Best bang for your buck film scanner?

Any suggestions on a scanner?

Thanks!

What size films? Or just for prints/docs? Color or just traditional (i.e., nonchromogenic) B&W?

pxchoi wrote in post #14682388
Any suggestions on a scanner?

Thanks!

I have the same question. I have a lot of 35mm slides plus 35mm negative strips as well as prints of varying sizes.

I've use the Canon CanoScan 8800F. It is a full sized flatbed scanner. I think it has now been replaced with the Canon CanoScan 9000F. I've used it to scan slides and back up all my 35mm negatives digitally. I have been pleased with the results. The tray for slides can scan 4 slides at a time. Negatives can be scanned 2 strips (12) at a time.

Nikon V-ED is an outstanding dedicated slide/neg scanner.

I see over on DPReview that Ed Hamrick is still authoring VueScan and there is Win 7 support! Guess I need to dust mine off and put it back to work.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #14684561
Nikon V-ED is an outstanding dedicated slide/neg scanner.

I see over on DPReview that Ed Hamrick is still authoring VueScan and there is Win 7 support! Guess I need to dust mine off and put it back to work.

Heh! All my film negatives and prints are buried deep in some closet or garage, but once in a while a print shows up via a family member that really jerks the heart, but my old flatbed scanner is also buried somewhere!

To the OP, scanning prints with a modern flatbed scanner can produce great results as long as you don't try to enlarge them much! Trying to get an 8x10 out of a 4x6 print can be, well, frustrating.

But getting a "dedicated" negative/transparency scanner, like mentioned above, or at least a negative/transparancy "attachment", will make a big difference: prints of 8x10 or 11x14 are actually conceivable!

I was looking at scanning 35mm film strips. I thought it would be nice to upload them onto my computer and touch them on digitally.

FWIW, the Nikon V-ED spits out files from 35mm transparencies that top 40MP!

Enlargements will be dependent much more on the grain structure of the film you ued than the dimensions of the file itself.

pxchoi wrote in post #14686315
I was looking at scanning 35mm film strips. I thought it would be nice to upload them onto my computer and touch them on digitally.

If you can afford the Plusteck 7600i, that's what I'd suggest. The flatbeds typically don't do 35mm all that well.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #14684561
Nikon V-ED is an outstanding dedicated slide/neg scanner.

I see over on DPReview that Ed Hamrick is still authoring VueScan and there is Win 7 support! Guess I need to dust mine off and put it back to work.

Agree. I also use a Coolscan V and Vuescan.

Excellent A3+ prints

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #14684561
Nikon V-ED is an outstanding dedicated slide/neg scanner.

I see over on DPReview that Ed Hamrick is still authoring VueScan and there is Win 7 support! Guess I need to dust mine off and put it back to work.

That's a good thing, I have had a pro license for that from some of the earliest versions. Whenever I break out my CanoScan FS4000US I prefer to use VueScan.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #14684561
Nikon V-ED is an outstanding dedicated slide/neg scanner.

I see over on DPReview that Ed Hamrick is still authoring VueScan and there is Win 7 support! Guess I need to dust mine off and put it back to work.

Oh, if only Nikon had not abandoned the dedicated film scanner market entirely, years ago!!

It seems like film scanners are becoming dinosaurs. I was looking at the reviews from photo and imaging websites and most are over 5 years old. It's as if digital photography has been around so long now that the manufacturers are no longer thinking about old guys like me with lots of slides, negative strips, and prints that I would like to digitize. Has any manufacturer come out recently with a good scanner updated for today's hardware (USB 3.0)?

I do have a question. I've been looking at the Plusteck 7600 AI. Does it scan prints as well as slides and negatives?

I use a Canoscan 9000f. It's OK I guess but I know a dedicated film scanner could do a lot better. I'm keeping an eye out for Plustek's forthcoming 120 scanner which will handle 35mm and, er, 120 film.

Plustek OpticFilm 120

http://plustek.com …ilm-120/introduction.html

This medium format dedicated scanner is set to be released sometime in September at around US$2,000. Company folks stated that resolution and dynamic range were greater than that of the Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED (which originally went for about US$2,000 but now, since discontinuation, can be found on eBay for roughly US$4,000).

Facebook discussion of scanner and other products at: https://www.facebook.c​om …echnology/16969​1449783876

Currently, I'm using the Nikon V ED with Vuescan, and it works great for my needs. However, I'm looking forward to shooting some medium format, so the OpticFilm 120 (depending on reviews) is on the radar.