[filmscanners] Re: 'Cheap' film scanner recommendations

["Arthur Entlich" <artistik@shaw.ca>]

I have to place some caveats into this discussion, Constantine.

1) The Nikon LS2000 tends to have some mechanical issues with it's
stage, which can lead to banding, so be careful with used models.  It is
VERY costly to repair.

2) This person mentioned he has a lot of Kodachrome slides.  The Nikon
has very collimated light source, meaning every piece of dirt, scratch
or dust will show up clearly in the image.  Since some Kodachrome dyes
tend to be somewhat IR opaque, digital ICE may not work well (it tends
to make the image look cloudy or out of focus) and in fact was not
recommended to be used on Kodachrome images.

3) Some people complained that Kodachrome images tended to not reproduce
color well, some conjectured that the LED color bandwidth was not wide
enough to color separate the dyes correctly.

4) Kodachrome mounted slides tend to have a fairly obvious peak in them.
  The LS2000 being a LED lighted unit, tends to have a large aperture
lens which gives it poor depth of focus.  As a result, the edge or
center tend to be out of focus on mounted Kodachromes.

I would actually suggest the Minolta Dual Scan IV for several reasons,
even if it does not have a auto slide attachment.

1) It uses USB 2.0 interface, so with a fast computer, downloads should
be relatively fast.

2) It uses a diffused clod cathode light source which both helps to
reduce scratches, dirt and dust from being picked up, and it is bright
enough to allow for better depth of focus.

3) Being new, if there is a problem with it, you can get it exchanged
under warranty.

Art

Kapetanakis, Constantine wrote:

> Go and buy a Nikon LS2000 and a slide feeder from ebay. You will find
> both for sale. You will end up paying something like $400 for both (
> maybe ?) Scan your slides and then sell the scanner and  slide feeder on
> ebay. You will get most of your money back, and have your slides
> digitized.
> I did that and did not loose a penny.
> Good luck
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk
> [mailto:filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk] On Behalf Of Simon Pearson
> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 8:07 AM
> To: Kapetanakis, Constantine
> Subject: [filmscanners] 'Cheap' film scanner recommendations
>
> I have been recommended this list after posting a question on the yahoo
> D70 mailing list, so hope you can help...
>
> I have a collection of around 2500 slides, mostly Kodachrome (and a
> handful of negative), that I would like to eventually get around to
> scanning so that I have a digital archive of them all, plus this will
> mean they actually get looked at a bit more often.....
>
> I do not need them to be scanned at any fantastic resolution since they
> will only be for web use and/or maybe small prints (under 7x5), since if
> I want a large print, I would just use the original slide.
>
> Also bearing in mind since turning digital I have not taken another film
> photo, so once the slides are scanned the scanner will effectively be
> defunct, so the less I can spend the better....  I had been thinking of
> getting a flat bed scanner since that at least wouldn't become defunct,
> but the quality isn't as good (for film) and I've never felt the need
> for a flatbed ever anyway, so it too would probably be defunct.....
>
> I have been thinking along the lines of the Minolta Scan Dual IV plus
> Vuescan software since it gives me a RAW file. The RAW file appeals
> since it is effectively the same as a 'normal' RAW file in the digital
> camera sense, the basic data is there and I can return to it at any time
> in the future to tweak and get the most out of it.
>
> Any advice greatly appreciated.....
>
> BTW I know that this will be a very onerous task taking me a few years
> to complete, but the good side is that the slides aren't getting any
> more numerous so an end is always in sight!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Simon
>>From sunny/wet Bolton.....
>
>
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