Flatbed vs Film scanner for old slides

[Fiddle64]

I have a couple thousand old slides dating back to the 1940's from my parents. The oldest ones are actually warped but most of them are in pretty decent condition. Having them professionally scanned is prohibitive plus I want to be able to label them properly. Many of them have hand written notes on them about who was in them, where they were taken etc.

I tried that Kodak cardboard thingy and the results were beyond disappointing. Pathetic. I don't need perfect scans but decent enough to share with family and print up to an 8x10.

So my tentative plan is to buy something like an Epson V600 or Plustek 8100 and then sell it when I'm done.

However I also just had my Dad's old Contax iia cleaned up and put a fresh battery in my old Fujica ST705 so it's possible I would hold on to it longer and maybe even justify keeping it by processing and scanning at home and so save on lab costs (B&W only). Again maximum prints would be 8x10 and would probably just be done from the negatives for the few I print.

I work on a computer for a living so I can't imagine spending my free time fiddling with imaging software so that's not the goal. I just want to digitize everything, toss the slides, and if someone wants to edit them later they can do that.

That's probably way too much background, but what are your thoughts on Epson V600 or Plustek 8100 under those circumstances?

Bill

 

[punkzter]

I have an Epson V750 pro, not that different than the V600. It does a great job scanning slides. But, given that you want to spend as little time on a computer as possible, my suggestion would be to buy one of the Wolverine slide scanners that they sell on Amazon. My parents had a large quantity of slides to scan a few years ago. This device is portable and puts the scans right on an SD card. The quality isn't going to be as good as a scanner, but you can sit and watch tv while scanning. If you go with the computer scanner, you will find yourself always checking back in at the computer and fiddling around with the exposure settings.

So, my suggestion is to buy the wolverine scanner on amazon. Give it a try. You can always return it if the results aren't up to your standards.

 

[Corran]

Find an automatic (autofeed) scanner, get the job done, and then resell it.

Nicer scanners have higher resale value. So you likely won't spend anymore than a cheap Epson which will not perform particularly well and will take you ages to scan thousands of slides. Perhaps years, depending on your patience level. Find one of the auto scanners used and you may pay nothing for the scans after resale.

Example, 50 slide auto scanner:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...s_x_powerslide_x_automatic_slide_scanner.html

Figure out your personal scanning needs later.

I have a box of negative film from my parents that I have been scanning bit by bit for years. I have a high-end, but manual scanner, and I can only tolerate 2-3 rolls in a day and only feel like doing it every once in a while. If you want those slides scanned, especially if you don't plan on shooting slides (or at least not mounting them) it's best to get the above or similar and get the old stuff scanned first with a dedicated slide feeder scanner.

 

[narsuitus]

I have never used a dedicated film scanner.
I have used my digital camera to make digital copies of slides, negatives, and prints.
I have used flatbed scanners to make digital copies of slides, negatives, and prints.

My first flatbed scanner was a Canon CanoScan 9900F. My second was an Epson V850 flatbed.

I have been told that dedicated scanners produced better scans than flatbed scanners but I decided to go with flat-bed scanners instead of a dedicated scanner because:

1. I needed to be able to scan 35mm small format, 120 medium format, 4x5 inch large format, and 8x10 large format positive and negative film and color and black & white film. However, if I only needed scans of 35mm, I definitely would have considered a dedicated 35mm film scanner.

2. Most of the dedicated film scanners in my price range could only perform scans one-at-a-time and that was too time consuming for me. I needed batch scanning. My flatbed scanners could scan small format and medium format film scans one-at-a-time or in batches. My flatbed scanners could batch scan 35mm film in unmounted filmstrips or while mounted in slide mounts. My flatbed scanners could batch scan medium format film in small batches depending on the size of the images on the film. My flatbed scanners could only scan 4x5 and 8x10 inch large format film one-at-a-time.

3. The quality of the images from my flatbed scanners have been satisfactory for me. When I need higher quality scans, color corrected scans, or custom cropped scans, I can always use my digital camera with a macro lens.

 

[DKimg]

In my experience slide films don't do much justice with flat-bed scanners. I think maybe going along the lines of going with the negative film labs setup with a DSLR method would be the way to go. It will be quicker than a scanner on a flatbed.

A dedicated scanner would probably cost more and maybe the learning curve will be greater. Just FYI.

 

[Livesteamer]

I went thru this a few years ago. My brother bought a Pacific Image Powerslide 5000 and sent it to me to scan Dad's slides and I can offer several thoughts.


Warped slides will probably not feed well. I spent a lot of time going back and scanning warped slides that did not feed, one at a time. Colors will have shifted unless it is Kodachrome. Even if it is Kodachrome, it was so slow a film that camera shake is often evident. It took about a month to do about 800 slides and while it was frustrating with mixed results I am glad I did it.


Good Luck with whatever path you take. Joe

 

[stoutstuff]

I just finished scanning about 1,600 of my Dads slides on a Kodak Scanza. Now I'm starting on about 2,000 of my own slides. It may not be the best but it was given to me as a gift. Honestly, I think it does a great job and is fairly quick. 16 megapixel files. I'm storing the slides in Print File pages for future needs. I plan on photographing the best ones on a lightbox later...
I will add that warped slides took extra handling.
Just scanned 140 slides in approximately an hour.

 

[agentlossing]

My Pacific Image XAs has a slide slot, but I think it's single-load, so it would take some time. However the quality with one of these type of dedicated scanners is far and away better than a flatbed at this format. I think you'd be glad of the extra quality.

 

[Fiddle64]

I think it's coming down to what I can tolerate for resolution. Since the goal is to toss the slides I need to be sure I like the images enough to never have the slides again.

In the old days I could have gone to a real camera store and tried things out. Scan a few test slides on each machine and compare to professional scans.

