Film scanners are far superior to flatbed scanners for the obvious reason that they are designed to do the job. "How good is the quality?" well come on, how do I answer that? It's excellent compared to any other domestic method of digitising a negative/slide. There are some drawbacks to film scanners and you have to be very careful with dust. There are some available very cheaply now. Rob
What about flatbed scanners that have a negative scanning option. eg: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF25a/5043-5683-5687-5687-5719-12158582.html
I've never really been impressed with them. I have a Nikon CoolScan IV and it's terrible, bug prone and slow, but when it is actually working it produces the best quality results I've seen (much better than normal CD with dev from lab). http://www.flatbed-scanner-review.org/35mm_slide_film_scanners/35mm_film_slide_scanners.html At least with a flatbed scanner you can usually do several at once. Rob
I've just recently bought a Tevion scanner from Aldi (if you're in the UK) for £50 and I'm very impressed with it! It comes with a Transparency adapter and after waiting just over a week for a software update it works perfectly!:thumbup: Dust is a constant battle but then again it's the same as my Paterson enlarger with it glass negative holder!:er:
For dust and scratches, get a scanner that has Digital ICE. You'll generally have to use the healing brush to some degree though. Some scanners can auto-load a roll of film so you can just feed the end in and let it batch scan the lot while you get on with something else.
Like all things you get what you pay for. I have a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED and it gives excellent results. As was pointed out you have to make sure your negatives or slides are free from dust to get good results. I've heard good things about the Minolta film scanner but have never see or tried one so I can't really judge.
