kbutton Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 I am in need of a scanner that handles slides and old negatives (not sure all are 35 mm). Does anyone have advice on what features to look for or what to avoid? We are looking to do a lot of processing--we have an entire trunk (and probably more) of slides to archive. Since it's getting harder to get negatives processed, we'd like to be able to scan those as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 I bought a slide scanner from Sharper Image several years ago, but my sister did the actual scanning of slides. I can't really comment on features. I didn't do my negatives. I threw them in the trash on the assumption that I have the photos of anything I care about and would scan that before I would try to have a negative processed. Do companies even process negatives anymore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 You're going to find it faster to send them away, frankly. And the cost will be pretty high for slides. My grandfather took tons of slides, and I think the family finally realized some things just had to be let go. Travel slides, etc., too much to transfer. It can be done, but it's a lot of work. I don't mind scanning regular photographs, and technically some regular bed scanners have a high enough DPI to do it. But hang it all my TIME is worth something. When I scan photographs I really, really care about, like the sum total of 40 of my father from birth to 40, I use a really high res. Super high res like that takes a long time. LIke I think I run them at like 1200 or 1600. Most commercial services are running 300 on pics. Faster, but I just really love the high res. I'm a junkie. Then, when I scan, I have to go back and crop, adjust, deal with dust, blah blah. Someone who does that a lot will be faster at it. So me, I would narrow it down to a small pile that you're willing to pay for and send them away. There are myriad services like that, if you just google. They get it done quickly and have a good rep. There was one I considered. Google negative scanning service. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 Sending them away is not likely to happen, but thanks. We have some pics from the 1800's that won't be going anywhere. Some things are in albums and can't come out--no one would be okay with sending those away. I want to do the project myself for numerous reasons unrelated to convenience. Scanning slides is a big deal because many of those photos are not printed. It seems silly to get a slide scanner without getting something that can scan negatives as well. You cannot easily find places to process negatives, which is why I want to be able to scan them. I don't plan to scan everything just because it's there--I want to be able to scan a negative on an as needed basis (I actually needed a print from a negative this week for something completely unrelated to my project, and it was a pain to not have it). Still looking for information about a scanner if anyone has information about features to look for or to avoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Amazon and B&H PhotoVideo. I would just go to the two, make a choice, and buy one. When I looked at them, excellent slide scanners were quite expensive. I don't think the tech has changed a lot in the last few years, so just pick one. The scanner we just (nikon, I forget) can do slides. it would take a while, but it can do them. I'll bet you can get into that for sub-$400, maybe sub-$200 now. It's an Epson scanner. It's a number of years old and was excellent at the time of purchase. I think it goes up to 1600 and maybe 2400 dpi. They have to go really high like that for slides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Epson Perfection V600 Color Photo, Image, Film, Negative & Document Scanner - Corded This isn't the exact model I have (ours is older), but it's a great price and will probably work. Check the dpi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 Epson Perfection V600 Color Photo, Image, Film, Negative & Document Scanner - Corded This isn't the exact model I have (ours is older), but it's a great price and will probably work. Check the dpi. I was looking at that one--glad to know it's a good choice. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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