Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]This is something I know a lot about. Good quality slide scanners are extremely expensive. There are a bunch of technical reasons for this. Making a scan of a 35mm slide that is good enough for you not to want to keep the slide requires top-of-the-line equipment and major skill at using it. I have extensive experience using the Nikon LS-3510 AF film scanner, which cost about US$9000 5 years ago. I have used its successor, the $5000 LS-4500 AF, a little bit. I am an expert photographer, an expert darkroom technician, and an expert Photoshop user. I find that unless I stay in practice and do scanning regularly, it takes me a long time to make a scan that is better than what I can get from sending the same slide out for a Kodak PhotoCD scan and paying $1.75 per slide. The Kodak process is very good. Nikon has just introduced a low-end slide scanner, the LS 1000, whose list price is US$1799. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know what you are giving up for such a low price. Don't waste your time trying to scan a slide on a flatbed scanner that cost less than US$4000. You just aren't going to like the results. Brian Reid