Affordable scanner for unusual frame sizes?

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Here's my situation. I only shoot 35mm so far, and usually just get negs and scans from my local supermarket. They do a really good job, actually, for a supermarket, and the scans are like 1500 pixels wide--plenty good for flickr, or for posting here.

But I just started shooting with a Robot Star, which creates 24x24mm negs, and the supermarket couldn't scan them. The scanner is automatic and spat back out a frame and a half for every shot.

I got thinking I might as well just buy myself a scanner. I'd like to do negs and slides, and get decent quality out of them. If I want prints, I'll go to a lab (in fact, I don't even own a photo printer yet). I just want nice looking scans that I can load into Lightroom and enjoy along with my digital pictures.

So what am I looking for? I've never done scanning before. I want to stay under $500 for sure....again, they don't have to be gallery quality. The main qualification is that they look good on my computer, and if I later want to make some small prints, I can do it.

 

[Eric T]

I bought an EPSON V700 for about $500. It might be cheaper now. It has frames to scan 35mm, medium format, 4x5, and 8x10. it does well for me but it is pricey.
Eric

 

[shadowfox]

mabelsound, that's why if I had the money, I'll get the Robot Royal 36 instead 😉

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

mabelsound, that's why if I had the money, I'll get the Robot Royal 36 instead 😉

The square frame is why I sought out the Star! It is cool and weird--I find a lot of inspiration in the unusual format. Wouldn't mind a Royal as well though...

Thanks Eric T, I'll check that out. I would have no trouble with the funny frame size on that Epson then?

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

After a few minutes of research, it looks like the Epson V500 might be more my speed. It's a lot slower, and the software sucks, but people like the image quality, and I can adjust stuff in Photoshop. Anyone have any experience with it?

EDIT: Don't answer that! I just searched the forum. Most of you seem to think it's a pretty good value. I think I'll get one...

 

[micromontenegro]

I use an older 4490 for half frame, and it works OK for screen and internet viewing. I'd guess not-too-big prints would be okay too. No problem with frame size, as you select the lenght of negative strip you want to scan.

 

[iamzip]

I have the 4490 as well, haven't scanned a heck of a lot on it but seems good so far. Not as good as a dedicated film scanner, but not as expensive and won't have trouble with odd formats.I looked around a lot before I bought it, and people seem to really like it. Plus, it scans medium format which is a plus if you ever decide to go that route. I got mine for only a hundred bucks, refurbished direct from epson.

 

[shadowfox]

After a few minutes of research, it looks like the Epson V500 might be more my speed. It's a lot slower, and the software sucks, but people like the image quality, and I can adjust stuff in Photoshop. Anyone have any experience with it?

EDIT: Don't answer that! I just searched the forum. Most of you seem to think it's a pretty good value. I think I'll get one...

Just an FYI, V500 will limit you to 120 films. Anything bigger like 4x5 or bigger, and you'll not be able to use it.

To me, Scanmaker i800 is a better value. It's cheaper than V500 new and it can scan much bigger films, and it has Dmax 4.0 like the V700. You can see some samples in a post I made a couple weeks ago:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=784295#post784295