scanner recomendation

[tennisbob]

I am a new photoshop user. One of my primary goals is to convert 40 years of kodak photos and 35mm slides to digital photos and get them into my organizer. Probably will want to "fix" and enhance some of them.

I started looking at scanners and reading reviews. After that experience which left me clueless, I decided to post for help.

Help, Bob
thanks

[msbrad]

Well it can sure be a long and tricky search.
I'm giong to suggest a scanner to probably NOT buy. That's because i have it.
It is a Mustek A3 and is it is wide enough to scan my 12 " pages. BUT...it will not open with elements. Their default is Photoshop 5 LE. Have written to the company several times and they say it is not compatible.
There are limited settings for scanning, and it is impossible to clean the inside of the glass.
However..price was good.
m

[John L Gray]

Bob,

I think the two bigest questions I had to consider as what was my budget and what did I the need the scanner for. In my situation I needed to scan slides and old photos for restoration.
I spent a lot of time looking at various flatbed scanners before I bought an Epson 4990. The results from my scanning 35mm slides are very good. The Epson has room for 8 slides at a time. The software that is provided with the "4990" is very helpful to improve your scanning process.

Check out the Epson USA site in the Clearance Section for refurbished scanners. The 4490 is also a very good scanner for the price and comes with a year warrenty.

http://www.epson.com

You could also consider renting a Nikon slide scanner for weekend. A friend rented a machine and pushed a great number of slides into computer over a weekend. The key is to sort out the slides you want to "keep". I spend a lot of time on a light table sorting my slides that will Keepers.

Hope these thoughts help.

John

[frank abramonte]

Bob, I have an epson Perfection 1670 scanner which scans both slides and photos. It works just fine and the accompanying software is good. It also comes with optical recognition software for scanning editable text. I purchased it mainly, like you, to digitize many old slides and photos. I paid $130 for the scanner. For your goals I don't think you have to invest $350 for the 4990. You can adjust your scans in Elements.

[Light and Shadow]

If you have a lot of film and slides to scan I recommend the HP 4890. The bed allows you to scan 16 35 mm slides, 30 35mm negs or 6 medium format negs at a time. I have the capability to scan 35mm medium format to full page negs/tranparencies. The resolution if 4800X9600 optical resolution giving you a great deal of enlargement capability

I have owned an Epsons 2450. In it's day is was a great scanner. But I have not seen an epson flat bed that offers the productivity the HP can do at consumer level.

Cost to me was under $200

[Ric Cisson]

Most Bang for your Buck and quality for the price and down right awesome slide scans, the Epson V-700 or Epson V750 at the high end and for the more moderately priced dependable work horse with emphasis on quality the Microtek i-800. All three I have worked with and all three are solid performers. I also endorse the Epson 4990, though I am not as excited about the quality of slide scans from this beauty as I am of the three I formally mentioned here. If your pocket book won't allow you to reach into the $349 and above price range, Epson has a wonderful little scanner in the V-100. The V-100 is a jewel of a scanner as it allows for 3D scanning and does a very commendable job too I might add. I have played with this little "toy" and it is priced just right, around $99 to $119.:cool: