Scanning slides

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chrisssssss.........
  • Start date Start date
C

Chrisssssss.........

I have a Umax Astra 3450 which has the ability to scan slides. However, the
results when scanning slides are poor. I've been told that my scanner is not
up to the job.
Can anyone recommend a cheap replacement under £100?
A dedicated scanner might be the only answer, but I've heard that some of
the newer flatbeds now provide high quality results on slides.
I have XP and need to scan a few hundred slides.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Chrissssss..........
 
I have a Umax Astra 3450 which has the ability to scan slides. However, the
results when scanning slides are poor. I've been told that my scanner is not
up to the job.
Can anyone recommend a cheap replacement under £100?
A dedicated scanner might be the only answer, but I've heard that some of
the newer flatbeds now provide high quality results on slides.
I have XP and need to scan a few hundred slides.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Chrissssss..........
Click to expand...
Chris,

Whether a flatbed will do the job depends entirely on the job you want
to do. I have a Nikon LS-40 film scanner and an Epson 3170 Photo flat
bed. For scans for on-screen viewing or small prints, the 3170 does an
adequate job. for 8 x 10 prints, the film scanner looks a LOT better.

I use the Epson for making "contact sheets", small scans that I use to
catalog my slides and negatives. But for real scans, I use the Nikon.
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/
 
What size slides? if only 135 then flatbed and dedicated possibilities
are legion.
All mounted in pasteboard frames? Possibilities again legion.
What end use for the digital images? If resolution and color only for
slideshow playback on TV/DVD then possibilities are still legion.
Share with us your constraints besides price, because new under £100? Ah,
that's a price-break-point. Auction? Closeouts? eBay is not the only bear
in these woods.
Start as the "value" threshold for dedicated film scanners one of the
equivalent of the PrimeFilm / Pacific Image machines. Compact, compatible
to XP.
If space not a problem, back to legion of flatbed possibilities.
Regards,
 
Looks like you need more info from me:
My slides are 135's. Half are in Kodaks card mounts, the others are in thin
glass mounts.
I want to scan them all so the scanned image is capable of being printed at
5" x 7".
Does that narrow the choices significantly?
Again, many thanks, Chrissssss.........
 
If you're scanning for posterity (documenting family history for
children), you want lots of resolution and quality and you need a high
(expensive) end film scanner.

I have a low end film scanner and compared it's output to a flatbed
scanner recommend for slides, and flatbed doesn't measure up to that
low standard.

I'm waiting till I can afford something better. If all you want is a
few 5x7's, the HP PhotoSmart PhotScanner will probably do you (If they
still make it).

Mike
 
Significantly narrowed almost to the level of singularity, unless you look
to the liquidation/used lists, given your price parameter of <£100.
Most consumer grade scanners and the multi-function
scanner/photocopier/photoprinter units have presets for 135 film ==>> 4"x
6" print for no cropping, x16 enlargement, so a 1200dpi optical scanner
was minimally comparable to the SnappySnaps result. Your desire for a
x23+ enlargement [actually more to allow for cropping the native .67
aspect to your print's .72 ratio] significantly boosts your base optical
resolution: 1800? 2000? 2400? Many veteran posters to this group may
suggest their base resolution, with much evidence to support their own
preference, but the bigger is generally the better and consequently the
dearer.
Many legacy and "value" units limit the color depth to 8 bits per RGB
channel; again, adequate for wallet photos. To preclude posterization in
your proposed enlargements, look for a 12 or 14 or 16 bit depth per
channel for finer shades of hues. As with the optical resolution numbers,
the bigger is generally the better and consequently the dearer.
By my own tales of woe, avoid the flatbeds with transparency adapters
consisting of a prism and/or mirror contraption atop
a frame around the film atop the glass. Instead, if you still desire a
flatbed for mounted 135 slides, seek one with a separate light built into
the lid, such as with the Epson 2480. The light lid may illuminate only
one mounted frame for each scan, or the adapter frame may allow for batch
scan of eight slides. As above, the more the dearer.
If your choice of scanner does not mention a bundled software package,
before you lay your money down: check the mnfr. site for support boards
and for downloads for native driver; and check <hamrick.com> for 3rd party
support in VueScan library.
Regards,
 
Many thanks but after your kind but detailed reply I'm even more confused.
I'm afraid that I'm not too conversant with all the in's and out's so need
to be treated rather gently!
Would you therefore be able to suggest any scanner that might do the job of
scanning so that I could print out 5" x 7" prints without costing more than
£100. I've searched on Google but the only one I can find is the one that
Jessops sell for £99 which is the PRIMEFILM FILM SCANNER 3600U, but after
all I've read I'm not sure it'll do the job or not.

