Best cheap neg scanner?

[thechungster]

I'm looking into replacing this Summit Photofix SP5 Scanner that my dad bought a year or so ago. I'm unhappy with the 5MP images it's scanning, since I'm unhappy with the quality of the scans and also the colours. I need a lot of post processing to make it look even half decent, which isn't fun.

Is there anything on the market that's <£100 that is good? I simply don't know where to begin looking.

 

[NLewis]

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

 

[lawnpotter]

I just bought a refurbished Epson V500 from Epson for $110.00 Canadian that includes shipping and handling. It came with easy to use software. In two hours after opening box, I had negatives scanned on to my computer and I even did an 8 by 10 test print. I know nothing about scannibg but for my basic purposes, I am very happy with this scanner.

 

[ark8012]

I recently bought a Nikon coolscan IV ED for $230. I am very happy with the image quality from the scanner. It is old scanner, but the quality was much better than I used to get from commercial labs.

 

[ibcrewin]

I'd love to have a scanner where you could just feed the film in.. That would be awesome

 

[250swb]

I got a new Plustek 7400 from an Ebay seller for £156 with free postage last week. PM me if you want the link. But so far I'm finding the Plustek as good as 35mm sacns from my long ago sold Minolta Multi Pro (an awesome machine) after some helpful advice on RFF about software.

Steve

 

[ferider]

Don't get me wrong on this:

I would rather use a 200$ camera and a 1000$ scanner than the other way around.

Roland.

 

[cabbiinc]

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.

 

[EthanFrank]

I've been very happy with my Epson V500, but the most I've enlarged is 35mm to 11x14, and 6x7 to 13x19, so I can't tell you what the quality will be like past that.

 

[mdarnton]

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.

 

[beyond]

I was using the Canon 4400F. Upgraded to Epson V700. World of difference.

 

[paulfish4570]

epson 4490 might be almost in your range. i like mine.

 

[thechungster]

I appreciate all the replies, thank you. Guess my budget will have to stretch a bit by the looks of things.

@Mdarnton, unfortunately I don't even have that.

 

[Araakii]

V600 is about your budget. I have no issues with it.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

You're looking for the best scanner at your budget. That would be a flatbed. I make nice prints 8x the linear dimension of the negative from V500; V600 would be about the same, V700 better. That would be 8x10 from 35mm film.

 

[danielmk2]

If you're only 135 shooter, I think the only choice is the plustek 7600i, it's the best at this price range.

But if you also want 120 scanning, V600 is a good deal, but you lost 135 scanning quality.

I own both two scanners, but V600 is only used for 6x6. They both do an amazing good job.

 

[agour]

my epson 4490 does the job fine for me!

 

[mfunnell]

I'd love to have a scanner where you could just feed the film in.. That would be awesome

It is - but it doesn't come cheaply. I have a Nikon 5000ED with the SA-31 roll adapter. Neither was cheap - and the prices these days, now they don't make 'em any more, have gone crazy. While mine seemed expensive at the time, I'm awfully glad I bought when I did.

Now I'm just waiting to check out the new Plustek 120 scanner as my flatbed is only "adequate" for medium format. I'm hoping it'll be good.

...Mike

 

[cabbiinc]

My LS-2000 was just over $200 with the included automatic strip feed adapter.

 

[huntjump]

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