[filmscanners] large scanning project

["ppatton@bgnet.bgsu.edu" <ppatton@bgnet.bgsu.edu>]

I recently decided to try submitting some of my photography to
a stock photography company.  They asked me for an initial
submission of 100 or more of my best slides as digital scans.
This is a much larger number of scans than I have attempted for
any previous project.  If I succeed in selling these images to
them, I have many more that might be suitable that I will need to
scan.

 I have a Polaroid SprintScan 4000 scanner which scans at 4000
dpi and 12 bit color depth.  Unfortunately, it has no infrared
channel based system for removing dust specks from the images.
 I am spending way too much time with the healing brush
deleting dust specks from each image to get 100 scans done in
a reasonable amount of time.  I'm considering several
approaches to solving this problem, and I would like advice
from others about what to do.  The first solution I've
considered is finding a reasonably fast and effective way of
physically cleaning the dust off the slides.  I tried Rexton
Anti-static film cleaner applied to the slide with a q-tip
cotton swab.  This didn't seem to work too well, and it tended
to leave cotton fibers on the slide.  there seems to be a fair
number of small spots or specks, possibly something other than
dust specks that are still adhere to the slide after cleaning
with the Rexton cleaner.  Are there other approaches to cleaning
the slides that I should try that might be reasonably quick and
effective?

A second solution I'm considering if buying a new scanner with
an IR channel, such as Nikon's Coolscan V ED with digital ICE.
At the time I bought my SprintScan, scanners that both scanned at
4000 dpi and had an IR channel were beyond my price range.  The
Coolscan V now sells for the fairly reasonable price of about
$600.00.  Can anybody comment on the quality of Digital ICE
vs. trying to clean the slides physically?  Can anybody
comment otherwise on the relative quality of the Coolscan V
vs. my SprintScan 4000?  Nikon's software for removing the
effects of film grain, for example, sounds quite impressive.
One possible disadvantage of the Coolscan V ED is that its
slide feeder apparently only holds one slide at a time,
whereas the SprintScan's feeder holds up to 4 slides at a
time.  This is a significant concern, since my main reason for
considering a new scanner is to save time on large batches of
scans.  The Super Coolscan 5000 ED has a 50 slide feeder
available as an accessory (but unfortunately, the Super
Coolscan costs $1100, and the SF-210 50 slide feeder costs
about $400 extra).  The standard MA-21 single slide feeder for
Super Coolscan 5000 ED is identical to that used on the
Coolscan V ED, yet Nikon's website doesn't list the SF-210 50
slide feeder as compatible with the Coolscan V. Can the SF-210
slide feeder be made to work with the Coolscan V ED?  Is there
a third party multi-slide feeder that works with the Coolscan
V ED?  Thanks for any advice that you might be able to provide.

___________________________________________________
Dr. Paul Patton
Life Sciences Building Rm 538A
work: (419)-372-3858
home: (419)-352-5523
Biology Department
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is
the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art
and science."
-Albert Einstein
___________________________________________________


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