Scanning that many slides on any scanner is extremely laborious.
Scanning them on an inexpensive 600 dpi desktop scanner with a
slide back is also a waste of time: even if you get them in focus,
you'll only get a fraction of the density range and very low
resolution.
In other words, if you're ready to invest the hundreds of hours of
work needed to do the job, do it properly.
My suggestion is not to use a scanner at all. Instead, use a
digital camera. I assume you have a dSLR since you post a lot in
the Nikon forums. So, use that. There are a number of ways in which
you can go about it.
(1) Get a dedicated slide copier. I've used one from Soligor that
works rather nicely on a DX sized camera (although it gets pretty
soft in the corners on full-frame). Use either a flash or some
other white, controlled light source for lighting. Then all you
need to do is set up the camera on a tripod, take some test shots
to get the exposure and WB right, and blast away. It's much faster
than using a scanner, you'll be able to digitize more of the
density range, and resolution will only be somewhat lower (and much
higher than with the method you're currently using).
(2) Use a macro lens, copy stand (or tripod in a pinch), lightbox,
and some black cardstock. A dedicated macro lens is of
significantly better quality than, say, the Soligor I mention
above. However, you'll need to be a bit creative about solving the
focusing, positioning, and stability issues. For example, set up
the slides on a lightbox, set up a tripod on top of that, point the
camera down at it, make a funnel out of black cardstock to stop
stray light from polluting the image, and shoot. You'll need to use
much longer exposures than with a slide copier which will slow
things down a bit, but other than that it's just about as fast once
you get going, and the quality will be better.
Petteri
--
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