A (slide) scanner easily

June 13, 2018 1:19 PM

I have a boatload of 35mm slides (and some black & white negatives) that I want to go through and scan the best shots. I don’t want to spend a boatload on a slide scanner. I’d appreciate any Mefi photog recommendations for a good, basic slide and negative scanner to help capture my Kodachromes.
posted by jabo to Computers & Internet (16 answers total)

I have a flatbed scanner with a transparency cover -- I use it to scan paper and photos most of the time, but it does double-duty for negatives and slides, so I don't need two separate devices. I don't have any specific recommendations (mine is a 10-year-old Epson), but provided the rest of the scanner has good specs, get as large of a transparency area as possible (some only have enough room for 4 frames of 35mm film, some do a full 8.5x11 sheet)
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:27 PM on June 13, 2018

I haven't scanned film for years, but I went through a succession of Epson flatbeds that could do this. They always worked quite well. Looks like the cheapest ones they sell now with transparency capabilities are around $100-ish. It may be worth looking for ones with good dust removal software (digital ICE), which usually pushes up the price, although last I looked (many years ago), it didn't work on black and white negatives.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 1:41 PM on June 13, 2018

A couple of years ago we got my father a Reflecta X7 for his birthday. I would indeed rate this as a good enough scanner for what you want. Pluses are: it's small, can work standalone saving the scans on an SD card (but also directly to your computer via USB), and it's fast. It essentially takes a photo of the slide, and an entire strip of three can be done in ten seconds. Downside: getting the slides into and out of the holder tray is somewhat iffy. Cost was about 100 Euros; don't know if it's available on your side of the pond, might be under a different brand name. It should be able to take strips of 35mm film, but we haven't used that.
posted by Stoneshop at 1:47 PM on June 13, 2018

If you have a 35mm camera consider tooling up an adhoc stand. Opinion in the photog community it's the highest quality method.
posted by sammyo at 2:18 PM on June 13, 2018 [3 favorites]

Costco. For their scanning service. They charge 32¢/image.
posted by zippy at 2:24 PM on June 13, 2018

Nikon Coolpix FTW. Available on secondhand market only. Sammyo's suggestion can work well, if well implemented with good gear, but my Coolpix did a great job (has the ICE software).
posted by GeeEmm at 3:08 PM on June 13, 2018

Best answer: I love my Epson Perfection V600 scanner. It does good quality scans and it was an affordable price. It scans 4 slides at a time.
posted by molasses at 3:34 PM on June 13, 2018

Seconding zippy if this is just a one-off.
posted by General Malaise at 3:34 PM on June 13, 2018

Best answer: If you're willing to go to the effort pre-select specific slides and negatives for scanning, it makes sense to buy a scanner. The Epson model with a backlight is good. But do not think you will just "Scan everything" because that will drive you insane. It takes multiple minutes to set up a scan, from dusting your slides/negs to arranging them on the holder, to waiting for the scanner to run, to adjusting the results, saving and naming the files. It's an enormous time sink.

If you just want everything to be scanned, and critical quality isn't of utmost importance, there are a few shoebox scanning companies -- Wirecutter has some reviews, but there also, price per image goes up as the quality does.

What's your time worth to you?
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:09 PM on June 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

My local library has film scanners. Maybe yours does too? Then you can do it for free, while still maintaining control over the work.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:23 PM on June 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've got an Epson v800 which is excellent (though not cheap). I previously had a cheap slide scanner that cost me about $100, which was money down the drain; budget scanners will give you budget results.

Seanmpuckett is right, it's much more time and work than you probably think it is—I really enjoy spending hours scanning my work and getting the best results I possibly can, but you may have other and better things to do with your life.

If you go with your own scanner, of whatever kind, I'd absolutely recommend you get a copy of VueScan which is so much better than manufacturers' proprietary applications it's not funny.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:13 PM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

I am in the middle of a projector-conversion project and it is by no means easy or cost effective. The impetus for me is converting my parents' 7000 slides, which is cost prohibitive for service-based scanning, and time-prohibitive if one considers either flatbed or consumer-oriented scanning solutions, which generally handle very small numbers of individual slides per pass. One, four, and twelve are the most common numbers.

The apparent correct choice is the professionally-coverted projector rig, the SlideSnapPro, which can be rented for a week at about $500.

I'm going to proceed with my rig build but there is a non-zero chance I will need a newer dslr camra back than the ones I have to hand and that will add another $3-500 to my costs, very definitely pushing it into money ill-spent terrain.

I have jettisoned the automation project goal, so no screwing around with an arduino on it, alas.
posted by mwhybark at 6:33 PM on June 13, 2018

I was just looking into something similar. I have only a couple negatives I'd like to scan and my local camera shop charges $10 for one image. I feel like that's a bit steep. I ran across this serviceable workaround for using your own scanner.

Make a cardboard adapter.
posted by pdxhiker at 8:01 PM on June 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

What's a boatload, and how much is your time worth? I used ScanCafe; Wirecutter doesn't recommend them because they scan in India, but I had a fine, hassle-free experience, and they say they've scanned 140 million images, so I think the risk is pretty minimal. They are inexpensive, especially with their bulk pricing (20-30 cents per scan, depending on volume).
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:16 AM on June 14, 2018

I have used the cardboard adapter method @pdxhiker mentions for 35mm film negatives, and if the original negative is in really great shape and you're willing to play around in Photoshop a bit, you can get nice images. However, after doing just a couple I realized that the whole process took way too long to be feasible for more than doing one or two images for a specific reason. You also have to make sure the adapter is in the exact right place or the scan doesn't come out well at all. I still have a lot of negatives to go through so I'm going to be watching this thread myself.
posted by possibilityleft at 9:29 AM on June 14, 2018

GeeEmm: ITYM CoolScan; CoolPix is Nikon's non-SLR digicam line.
posted by Stoneshop at 10:30 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]