Scanning Slides

[skankmaster]

Sometime after christmas, I intend to archive a batch of slides- about 600 or so.
The two kinds of devices ive come across are flatbed scanners with adapters for slides and negatives and dedicated film scanners.

Two models im considering are the Nikon Coolscan V (LS50) film scanner
and a Epson 4990 flatbed. The Epson has firewire and can scan 8 slides at a time. Qualitywise, is the Nikon better than the Epson, or are flatbeds as good as a dedicated film scanner these days? For me, Speed isn't as important as the quality, as I intend to do this over a number of months.

I like the look of the Nikon, as it would occupy a smaller footprint, plus i have an old temperamental flatbed already taking up space, but would consider a flatbed, if its quality is the equal to the Nikon.

Does anyone have experience of using either types for slide archiving?

Thanks.

 

[Raymond Lin]

never tried a flatbed but i used to use the university's Nikon scanner, it was fine but scanning lots and lots of slides takes its time.

 

[MacX]

The ONLY Flatbed I would consider for scanning 35mm is this Epson here.

http://www.epson.co.uk/products/scanners/Perfectionv700Photo.htm

It's newish and is about the best flatbed on the market for scanning 35mm.

Most others are very ropey and provide muddy, low contrast and low detail scans of slides and negatives.

Otherwise, it's the Nikon Coolscan V which I use for scanning 35mm negatives. You'll see the quality in my Kenya thread which will be getting some more images posted soon.

 

[skankmaster]

wow - the v700 seems to get fine reviews. Thanks for the info.