Cheers, Chrissss........
 
Sometime on Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:10:18 +0000, Chrisssssss.........
scribbled:
Would you therefore be able to suggest any scanner that might do the job of
scanning so that I could print out 5" x 7" prints without costing more than
£100. I've searched on Google but the only one I can find is the one that
Jessops sell for £99 which is the PRIMEFILM FILM SCANNER 3600U, but after
all I've read I'm not sure it'll do the job or not.
Click to expand...

I bought the 1800 version of that a year or two back and it's "good
enough" for me. Price was a major constraint too :-(

The only downside (if it even is a down side for you) is that the
interface is proprietary so that all other scanning s/w has to go through
the supplied "package". eg Vuescan uses the Primefilm interface and SANE
(FreeBSD, Linux etc) simply doesn't support it) instead of natively
accessing the scanner firmware/hardware.
 
Get the PrimeFilm 3600U, then call the UK/EU distributor about pricing for
a replacement lamp, then scurry back to Jessops for the warranty should
the price break work their way, as I expect it will. The Jessops extended
warranty may be worth its premium. I had a mechanical clone (see
<scanace.com>) a couple of years back which burned out its very small
florescent tube. The OEM tube priced <24 CAND but the scanner's N.A.
distributor had it available only hard-wired into a VLSI block that priced
at >80 CAND, + s&h. So went back to eBay for a replacement scanner.
When asked the time of day, the verbose bore (sp. boor) replied with
instructions on building the watch. Conversely; give me a fish and I will
eat it today, show me a hook and line so I will not go hungry tomorrow.
Whichever is appropriate and both without intending offense. Come again,
look and lurk and contribute as often as you find benefit.
Regards,
Theo
 
I have a Umax Astra 3450 which has the ability to scan slides. However, the
results when scanning slides are poor. I've been told that my scanner is not
up to the job.
Click to expand...

Look at the area of the flat bed and then the area of the slide. When
you scan the slide you are only getting that fraction of the area
normally scanned. Hardware resolution is only 600 X 1200 dpi. That
means the scanner is just barely adequate to scan a 35mm slide and
display it on a monitor at 96 ppi. My monitor is 1280 X 1024 which
means it wouldn't even cover the full screen. However I've not been
impressed with what I've seen so far in flat beds used to scan a
slide. I have an HP5470 which is 2400 dpi. It does a very good job on
documents and photos at a much lower resolution and it is fast! It
does a reasonable job on negatives and film strips for screen display,
but the Nikon LS5000 ED is far superior for real work. It's also a
lot more money.
Can anyone recommend a cheap replacement under £100?
A dedicated scanner might be the only answer, but I've heard that some of
the newer flatbeds now provide high quality results on slides.
Click to expand...

Do a search on the digital reviews. Some of the newer scanners do
fairly well as long as you don't want to make any big enlargements..
At 2400 dpi from my 5470c I still wouldn't want to use the images from
slides for much more than screen display. A good, sharp scan at 2400
dpi is 2400 X 3600 and should make an 8 X 12 when printed at 300 dpi.
I've not seen any yet where I'd want to go that far, but there are a
number of the new ones I've not had a chance to get my hands on and
they may very well indeed make images even better than that. However
they are probably not cheap.
I have XP and need to scan a few hundred slides.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

At a few hundred slides it might be cheaper to have a local photo
store scan them for you. It all depends. It depends on what you want
to do with them. Display on the screen, make snap shot size prints, or
do you want to keep as much information as possible in the scan?

It *might* be cheaper and work better to purchase a used, dedicated
scanner off one of the auction sites, scan your photos, and then sell
the scanner.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
 
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