filmscanners: Fast, decent, low res scans

[Phil <phil@nonstock.com>]

Hello,

My name is Philippe.  I am writing with what may be an unusual question, and
I am hoping you can help me out.


Say you have a portfolio of 35mm slides.  On short notice you are asked to
scan two hundred of them and burn them onto CD, low res.  What would be a
good scanner and workflow for creating the actual low res JPEGs?  What are
good ways to make FAST, DECENT, LOW RES SCANS of 35mm slides?



I've been to three stores and the salespeople I spoke with could only spit
back specifications written on the side of the box; most of the scan times
they gave me related to the time to create a high res scan using the
scanner's maximum optical resolution- but using maximum optical resolution
and then resampling down may not be the fastest way for me to achieve low
res scanning!  What I'm looking for now is feedback from people who really
use scanners.  What's the best way, in your opinion, to make lots of low res
scans quickly?


*** Does the scanner you recommend come bundled with software that would
allow me to crop and set Auto Levels without entering Photoshop?  The scan
doesn't have to look great, but it does need to be cropped and have some
kind of levels set automatically; an "auto levels" option would be great.
Maybe the scanner you have in mind doesn't come with a good software bundle,
but will work with Vuescan, for instance.


*** The cheaper, the better.  If it's in the area of $150, we may be able to
get 2 or 3 of them, so if one scanner is being used, a second will be
available.

Thank you very much for your any feedback and advice you can share.

Philippe
phil@nonstock.com
Nonstock Photography