Request for advice on slide scanner

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

I have a couple thousand slides I want to scan.
Once I am done, I will not need to ever scan slides again.

Once I start looking at these slides, I expect I'll decide many of them are
not worth scanning.

What I plan to do is, buy a slide scanner on E-Bay (possibly a Minolta
Dimage), scan my slides, and them sell the scanner on E-Bay.
Hopefully with this plan, I can uses a pretty good scanner at minimal costs.

The computer I'm connecting this to is a new laptop.
I've noticed that many of the used slide scanners use a scsi interface that
will be a hassle to deal with on the laptop.

I'd prefer a USB 2 connection, but if one had a firewire (1394) I supposed I
could pick up a PCMCIA firewire card pretty easily.
(I've actually got an old Adaptec PCMCIA scsi card, but I don't want to deal
with drivers for that ancient card)

I'm looking for suggestions on specific models and what they should cost on
E-Bay.
I'd prefer to spend between $100-250 for the scanner.

Any advice would be appreciated.
regards
ned
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

There is a learning curve to using film scanners.
The low end Minolta and Canon scanners are very good. The HP photosmart is
very good with color negatives but not with slides.
Machines in this price range are slow and top out at 2400 dpi. However these
scanners are capable of excellent results.
You will want scans at least this large so the images will be flexible
enough to do what you want with them later. These scans will be 21-24mbs in
size.
SCSI to USB converters convert to USB1 and will be agonizingly slow. There
are PCMIA SCSI adapters and these should be faster for using SCSI scanners
with a laptop.
For best image quality you have to review and possibly tweak a prescan
image, a slow and time consuming process.
Batch scanning is somewhat faster but may not yield best image quality until
you understand the process.
You will need a CD or DVD burner to off-load the scanned images
If you have a lot of Kodachromes you may not be able to scan dense slides
with these machines.
Spending more will get you a scanner with dust and scratch removal, a major
time saver.
Finally a laptop will be slower than a desktop (the actual computer
processing is done by the computer, not the scanner) and the LCD panel of
any laptop cannot be used reliably to judge tone, contrast or color even if
calibrated with a colorimeter.
My bottom line: get the scanner and connect it to a desktop computer with a
CRT monitor.
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

I know I said the following in one of your cross posts, HOWEVER, IMHO bmoag
certainly painted a HOPLESS picture. As to a laptop being slower than a
desktop, maybe if all things are equal. In my case my laptop is much faster
than my desktop, so much so I am using Premeire Pro 1.5 on the laptop.
I would go with my flat bed attachment below, other than that a PHOTO CD
from a service brueau is much better and if you can afford it go with the
PRO version and BE RUTHLESS in editing the slides. Most pros shoot a 10 to
one ratio anyway and do a ruthless edit. For me the hastle of buying a
scanner, learning to use it only to then just get rid of it seems...well
fruitless.
I know that this is NOT usually recomend, but.....
http://www.tom-elliott-photography.com/hp-scanner.html
is where I adapted my flatbed for transparency scaning from 35mm to 4x5 the
conversion was around $25USD here in Miami.
Have fun.

"nedley" <mporth@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:G45ld.24464$V41.24335@attbi_s52...
> I have a couple thousand slides I want to scan.
> Once I am done, I will not need to ever scan slides again.
>
> Once I start looking at these slides, I expect I'll decide many of them
are
> not worth scanning.
>
> What I plan to do is, buy a slide scanner on E-Bay (possibly a Minolta
> Dimage), scan my slides, and them sell the scanner on E-Bay.
> Hopefully with this plan, I can uses a pretty good scanner at minimal
costs.
>
> The computer I'm connecting this to is a new laptop.
> I've noticed that many of the used slide scanners use a scsi interface
that
> will be a hassle to deal with on the laptop.
>
> I'd prefer a USB 2 connection, but if one had a firewire (1394) I supposed
I
> could pick up a PCMCIA firewire card pretty easily.
> (I've actually got an old Adaptec PCMCIA scsi card, but I don't want to
deal
> with drivers for that ancient card)
>
> I'm looking for suggestions on specific models and what they should cost
on
> E-Bay.
> I'd prefer to spend between $100-250 for the scanner.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated.
> regards
> ned
>
>
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

thanks for your input. I agree, you can't make a blanket statement that
laptops are slow.
The person who said laptops screens can't be trusted with color was right,
but there is no reason why you can't scan with a laptop. (use tube when you
get to the point of adjusting the pics w/ photoshop).

