Film Scanners

[Jen Aderhold]

I'm hoping to get advice/suggestions in regard to film scanners (an area I know nothing about).

I've been assigned the job of digitizing boxes of family slides and need to get a film scanner. I have been researching and think the Epson Perfection V700 will work for my needs.

Has anybody had any experience with this scanner? Are there other scanners in this price range ($500-$600) that you think are better?

Any input is much appreciated!

[Steve_Arm]

Film scanners are dead. With 400$ you can get a "PC" scanner that will do the same job 90%. There are some canon scanners that have hardware noise removal chips specific to slide & film scanning and you can use it to scan documents too.
For instance that's a good one:
http://www.canon-europe.com/For_Home/Product_Finder/Scanners/Flatbed_with_Film_Scanning/CanonScan9950F/

[MattinSTL]

Considering the price range you mentioned this is well below your level... but before I bought a scanner I checked the archives and found no help... so I'd like to post my experiences here if that's okay.

I bought an Epson 4490 for $180 from Best Buy... they were on sale and since that was matching Newegg's price I decided to get it... I ended up taking it back about a week later. Not because the scanner didn't do an excellent job, but because my old slides and photos weren't nearly as good as I remembered them! There were a FEW pics that turned out excellent and were of great familiy historical value... but generally speaking it was a lackluster effort.

About the epson... what I liked:

Dust and scratch removal... and color restoration. The dust and scratch + color restoration was a big help in getting the best results... much faster then photoshop (by like 10 TIMES)... and these two options really didn't slow down the scanning process.

That said... sometimes the color restoration was too aggressive and it could actually ruin the picture. So for a few shots, the discolored look is preferred and adjustments can be made in photoshop.

Overall I was very pleased with the epson software and the gui aspect.

The other thing which may be standard at this point, is that it would set each silde into it's own seperate file. It did this perfectly every time.

So far all these results are available in the Epson V350 photo... which is only $110 DELIVERED from buy.com. After I returned the 4490 this is what I did.

I bought this scanner because, as stated earlier, my old slides and negatives weren't nearly as good as I thought they'd be anyway! The V350 has a negative auto-feed right on top of the scanner... and I really like this... it is WAY more convenient then the tray that I had to snap negatives into for the 4490.

What I lost in the trade was overall scanning speed by probably about 25-30%... and now I can only do 2 slides at a time instead of 4... plus I also lost Digital Ice... which is a program that is supposed to be a high-tech film negative and slide restoration program.

Digital Ice is all over the place. For some shots it was nice to have... for others it would turn the picture into a cartoon. Overall I do NOT think this program is ready for prime time... more often then not I got better results by using the dust and scratch + color restore... and the other issue is that any scan that uses the Digital Ice processing takes AT LEAST 2-3X as long! If you put in 4 slides w/o Digital Ice you can scan and load them in about 5 minutes at 2400 dpi... with DI for all four slides (you can apply it to any pic or all of them) the scan/load time grows to between 15-20 minutes!

Needless to say... all those factors made it easy for me to get half of my money back and go with the cheaper scanner... and I'd like to say that I've been very happy with Epson products overall... I've been a loyal customer of theirs for years now... BUT I do have to say that the Canon scanners look and feel much better in construction. The opening and closing of the 4490 lid feels awkward and doesn't inspire confidence in the long-term durability... and the closest Canon in price is the 8600... and that scanner is totally the opposite... it is beautiful in construction and appears to be solid as a rock.

[Capt Quirk]

I've used my Epson RX700 all in one to do film and slides scans. The results were ok, and it only became a PITA when doing long strips of ancient family film. I was going out of my way to be as gentle with the film as possible, and it wasn't cooperating at all. The lid kept falling as I tried to adjust the strips, the strips kept curling up... All in all, I am beginning to think of outsourcing this stuff in the future.

[Jen Aderhold]

Thanks everbody for the great information! MattinSTL your overview is great and very welcomed. I'm pleased you've found less expensive scannner that seem to fit the bill. Around $500 was just the budget I was allocated for the project. I believe all will be pleased to spend less.

I went and looked at both the other Epson models and the Canon 8600. I've decided on the 8600. Found one for around $175 that I plan on ordering today. Soon the fun part begins -- the scanning of hundreds of slide :).

Thanks again for the input.

[Capt Quirk]

The real reason I got my unit, is because it prints on disks.