slide scanners

skatephoto · Feb 16, 2004

Can anyone give me some advice on slide scanners. Just basically anything you can help me with. Will it save me money using that instead of having prints made at a lab.thanx

marksw · Feb 17, 2004

However, it takes a long time to scan slides - even on a super fast machine!

I got a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III which is OK (picks out the grain on my slides), but the process of scanning is tedious.

You have to try and weigh it up:

Pros for getting a scanner
- full control over scans
- scan when you want
- can print as many as you want
- control over cropping/composition

Cons for getting a scanner
- could be an expensive initial expense
- takes lots of time to make scans
- Cost of printing yourself (even if it is not a lot)

Pros for getting prints made from slides
- best quality
- cheaper cost over a short time

Cons for getting prints made from a slide
- expensive over time
- you have to wait for the print (but this makes it exciting doesn't it?)
- no control over cropping and colour adjustment

I'm sure there are more.

The long and the shot of it is that it depends on the number of prints you want making, and the expected lifespan/usefulness of the scanner/printer.

Only you can answer that question!

I got a scanner so I could scan my old slides in as I plan to go fully digital one day. If I ever took a picture that I thought was great and wanted a print of, I'd still take it to the lab to get the best print possible!

Hope this helps,

Mark

voodoocat · Feb 17, 2004

picks out the grain on my slides

That's cause there is grain on the slide or negative. Full 2880 dpi scans of a ISO100 slide film shows almost no grain. 2880 dpi scans of ISO200 and up shows grain because you're enlarging the negative to over the size of an 8x12.

Minolta is coming out with the Scan Dual IV for the same price as the III so look out for that. No other slide/negative scanner can touch it for the price. Even 11x14 prints look beautiful.

voodoocat · Feb 17, 2004

Oh and it's not really that time consuming to get good scans once you have had a bit of practice. And really if you expose your slides and negatives right the less work you have to do when scanning. I recommend using Vuescan instead of the standard software. Every negative has it's own shade of amber which will in turn create a green-blue color cast. Good scanning software helps with that considerably.