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Thread: Anyone Scanning Slides? Looking for Scanner Recommendation

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Default Anyone Scanning Slides? Looking for Scanner Recommendation

    We have 100,000+ slides and have not had a scanner for probably eight years. I had very bad luck with my last two Nikon scanners. Any suggestions? Anyone using a Canon slide scanner?
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    Artie, Kevin Karlson recommended to me a couple years ago, the Nikon Super CoolScan 5000 ED Film Scanner. I haven't used one but he made it sound pretty good as far as scans go! Hoping someone will have the latest info here!

    BTW, It doesn't look like B&H carries this machine currently, but I found one on Amazon for about 5,600, yikes!

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    Default Scanning slides

    Artie,
    I use a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000ED with a 32 bit operatingsystem and it is very good.
    I want to upgrade to a 64 bit OS but there is a problem. I understand that Nikon will not produce new drivers to enable the scanner to work with the 64 bit OS.
    See http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/80406-Confused-about-switching-to-a-64-bit-operating-system.
    Dave Hassell.
    Last edited by Arthur Morris; 09-29-2011 at 07:23 AM.

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    Nope. I have the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED. I needed this model because it also does 2 1/4 square format. It's worked flawlessly for as long as I have had it. The only downside is that Nikon does not write good software and their Nikon Scan 4 is abysmal.

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    Just learned that Canon no longer makes one. I paid a lot for some fancy software for my first Nikon Cool Scan. That was OK. Then I upgraded to the next model for $2 or 3K and never got the thing to work once. I was a bad consumer and sent it to Todd Gustafson and he never got it to work either....

    John: what software do you use? I used Silver something.... It is all very confusing to me.....
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    I have a Nikon Coolscan V ED. I haven't used it much but I had to download a driver from Vuescan to get it to work with Windows 7! FWIW, I can tell you that it is way better than my old HP or Pacific image scanners!

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    Charl Steyn
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    Default Scanner solution for Windows 7 and 64 bit

    I purchased a Nikon Coolscan V ED a couple of years ago, but could never get it to work because of Nikon's decision to stop support for their scanners. (Had Windows Vista 32 bit then.)
    Just recently spent a long time searching the internet for a solution and eventually came upon this. http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/4...rk-w7-x64.html

    It uses the Vuescan drivers with the normal Nikon scan software.
    Haven't had time to seriously tackle my slides, but the dozen or so that I scanned as a test worked great.
    Hope it helps.

    Charl Steyn

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    Dan and Charl, Is there a charge for the Vuescan drivers? (I will check Charl's link now )
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Just got back from Charl's link--mega complicated for this computer dummy....
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Dan and Charl, Is there a charge for the Vuescan drivers? (I will check Charl's link now )
    Artie, I can't remember but it wasn't much if it did cost.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Brown View Post
    Artie, I can't remember but it wasn't much if it did cost.
    Here's a link to the Vuescan Nikon list.
    http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/vuescan.htm#nikon
    Click on the scanner to see the support and then click on purchase to buy. The price for my scanner is $40 for standard, 80 for pro version.

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    Quote Originally Posted by John Chardine View Post
    Nope. I have the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED. I needed this model because it also does 2 1/4 square format. It's worked flawlessly for as long as I have had it. The only downside is that Nikon does not write good software and their Nikon Scan 4 is abysmal.
    Is this model better than the 5000 if my only need is to scan slides? (What's 2 1/4 SQ? )
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Hi Arthur,

    I am using a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED. I have had it for about 3 years or so. I am using the Nikon Scan 4 software that came with the scanner and find it does the job although for some reason it periodically crashes. Could be the software or my system resources...don't really know. I was informed that the scanner's focusing ability has a range of about 6 points. If the range exceeds that then film is most likely curled and won't yield a good scan. I subsequently ordered some special tensioning slide mounts that will hold any curled or wavy film taught in the mount to yield an acceptable scan. I have had some of my slide scans used for cover shots or as double page spreads so it seems to be working and I am quite pleased with the results. There are a few scans in the Landscape Guide (captions will indicate Fuji Velvia) if you would like to see the results.

    I have heard that some stock agencies won't accept scans unless they are done on an Imacon scanner, but I know nothing about those scanners.

    Hope this helps.

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    Charl Steyn
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    Arthur, the link I provided explains how to go about getting the drivers.
    There was a small file I had to download, extract and save. There were no cost involved and the scanner works fine. I'm pretty sure it will be the same for the 9000 model.

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    I also run the Coolscan V ED w/Windows 7. A couple of years ago Microsoft stepped up to the plate and provided drivers for Coolscans. (No need to pirate the VueScan driver). Sorry, but I can't recall if I had to download the driver or if it downloaded automatically after I plugged in the scanner -- I think the latter.

    As for a scanner, I'd highly recommend getting one with a multi-slide feed if you have a lot of slides to do. The 9000 ED would be a good choice, but unfortunately all Nikon scanners are becoming rare birds and are hard to find and expensive to buy.

    As for software, ViewScan etc. is fine and provides a nice basket of tools, but does not provide better quality than the basic scanning software Nikon provides for free -- most of the critical processing is firmware based anyway.

    Good luck!
    Last edited by Gary Irwin; 11-03-2011 at 11:58 AM.

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    I have a Nikon Coolscan 5000 and use Win7 64x OS. Had to do a workaround to use the Coolscan software as Nikon doesn't offer a 64 bit driver but it was worth the effort. I didn't like Vuescan as much as the Nikon software. An added plus for the Coolscan software is that you can scan to RAW files; which IMO is the way to do it, as all the scanning software I've tried doesn't hold a candle to a good RAW conversion program. I use LR which is way more efficient and produces better results than trying to do white balance and color correction with the scanning software. LR tools make it easy to do basic adjustments and corrections and rarely use PS.

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    Here is my 0.02.

    Silverfast AI (or something like). They have a lot of versions. I also found it too complex.
    http://www.silverfast.com/

    I would suggest Vuescan. Information already provided. If you have the Silverfast license, I think you can upgrade for free for Vuescan PRO.

    I have a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV. It's a simple device. I would suggest some scanner with Digital ICE IV but there a few models available right now.
    I tried to scan my 35mm negatives and slides some years ago and it takes a lot of time for a 1 person job. The most time consuming part was to clean the media to be scanned. That's why Digital Ice plays an important part if it is in the scanner's hardware.

    The Nikon were the best options for personal use. I didn't buy one because of importing restrictions.

    I'm talking as a photo enthusiast not a pro. For 100,00 slides I think you need a professional scanner.

    Imacon scanner is a drum scanner. They were said to be the best available.

    Maybe you should try a scanning service like http://www.scancafe.com/
    I never used them, so i can't comment.

    Hope this helps.

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