Scanning 35mm slides and negatives

[Rick]

My small collection of astro-photos (and a much larger collection of willdlife and holiday photos) is mostly in the form of 35mm slides. In this digital age there must be bits of kit out there which don't cost a fortune but which can do a reasonable job of scanning 35mm negatives and slides. Any recommendations?

[Ian]

I'd recommend talking to Mike 

[Rocket Pooch]

Rick,

I have a LC30 Nikon scanner specifically designed for scanning slides etc, its old, but you are more than welcom to borrow it if you like.

Chris

[Rick]

Thanks Chris. What sort of interface does it have?

Edit: Spotted it in the SANE supported devices list. It's SCSI, supposedly fully supported on Linux, and about the same age as my HP flatbed, which is also SCSI. Looks promising...

[Mike]

If that doesn't work I have an Pro Epson Scanner with a 35mm slide attachment.

[Rick]

What sorts of scanning resolutions do these scanners manage?

[Mike]

Mine is 4800 x 9600 optical.

[Rick]

The current crop of specialised film scanners (super-expensive Nikon models excepted) seem to go for 7200dpi hardware, which would presumably produce a 35mm scan something close (guestimating involved) to 10000x6800. Even at 4800dpi the frames work out at about 6800x4500. A flatbed with film scanning capabilities would probably be more useful than a specialised film scanner.

Mike, do you use your Epson with software for Mac OSX (and if so, what's it like?), or with software for Windows?

[Mike]

I use it on my Windows PC. Never tried it on the Mac to be honest (as that is plugged into a multifunction printer/scanner/copier), but I know it does work under OSX 10.5. Not sure what flavour of Linux you use but it will work under Xsane. Your welcome to borrow it if you want as I rarely use it nowadays. It has both USB 2.0 and Firewire ports.

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi Rick,

Its SCSI, I have no idea about Linux support or the resolution because I never did read the manual, but it worked, I'll try to get it down for Thursday, if not I'll get it to your home as soon as I can.  No rush on the return because I have not used it for two years.

Chris

[Rick]

Thanks, Chris. No tearing hurry here either.

[The Thing]

Hi Rick,

I have been scanning slides for years (I have about 8000) using a Nikon 4000dpi film scanner. Anything over 4000dpi is almost a waste as you are starting to resolve the grain of even the best emulsions. You can use fancy grain reduction settings but that really is just a smart blur function. The most important thing is to calibrate the scanner using an IT8 target slide using Profile Prism or similar so that the entire dynamic range is used to best effect as well as accurate colour reproduction. My scanner yeilds 5225x3430 at 4000dpi.