lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

I agree it is expensive. I don't know whether mine are being processed in India or California. Your experience is not encouraging. I'll let you know how mine turn out.

hj Loc: Florida

I suspect they will be satisfactory but you really won't have anything to compare them to.... ones you might have done yourself for less money.

Dr J Loc: NE Florida

I tried the Wolverine Super for about $100 and returned it as I was disappointed with the quality - of both the scanner and the digital images - and returned it. If I can can afford it, I will use a professional service and be more selective in the slides I convert. I have 4000+ slides.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I brought mine to a local shop. I also used a slide scanning service - ScanCafe. You get the slides on a disc, and you can download them before the disc arrives.

http://www.scancafe.com/services/slide-scanning

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I got an Epson scanner but was dissatisfied with the results, partly because I had trouble keeping the glass clean and partly because of what I call "flare", very bright areas bleeding into adjacent very dark areas. I had much more success with a Plustek scanner, which is slower in the scanning partly because it scans each image twice and then provides an HDR-type correction, but required much less time in Photo Shop afterwards. My best scanner, which I have used to scan over 2500 slides over the years, is a Nikon LS-2000, which I bought refurbished on eBay, but Nikon no longer makes scanners, and this model requires that I keep a Win XQ computer going because of hardware and software compatibility issues.

Leitz Loc: Solms

I'm not sure, but perhaps this will support your LS-2000:

http://www.hamrick.com/

hj Loc: Florida

Interesting. On Amazon out of 700 user reviews it got an average of 4.1 out of 5 stars. Guess it's all about the quality needed by each user.

bw79st Loc: New York City

I recently finished rescanning my Vietnam slides as DNG files. I used a Canon FS4000 slide/film scanner and it is tedious work. Once the parameters are set you can scan a batch of four while you are doing something else. This is a time intensive job but my computer allows me enough memory to do other functions while the scan is happening. I also use Vuescan from Hamrick.

President Thieu arriving at Camp Le Van Duyet in Saigon just before Tet 1969

WillieAnn

I have not tried this, but ran across this a few days ago. At least it has "cheap" going for it. ;-)
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155081979870063&fref=nf

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Scanning services rarely care about your work the way you do. The two alternatives — using a film scanner or using a slide duplicator (digital camera with macrophotography lens, bellows, and full-spectrum light source) — can both work better.

They do take some time and initial investment.

A good slide duplicator setup will save considerable time, due to the short exposure compared with the long scan time needed for high resolution files. Maximum resolution depends on the camera. But a 16MP camera can make a great file that will print up to 12x18 at photographic lab standard quality. Even a 24x36 poster from that file will look good at a normal viewing distance of 43 inches (diagonal of the print)...

jefflantzimages Loc: Seattle

I also have the Epson 750 and have been very satisfied with the results. Practice with the procedures first. at the start i did not think my results in LR were as crisp and bright as the slides, but i contacted Epson whose representative was very patient and helpful. the errors were from me and not the equipment. i also encourage you to take the time and go through the slides and choose the best and the ones that bring back wonderful memories. I started with over 4500 and reduced them to about 450. the bigger issue is what to do with the carousels. good luck and have fun with the memories the review of the slides will provide.

WayneL Loc: Baltimore Md

I have an Epson V300 which is one of their cheaper models and I think it does a good job of scanning slides and negatives. I have it set up so that it gives me a 12mp file. For the price I paid I'm very pleased with it.

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axiesdad Loc: Monticello, Indiana

With the goal being preserving memories rather than making art, I was able to get results that were very acceptable to me by using my DSLR to photograph slides illuminated in a simple hand held slide viewer .

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

[quote=rehess]...My best scanner, which I have used to scan over 2500 slides over the years, is a Nikon LS-2000, which I bought refurbished on eBay... but Nikon no longer makes scanners, and [u]this model requires that I keep a Win XQ computer going because of hardware and software compatibility issues[/b][/quote]

To use your Nikon scanner with a more modern computer, you just need to update the software. A more recent version of Silverfast AI or get a copy of Vuescan. Silverfast can actually do a better job than the original software provided with the Nikon scanners. Vuescan is simpler and cheaper, but works pretty well, too.

http://www.silverfast.com/show/scanners-nikon/en.html

http://www.hamrick.com/

The only other thing you'll need is Firewire connectivity in the computer.

I have a Nikon Coolscan 4000 ED (LS4000) that I bought new around 1999 or 2000. It cost about over $2000 at that time, if I recall correctly. Most recently I used it with Vuescan (on a Windows 7, 64 bit computer).

A key reason I got the LS4000 was that it can optionally be fitted with an accessory slide feeder (SF-200, which was about $400 of my original cost). This feeder will hold up to 40 mounted slides and feed them automatically. Since highest resolution scans take quite a while (and end up as 130MB 16 bit TIFFs), this comes in very handy with any volume of slides to scan. I just set it up and let it run overnight. In the morning I have a folder full of scans.

The Nikon and some other dedicated film scanners can automatically handle a film strip automatically, too. In fact, if a roll of film is uncut, it can automatically process the entire roll, too (not that I have any uncut rolls... don't imagine many people do).

Flat bed scanners might work okay, but a dedicated film scanner can be faster and offers the highest quality. I'd look at a used Nikon, Minolta or new Plustek, Pacific Imaging film scanner, if you're concerned about high quality. I made prints up to 16x24" from 35mm slide scans made with the Nikon LS-4000 (4000 ppi).

Many of the "cheap" film scanners are just a waste of money... producing 5 to 15MB files that are only good for small prints (compared to as much as 130MB from a 4000 ppi Nikon scanner).

Silvermeteor Loc: South Carolina, USA

I always wondered why you couldn't use your monitor as a light source. You could use a graphics program to create a white rectangle and enlarge it to fill the screen. They you could adjust the fill color to suit your needs. Once set you could go back to it time and time again and the color should remain the same.

Another option would be to adjust the gamma on the screen to your liking to change the intensity of the white scree.

You could even make something to hold the slide in front of the screen. Mount your camera on a tripod, fine tune the focus, etc. and then replace a slide, activate the shutter with a remote, replace the slide, rinse & repeat. It seems like it would go fairly quickly that way.

What am I overlooking. lol