I like your low cost approach, but I think by buying a transparency scanner,
and then selling it when I'm done, I can have the best of both worlds. I
tried using an epson flatbed that was supposed to handle transparencies
pretty good last year and it was way too painful.

thanks
ned

"Tom Ellliott" <1stroke@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:B1uld.11871$IQ.5467@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
>I know I said the following in one of your cross posts, HOWEVER, IMHO bmoag
> certainly painted a HOPLESS picture. As to a laptop being slower than a
> desktop, maybe if all things are equal. In my case my laptop is much
> faster
> than my desktop, so much so I am using Premeire Pro 1.5 on the laptop.
> I would go with my flat bed attachment below, other than that a PHOTO CD
> from a service brueau is much better and if you can afford it go with the
> PRO version and BE RUTHLESS in editing the slides. Most pros shoot a 10 to
> one ratio anyway and do a ruthless edit. For me the hastle of buying a
> scanner, learning to use it only to then just get rid of it seems...well
> fruitless.
> I know that this is NOT usually recomend, but.....
> http://www.tom-elliott-photography.com/hp-scanner.html
> is where I adapted my flatbed for transparency scaning from 35mm to 4x5
> the
> conversion was around $25USD here in Miami.
> Have fun.
>
> "nedley" <mporth@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:G45ld.24464$V41.24335@attbi_s52...
>> I have a couple thousand slides I want to scan.
>> Once I am done, I will not need to ever scan slides again.
>>
>> Once I start looking at these slides, I expect I'll decide many of them
> are
>> not worth scanning.
>>
>> What I plan to do is, buy a slide scanner on E-Bay (possibly a Minolta
>> Dimage), scan my slides, and them sell the scanner on E-Bay.
>> Hopefully with this plan, I can uses a pretty good scanner at minimal
> costs.
>>
>> The computer I'm connecting this to is a new laptop.
>> I've noticed that many of the used slide scanners use a scsi interface
> that
>> will be a hassle to deal with on the laptop.
>>
>> I'd prefer a USB 2 connection, but if one had a firewire (1394) I
>> supposed
> I
>> could pick up a PCMCIA firewire card pretty easily.
>> (I've actually got an old Adaptec PCMCIA scsi card, but I don't want to
> deal
>> with drivers for that ancient card)
>>
>> I'm looking for suggestions on specific models and what they should cost
> on
>> E-Bay.
>> I'd prefer to spend between $100-250 for the scanner.
>>
>> Any advice would be appreciated.
>> regards
>> ned
>>
>>
>
>
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.scanner (More info?)

All the best. A tool is a tool.
"nedley" <mporth@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:7Ywld.29124$V41.7768@attbi_s52...
> thanks for your input. I agree, you can't make a blanket statement that
> laptops are slow.
> The person who said laptops screens can't be trusted with color was right,
> but there is no reason why you can't scan with a laptop. (use tube when
you
> get to the point of adjusting the pics w/ photoshop).
>
> I like your low cost approach, but I think by buying a transparency
scanner,
> and then selling it when I'm done, I can have the best of both worlds. I
> tried using an epson flatbed that was supposed to handle transparencies
> pretty good last year and it was way too painful.
>
> thanks
> ned
>
> "Tom Ellliott" <1stroke@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
> news:B1uld.11871$IQ.5467@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
> >I know I said the following in one of your cross posts, HOWEVER, IMHO
bmoag
> > certainly painted a HOPLESS picture. As to a laptop being slower than a
> > desktop, maybe if all things are equal. In my case my laptop is much
> > faster
> > than my desktop, so much so I am using Premeire Pro 1.5 on the laptop.
> > I would go with my flat bed attachment below, other than that a PHOTO CD
> > from a service brueau is much better and if you can afford it go with
the
> > PRO version and BE RUTHLESS in editing the slides. Most pros shoot a 10
to
> > one ratio anyway and do a ruthless edit. For me the hastle of buying a
> > scanner, learning to use it only to then just get rid of it seems...well
> > fruitless.
> > I know that this is NOT usually recomend, but.....
> > http://www.tom-elliott-photography.com/hp-scanner.html
> > is where I adapted my flatbed for transparency scaning from 35mm to 4x5
> > the
> > conversion was around $25USD here in Miami.
> > Have fun.
> >
> > "nedley" <mporth@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:G45ld.24464$V41.24335@attbi_s52...
> >> I have a couple thousand slides I want to scan.
> >> Once I am done, I will not need to ever scan slides again.
> >>
> >> Once I start looking at these slides, I expect I'll decide many of them
> > are
> >> not worth scanning.
> >>
> >> What I plan to do is, buy a slide scanner on E-Bay (possibly a Minolta
> >> Dimage), scan my slides, and them sell the scanner on E-Bay.
> >> Hopefully with this plan, I can uses a pretty good scanner at minimal
> > costs.
> >>
> >> The computer I'm connecting this to is a new laptop.
> >> I've noticed that many of the used slide scanners use a scsi interface
> > that
> >> will be a hassle to deal with on the laptop.
> >>
> >> I'd prefer a USB 2 connection, but if one had a firewire (1394) I
> >> supposed
> > I
> >> could pick up a PCMCIA firewire card pretty easily.
> >> (I've actually got an old Adaptec PCMCIA scsi card, but I don't want to
> > deal
> >> with drivers for that ancient card)
> >>
> >> I'm looking for suggestions on specific models and what they should
cost
> > on
> >> E-Bay.
> >> I'd prefer to spend between $100-250 for the scanner.
> >>
> >> Any advice would be appreciated.
> >> regards
> >> ned
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
 
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