Scanner Suggestions

[motherduce]

I am looking for a good scanner for $100-$150 that will scan negatives and old photos and work with my iMac G5.

I've searched around and read a few threads, but wanted to get some more feedback from you guys. What have you used, what do you suggest, and what should I be sure to stay away from?

Cheers,
MD

 

[motherduce]

Here are two that I'm looking at. I don't need super high resolution as this is mainly to archive old photos.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_4/102-2614549-4887333?_encoding=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_3/102-2614549-4887333?_encoding=UTF8

 

[ChrisA]

I am looking for a good scanner for $100-$150 that will scan negatives and old photos and work with my iMac G5.

I've searched around and read a few threads, but wanted to get some more feedback from you guys. What have you used, what do you suggest, and what should I be sure to stay away from?

Cheers,
MD

I understand that you have a budget but really you should set technical requireents like "I need a scanner that can do XXXX" and then see where the price falls. Price first is backwards. I mean so you buy a $150 scanner and it can't do XXXX. You've then just lost $150. That's not to say the you need to spend more it's just that none of us know what your needs are. You need to say what you are going to do with the scans. How will they be viewed?

Also concider your time. If youhave a large collection of negatives youare talking about 500 or more hours of work to scan, edit and catalog. You only want to dothisjob once so you may as well get the best possable scanner .

That said Epson makes some good scanners that come with 35mm film holders that work at 4800 DPI. native resolution. This will give you about 24 megapixel image files which is about right if the negs were shot with a quality 35mm SLR. 2400DPI (which means 6MP files) is ok if the negs were shot with a small point and shoot camera

 

[Abstract]

In the Canon scanner, is the light coming from the top (ie: the lid) while the "scanner is below", or is the light and scanner both in the bottom section? It makes a huge difference. I just started scanning film (not photography film......stuff for x-rays, e- beams, etc), and I've learned that you'll end up with noisy images if the light is coming from the bottom rather than from the lid when scanning transparent films.

 

[motherduce]

I don't know about the Canon. I ordered the Epson. It was $95 on Amazon, and all my photos and negatives are from a crappy point and shoot, so I'm not worried about getting them in at some real high DPI. The Epson seems to be a nice middle of the road for people like me who want to archive and develop old negatives in spare time.

Thanks for the info - I hope it works out - I will post my results once I start scanning. If anyone else has any input, please do provide it!

 

[CoMpX]

I am also inthe market for a good scanner to scan photographs with so I can store them on my hard disk. Price is not really an issue, but I would like something a bit on the smaller sleeker side, I don't want some huge powerful thing.

 

[andiwm2003]

i just bought a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED for $1000. The image quality is outstanding. The Nikon Coolscan V ED is almost as good and costs about $550.
The quality of the scans is great, you get roughly up to 5500x3500 pixel per image. Everything is great, so i will talk more about the disadvantages.


The drawbacks are:
These scanners only scan 35mm negatives or positives.
Scanning per Image takes 1 min, but setting, adjusting takes another minute at best.
The software sometimes quits without warning.
If you really want outstanding scans, Coolscan is the way to go. But if you have thousands of pictures, prepare for long scanning nights.

You have to decide if you need this quality and if you want to invest 550 bucks and lots of time.

The scanners have a small footprint (less than twice the mac mini). They are easy to use. I don't know if they fit your criteria of small. i also don't know if your "price is not the issue" goes up to 550 bucks but i thought i throw it out anyway.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Here are two that I'm looking at. I don't need super high resolution as this is mainly to archive old photos.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_4/102-2614549-4887333?_encoding=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_3/102-2614549-4887333?_encoding=UTF8

I bought the Canon 8400F and it's been great. I got it back in October to use with my iMac G5 and I wish I would of bought it sooner. As of now I mostly scan in inked cartoons, drawings and old photos from the family.
Very easy to setup and as of now works on my new Intel iMac. I'm not sure about all the software that comes with it since I bring most scans to the desktop or Flash 8 and go about my day.
Good luck with your choice

 

[ChrisA]

I am also inthe market for a good scanner to scan photographs with so I can store them on my hard disk. Price is not really an issue, but I would like something a bit on the smaller sleeker side, I don't want some huge powerful thing.

You don't say if you want the scan negatives or prints. If you only want the scan prints you can save a pile of money. "Anything" will work for that 600 DPI is overkill for a print and prints don't have a lot of dynamic range.

You will get much better result scanning negatives. If yu do it right you will be able to make better quality prints from your scans then those drug store machines made

Take a look at the "Epson 4990" if you can afford the price it's the last scanner you'd need to buy. Dmax is 4.0, native res is 4800 dpi and it can scan up to 8x10 sheet film Cost abut $400 at amazon. I've benn looking at this for a while. Price has come down from about $500

 

[McScooby]

Epson 3490

Stay away from the aforementioned if you're looking to scan negatives.

I got it a couple of wks ago as I desperately needed to scan something and as a bonus I have shed loads of negatives to archive - only problem is the 3490 only scans positive film, aside from that quality and price point's ok, most included software aside from saying it works with OSX runs in classic mode, so I'll probably end selling this and upgrading to the 3590.

 

[bousozoku]

This Epson model might work for you and at a refurb price, it's not bad.

 

[PrOeliuM]

Stay away from the aforementioned if you're looking to scan negatives.

I got it a couple of wks ago as I desperately needed to scan something and as a bonus I have shed loads of negatives to archive - only problem is the 3490 only scans positive film, aside from that quality and price point's ok, most included software aside from saying it works with OSX runs in classic mode, so I'll probably end selling this and upgrading to the 3590.

Do you mean this one? Because if so then I disagree with every point you make. I ordered the Epson 3490 for around $100 and it scans negatives, positives, and slides with the Epson Scan software (version 2.7.3). The software also works just fine in regular (i.e. non-classic) mode so maybe you just have an old version.

Negative scanning with the 3490 is tedious (a 2400 dpi scan of a 4-negative strip takes about 14 minutes) but useable.

 

[McScooby]

Do you mean this one? Because if so then I disagree with every point you make. I ordered the Epson 3490 for around $100 and it scans negatives, positives, and slides with the Epson Scan software (version 2.7.3). The software also works just fine in regular (i.e. non-classic) mode so maybe you just have an old version.

Negative scanning with the 3490 is tedious (a 2400 dpi scan of a 4-negative strip takes about 14 minutes) but useable.

I do apologise profusely PrOelium.

In my haste of setting up the scanner, I have read the instructions incorrectly. Although it mentions not being able to scan negatives, this is actually referring to negative slides.

I must thank you also, as I now can use it to full effect and saves me the hassle of selling, looks like I have a busy few weeks!

 

[ScubaDuc]

I am also inthe market for a good scanner to scan photographs with so I can store them on my hard disk. Price is not really an issue, but I would like something a bit on the smaller sleeker side, I don't want some huge powerful thing.

As has been said by others on this thread, I recommend the Nikon Coolscan. We have used it to scan over 10,000 negatives and the software correction saves a lot of time. The lights are LED so the frequency doesn't shift with age. I highly recommend it based on about 2 years of experience.

The APS adaptor gets stucks if the rolls are not perfect