Best cheap neg scanner?

[Frank Petronio]

I just bought another mint Konica Minolta Dual Scan IV for $125 USd which is in your budget. I swear buy the results I get from them and they are far superior to any Epson flatbed and probably anything but the Nikon CoolScan V or 5000 or its big brother the Minolta 5400-series.

The downside is the Dual Scans are not built to as high a level as the Nikons or 5400 and their automated feed will eventually fail. The Plusteks are similar quality but have a manual (one frame at a time) feed so they are more reliable. But you can buy another cheap Dual Scan when one goes, I actually bought this one to hold onto as a spare.

Sounds weird but I like the way the scans look (grainy, sharp) from it compared to the Nikons, which are smoother and more plastic looking.

In comparison, scans of 35mm from my Epson 700 look mushy. I save the flatbed for larger formats. But if you are committed to 35mm, get a real film scanner.

Oh yeah, use VueScan, I guess that costs money too.

 

[Araakii]

Epson v600 i got for $160 shipped, brand new. I would say it is pretty good for the price, but i dont blow up much. mostly just for online and sometimes print but nothing big

The scanner totally doesn't do any justice to my 120 negatives but for flickr size it's good enough.

 

[heliographer]

This is right on. I still have a Minolta Scan Dual IV but using a DSLR and macro lens is just as good IMHO and MUCH faster.

I say it every time this comes up, but will again: If you already have a digital camera use it with a macro lens on a light table. I just dumped $65 on another micro-Nikkor just so I can leave it at home, dedicated to this job. Check all the recent B&W on my Flickr, which is Nikon D300 + macro for scanning.

 

[ark8012]

Cheap and high quality don't really go together. I'd look for a used Nikon scanner that has IR dust removal. I picked up a used Nikon LS-2000 for admittedly more than your budget but I am very very happy with it. It produces sharper scans than my 4800 dpi flatbed scanner ever did. What you're seeing is no 5mp, but poor image quality. 5mp wouldn't be too bad if it were of better quality.

With my Nikon scanner I have to wrangle the colors on roughly 5% of the images coming out of it. The rest just look right the first time. I am using Vuescan though as the Nikon software doesn't play nice with Windows 7 64 bit.

You can use the Nikon software with Windows 7 64 bit. I am using Nikon Scan 4 for my IV ED with Windows 7 64 bit. If you google it, you will find how to do. Even though I think Vuescan might be better than Nikon Scan. 😉

 

[lmd91343]

This is right on. I still have a Minolta Scan Dual IV but using a DSLR and macro lens is just as good IMHO and MUCH faster.

How do you hold the film flat? Glass? Neg holder from cheap scanner?

How do you line up the neg with the camera? I have a nice copy stand and portable light table. Build a jigto hold the light table on the copy stand and neg holder on light table?

I hope I am not hijacking this thread?
thanks

 

[edodo]

A coolscan V is the best bet, it's relatively sturdy and a good rep so hold it's value over time. You will sell it for what you paid roughly. That's where the cheapness lies because when you have to pay for it it's another story!

 

[---f]

I bought the Plustek 7500i, but you can go with a lower end plustek if you're just doing black and white, since B&W can't take advantage of the digitil ice equivalent. I get really good results and have printed them and had them in shows.

 

[filmfan]

Will you be making prints from your scans? If not, Epson V500. If so, go Minolta or Plustek. I used to own a Nikon Coolscan 8000 ED (very expensive) and I never made a single print from a scan because darkroom prints look much better for BW. Now I use an Epson V500 (I got it for $50 on Craigslist) for web images.

 

[cabbiinc]

You can use the Nikon software with Windows 7 64 bit. I am using Nikon Scan 4 for my IV ED with Windows 7 64 bit. If you google it, you will find how to do. Even though I think Vuescan might be better than Nikon Scan. 😉

I tried Nikon Scan 2 and 3 (they came with the scanner). 2 wouldn't install and 3 didn't recognize the scanner. I already have a copy of Vuescan and all I can say is that it's almost made for a Nikon scanner. Beautiful results.

 

[Roscoe]

It's more than $150, but Epson V700s are around $300 these days.

Please tell me where?

 

[Frank Petronio]

yeah cause I just paid $500 for my V700....