UKC

Any recommendations would be gratefully accepted.

It would be a present for a friend who has a shed load of slides.

In reply to The Lemming:

Nikon Coolscan IV, or higher. If you can find one with a bulk slide adapter, even better (50 slides at a time).
Don't go for III as you will have connection issues. These are not cheap btw ...

In reply to The Lemming:

There are a number of options available depending on budget and the film format of the slides.

Epson Perfection V550 Photo Color Scanner - less than £200

Hasselblad Flextight X1 Scanner - extremely expensive.

I have both and have had 100's of images published from both scanners.

In reply to Tim Sparrow:


Have one + bulk adapter in the attic.... was working last time I used it circ. '04. Has been long discontinued.

In reply to Tim Sparrow:


Quite expensive that will only work with Windows 2000 operating system.

Ho well, it was a nice idea.

In reply to The Lemming:
Nikon coolscan software may run only on windows 2000, but most will run it with something like Vuescan, (cheap and very good) or something like Silverlight (very expensive and apparently not much better )
I use Vuescan and it runs on my very modern mac with no problems..

In reply to The Lemming:

The Nikon scanning software runs best on Windows XP, I had a IV and now an 8000ED.

With a simple modified driver they will run on Win 7 64 bit and newer, lots of advice on the net, e.g. http://blog.controlspace.org/2010/05/nikon-scan-on-windows-7-and-vista-64.h...

In reply to The Lemming:
My transition to digital began when I was still using film but scanning to computer using a Nikon Coolscan IV. It produced great results with slides - slow but worth the effort. I then produced prints at A4 that are brilliant still today. I never got good results from negatives using the Coolscan. For mono I found that a print scanned in a flatbed worked better. Even a 6x4 print could be scanned, manipulated then printed at A4 on good paper - Ilford Galerie Gloss was my choice for colour and Gold Fibre Silk for mono. I still have the scanner that runs with an old laptop on Vista just in case I want to try film again. The odd roll of Velvia in my F100 serves well to remind me what selectivity is about - it costs about 60p per shot!

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:


IIRC, 120 roll film Velvia costs about £1.20 per shot, inc. processing (I haven't shot any for a while). I'm surprised 35mm is as expensive as that.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Hi Gordon - I have just ordered a couple of rolls of 35mm at £10.50 each from 7dayshop. I looked up processing at Peak Imaging at about the same price so its about £21 for mounted 36 exposures. I used to get Velvia for £2.50 from Mathers Of Lancashire then processed for about £4 at the Fuji lab in Leamington. I managed a tour of the lab once - really interesting.

In reply to Tim Sparrow:

I have a Nikon Coolscan and also use Vuescan software to drive it, which I too find very easy and quick to use - much better than the original Nikon software IMO.

In reply to The Lemming:

I've used Plustek OpticFilm 7200i Ai Film Scanner (Cheaper than the Nikon ones. They cost around £250 new). It has dust/scratch removal software, multi-sampling etc. The 8200i is the newer version at £350.

Good quality scans of 35mm slides, but a bit slow.

https://www.parkcameras.com/p/9217260E/scanners/plustek/opticfilm-8200i-ai-...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Ah, the nineties. Due to the massive decline in sales film is much more expensive now - way above changes due to inflation - as is processing. Very few deals available either, I buy most of mine out-of-date from ebay.

4x5 colour is now £4-£5 a sheet (i.e. £90 box of 20), with processing about £3.50 per sheet. Even with expired ebay film it's always over £5 per shot.

On the other hand I picked up two drum scanners a few years back for £250 quid. List price $50,000 each!

In reply to Adam Long:




Yes, I'm out of touch with current prices. I think, too, when I was doing my books I bought so much film stock that I got quite a good discount. But it was still relatively quite expensive, so I was rather parsimonious about the amount I shot.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Did you have Quickload back then or was it all double dark slides?

In reply to Adam Long:

I started off with just several double dark slides, and then progressed to a Quickload back (for the 5 x 4). With the Hasselblad, I had two magazines - usually for different speeds of film stock. e.g Provia 100 and 400.

The Fuji 690 and 645 cameras were beautifully easy to load, a bit like giant Leicas.