said:

There was another dedicated film/slide scanner that I read a recent
review on. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the brand was and
the magazine I saw it in is on my desk at work. If you are
interested, I'll try and post the info for you tomorrow. I do
remember that it got a great review and was only about $300.00.

john said:

I need to get a decent scanner that will do slides. I only have
about 500. The Epson 1650 photo scanner is $249.00 with a $50.00
rebate. As far as I can read, it is the best quality in the price
range. From what I read the next step is much higher. Any
experienced scanners out there?
Thanks, John
--
Seabee MCPO (ret)

Click to expand...

--
Duane
(Never slap a man who chews tobacco!)

Click to expand...

--Seabee MCPO (ret)

If one does not have enough slides to warrant buying a slide scanner where could you send slides to be digitized? My small town has nothing like a lab. Appreciate any leads........
--LucyC3020Zpbase supporter

Epson Perfection 1650 Photo

FYI,

I took this out of a pro review and the following statements lead me to believe that this flatbed(Epson 1650 photo) might be satisfactory. This is where I got the info that it didn't fare as well with transparencies.(film) ?
John

In our tests, the scanner excelled at catching exposures, most contrasts, and fine gradients. And though the scans were a bit dark, the colors were accurate. The Perfection 1650's slide scans had strong color matching and high detail and focus, but its negative scans seemed a bit overexposed, slightly off-color, and lacking in some of the finer details. Given that few flatbed scanners we've seen have scanned film successfully, however, this is typical.

--Seabee MCPO (ret)

Bill Finnell said:

The very best flatbed scanner with film adapter is much worse that
the very worst dedicated film scanner. Get a real film scanner, or
better yet, since you have only 500 to do, have it done
commercially. You will be money ahead.

Click to expand...

The new flatbed scanners are very comparable to many of the
dedicated film scanners these days. A number of the major photography
magazines have done exactly those comparison tests -- flatbed scanner
quality has advanced greatly in the last year or so.

And the prices I get for commercial scans would be MANY times the
price of the Epson scanner in question.

Darrell

john said:

I need to get a decent scanner that will do slides. I only have
about 500. The Epson 1650 photo scanner is $249.00 with a $50.00
rebate. As far as I can read, it is the best quality in the price
range. From what I read the next step is much higher. Any
experienced scanners out there?

Click to expand...

Hi John,

If you want good scans, short of paying someone, you will need a dedicated slide/film scanner. I have a Minolta QuickScan 35 that I love. I have had it for 3 or 4 years. It is a little slow, but I can scan at resolutions of 2800 bpi and I have found that anything less than 1200 is not worth while if you need good quality. The Minolta will only do 35mm and that is a draw back for me as I have lots of medium format (120 & 645) film that I want to scan. You might consider ebay as I see them coming up from time to time and they usually sell for much less than new.
--KenD-460Z, C-3030Z, C-2100UZ. )

John,

I've had the 1650 photo for about a month now and have been very happy with it. I've only scanned a few slides (have mainly used it for color negative film with very good results) - the scans had a slight color cast that was easily removed with Photoshop, with good contrast and detail. At 1600 dpi, you'll have 200 dpi for an 8x10 print, at the low end of the acceptable range. The scans benefit from post editing (fine tuning contrast and color, sharpening), but this is true for any scan or digital photo.

If you have image editing software that can handle them, an advantage of the 1650 is that you can save 16 bit per channel images. This allows you to do larger color and contrast adjustments with less chance of causing posterization. Unfortunately, the Photoshop Elements included with the package can't.

For highest quality, a dedicated film scanner would probably be the way to go. However, many of the low-priced film scanners are 1800 dpi, which isn't much higher than the Epson. As you start going for higher resolution and adding features like ICE, the price rises pretty quickly. As far as having scans done, the prices I've seen are at least several dollars a slide - for the cost of having 500 slides scanned you could buy several 1650s, or a really nice slide scanner.

Particularly if you're looking at a new scanner anyway, the 1650 photo will do a good job for you at a reasonable price. Your cheapest and best option is to get your brother in law to buy a scanner for you to borrow.

Good luck.

George