Can someone comment on slides on a flatbed? It seems the focus would be off by the width of the cardboard. Or maybe I'm not understanding it correctly. Is it just that flatbeds don't have the resolution for 35mm?

 

[punkzter]

Sure, these are from my v750 with the slide holder:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/co9JhCEfQNGZG9Uz9

I think that they compare quite nicely to scans from Dwaynes Photo. The nice thing about slide film is that you don't have to do any color correction.

 

[punkzter]

I don't know what your time frame is. Here is something to consider. If you want to send me 12 slides (which is the amount that will fit into a slide holder on my Epson), I will scan them at whatever settings you propose.

I too hate being on a computer outside of work, so I won't do any editing. We can discuss the exposure settings beforehand though (this is the one setting I adjust pre-scanning).

This would give you an idea of what they would look like from a flatbed scanner. If this is of interest to you, send me a PM.

Brad

 

[1joel1]

I have the Nikon Coolscan 5000ed with the bulk slide accessory. It worked great. It did a great job quickly and with wonderful results.
Joel

 

[Fiddle64]

yea those scans look good. I think I could live with that. That was very helpful. Thanks. I think the flatbed is going to work. Plus it's cheaper. Although I just looked and B&H looks back ordered. Ugh.

 

[agentlossing]

I think it's coming down to what I can tolerate for resolution. Since the goal is to toss the slides I need to be sure I like the images enough to never have the slides again.

In the old days I could have gone to a real camera store and tried things out. Scan a few test slides on each machine and compare to professional scans.

Can someone comment on slides on a flatbed? It seems the focus would be off by the width of the cardboard. Or maybe I'm not understanding it correctly. Is it just that flatbeds don't have the resolution for 35mm?

I'd really go with the cheapest Plustek or similar that has slide functionality before going flatbed. The cost difference is more than worth the frustration. True resolution on a flatbed is usually quite low, plus micro focus imperfections decrease it even further. Getting a good enough flatbed with focus adjustments costs you about what a dedicated scanner will cost.

 

[Fiddle64]

Final update:

So this is what I decided. My local Best Buy (20 minutes away) has the flatbed and can get the Plustek so I'm going to start with the flatbed Epson V600. I get 15 days to return it so that gives me two full weekends to decide what I think. If I don't like it, I drive it back and get the Plustek.

Among the deciding factors were seeing actual scans from Punkzter (thanks for that), worrying about warped slides in a film scanner, and the flexibility to do photos (my sister it turns out kept all the actual photos when I rescued the slides from the trash).

And if I hate the flatbed scanner I can just drive over to Best Buy and exchange it for a film scanner.

Thanks everyone for the responses. All very helpful information.

And if I get some Contax iia pictures that turn out I'll share them.

Thanks again,
Bill

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Depends on your quality tolerance and ambition.

In my book:
- Flatbeds on 35mm good for 1-2MPx results, good for email, web, screen viewing. Pretty easy to use, but not fast.
- Dedicated scanner such as CoolScan very high quality, 20+MPx, good for prints of good size. Quite slow. Learning curve to use the adjustments in scan software. Mostly discontinued products. (I'm not familiar with the PacImage item mentioned above).
- Camera-scan with a macro lens can be very fast, load everything into Lightroom, you'll want to make adjustments for shots of slides. These can be presets applied to all slides. As much quality and resolution as you want (depending on body and lens).

My vote is camera-scan with a 24MPx mirrorless body and macro lens.

 

[Bill Clark]

I have a stack of Kodak Carousel slide trays some hold 80 and others hold 140 slides that I should digitize.

I own a flat bed scanner that takes too much time especially with the quantity of slides I’d like to digitize.

What I’m thinking of trying is using my camera with a tripod to photograph each projected slide. I still have my projector and a few replacement bulbs. I have Photoshop on my iMac and can play around with them and I’d rather spend my time doing that rather than using a scanner.

Here is an article I found that may help:

https://www.toptenreviews.com/digitizing-slides

Some of my slides go back to the 1960’s but they still look pretty good.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dBWNgtxMlY0
Correct camera and digitizing adaptor, no scanners, computers are this fast with such quality.
You could control, see the process via tablet. In real time.

Where are those cheap and quick scanners, like wolverine or else, but they are hit and miss.
Most are just junk, few reported to be OK. Hard to find which one. They seems to be popular for knock offs.

 

[Glenn2]

Then again if you’re into iPads or iPhones there’s an interesting app in the Apple store.
It’s called NEGAVIEW Pro , I’ve just gotten a copy but haven’t checked it out yet. Need a suitable light source and am thinking of using an old iPad with a screen size white JPG if it’s bright enough.
This would not be for final results, but more quickly checking what you’ve got. I own a CS-5000 for 35mm and an Epson 3200 for larger formats. Am hoping the app will help weed down a large number of old negatives to a manageable few. No use scanning everything when many are blah.

Have recently found a large box of negatives my father shot in the twenties and thirties, plus I’ve been clicking shutters for ~67 years! That’s a lot to go through and I’ve hardly scratched the surface.

Glenn

 

[Timmyjoe]

I agree with Joel. If you can get one of the Coolscans that just do 35mm, you'll get great results. My first digital scanner was a Nikon Coolscan III (LS-30) and even though it struggled with scanning B&W negs, it did great work on color slides. And that was the bottom end of what Nikon made in their Coolscan line. My later Coolscan 5000 made fantastic slide scans.

One thing to keep in mind, when scanning color slides, Digital ICE works great as long as you're not scanning Kodachrome. Digital ICE won't work on Kodachrome (at least not the last time I tried it).

Good luck. I scanned a few hundred slides for my father-in-law that he took on his honeymoon in 1957 and it was a fascinating experience.

Best,
-Tim