bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Mentioned in the topic are the Canon CanoScan 9000, Epson 550 and Epson 700. Those are no longer in production. Currently available are the Epson 600 and the faster, more expensive Epson 850.

donspears Loc: Joshua, TX

Canoscan 9000 MKII Canon equivalent to Epson V600.

Dessie Loc: Northern Ireland

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Really not much help to you but I still have an unused Minolta Dimage scan elite with Silverfast software still in box... No, I cannot sell but maybe you have given me inspiration to do something with it. Good luck...

TimmyKnowles Loc: Gallup, New Mexico

You might be disappointed with the quality of flatbed scans. I've done some on an Epson and they don't compare at all with what I've done on a Nikon 5000 or Minolta 5400. Those dedicated scanners are 10 years out of production, but are often seen on e-bay and a company or two will still service the Nikon, which can be used with a batch scanner. Companies like ScanCafe will scan each slide on a disc or hard drive to send them to you, but they're only 10mb, far less than you could do with a Nikon scanner. Ask yourself if you want to scan hundreds of image at maybe a low quality and if you print them, will you be happy? Get it right the first time so you don't have to re-scan. I scanned my parents' wedding slides from 1955 about 15 years ago. They were on Anscochrome and starting to turn magenta and now many are unrecognizable. Fortunately, I scanned them on a 5400 Minolta, corrected them and they are fine. BTW, I taught Photoshop and later Lightroom at the university level so I know a little bit about scanning.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

If you go the scanner route check out Vuescan, save as best scans as TIFFS so you can readjust in Photoshop or Lightroom best.
Some Hoggers have posted magnificent camera scans however.

TimmyKnowles Loc: Gallup, New Mexico

Vuescan is really the only way to go. I've used it on Nikon & Minolta scanners as well as Epson.

druid_city_dude Loc: Tuscaloosa, AL

Teach us how to do it correctly. I have an Epson V600 and a Nikon 5000ED and Vuescan.

jcboy3

Slides are very straightforward to digitize. And much faster than a scanner. There are a number of solutions with details on the web. Basically, you use a macro lens (around 60mm works best), a slide holder (Nikon is good), a good CRI light (speedlights are good, but a continuous light will allow focus), some extension tubes that go between the lens and slide holder. You also need a good blower and dust brush, and I recommend a digital LED light box for slide viewing. You can do thousands in a very short time. And then sell off the gear you bought and be done with it.

User ID

Yup. Thaz the ultimate. Perfect if you are converting "masterpieces" from chromes to digital. OTOH, those facing shoe boxes of ancient family vacation snaps all seem happy enuf with their Epson scanners.

If I had to do a digital "family slide show" I would still use a camera rather than a scanner. Not fussing over "masterpiece" quality, a camera is blazingly fast if you know how to use one. In the Pleistocene when I did film-to-film, a hurried job ran about 10 slides per minute. Today would go about 25% faster without the delays from constantly reloading film.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

In Pleistocene era doing film to film duplication with conventional film contrast build up was main problem
Never tried special slide duplicating film
Love Digital era !

User ID

Always used duping film. The right stuff.
Agreed about digital. Also the right stuff.

djamkaarat

I bought a Nikon Coolscan IV in 2000, and been using it ever since. It was a premium price at the time, but can be found for a fraction of the price today on eBay. Last year, I found a Pacific Image film/slide scanner locally for $20.00 and it worked just fine, hardly a difference between it and the Nikon. I have an Epson 750 that I use for 4x5 negs and transparencies, and a Nikon 8000 for medium format. I have compared the results from the Epson against the Nikon and at first glance, they seem comparable, but on closer scrutiny, there's no comparison. I guess what I'm saying is, if you just want a quick digitization of your slides, go with the Epson, It will batch a dozen at a time if memory serves. I also highly recommend Hamrick VueScan software, it's as good as, if not better than, SilverFast, way cheaper, and can be used for all your scanners, and shared with one other user, too.
Best of luck

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I agree and I would add that if you could afford it, the V850 would have a faster scan rate at the higher resolutions.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Kodak made two low contrast Ektachrome emulsions specifically for slide duplication. 5071 Ektachrome Duplicating Film was for tungsten-halogen light exposures of about one second. SO-366 (special order) was for electronic flash exposures of 1/300 and shorter. I used 5071 with an enlarger color head source, and SO-366 with a Bowens Illumitran IIIc.

Those were essentially the same film, with different reciprocity characteristics. They worked fine with Ektachrome originals, but weirdly with Kodachrome. You still got some contrast build-up, but nothing like using standard slide film for copies.

Many folks, including famous photographer, Pete Turner, (https://www.peteturner.com) used Kodachrome 25 as copy film in a Bowens Illumitran IIIc, in part because the IIIc had a "contrast reduction" system. It "flashed" the film with a second, very dim white light exposure at the same time as the main copy exposure. This lowered the dMax, and supposedly sensitized the film just enough to reveal more shadow detail. Whether it worked or not, I never could decide. I didn't use it very often. Frankly, looking at Pete's work, I don't think he did, either! Building contrast with the copy process was part of his technique.

For those who want to try "camera scanning" — copying slides and negatives with a digital camera and macro lens — I wrote this white paper:

Camera Scanning.pdf opens in your favorite PDF reader.
Attached file:
(Download)