What scanner under $500

[mikephotog]

I have friend who needs to have 300+ slides scanned from the 40's 50's and 60's. She has had prices ranging from $2.50 to $5 per slide and has decided it would be better to purchase a scanner. She has a budget of -$500, any suggestions on brand/model? I'm thinking of something that is both an opaque flatbed scanner as well as film scanner.

[Biggzie]

I have a Canon 5000F, and Im using it to scan all my old negatives and my late fathers Slides, Negatives and old photos. Its a good little scanner.

1 of my friends bought the Canoscan 8300 which can do 3 times as many slides/negatives per scan, and Im seriously thinking about upgrading.

Where I used to work earlier in the year, they purchased a Canon 9000 series scanner which can to twice as much as the 8300, and they used it full time for about 9 months to scan all the old company photo records. They had very good results, but this scanner will blow your budget.

Hope that helps

[ATJ]

If she can stretch to just over $700, the Epson V700 is brilliant. I bought one a few weeks ago and have scanned a few slides. It does a fantastic job.

e.g. this is from a slide I took in 1984.



It takes a tray that holds 12 slides and I believe you can scan all 12 in one go (but I haven't tried it).

[mikephotog]

Thanks for the tips.

ATJ, I also have an Epson V700, fantastic unit...have you read about the V750 (i think thats what it's called) which can handle oil immersion. Not sure that it's available in Aus though.

Friend may go for the Epson V350.

[DaveB]

ATJ, I also have an Epson V700, fantastic unit...have you read about the V750 (i think thats what it's called) which can handle oil immersion.

The fluid mount accessory is available for both scanners, but it comes standard with the V750. I gather the major difference between the scanners is the glass (e.g. anti-reflective coatings on the V750).

I used a V700 recently to import a bunch of old slides. It does a great job, although there is a little chromatic aberration towards the edges of the bed (i.e. less noticeable on the centre column of slides). Hopefully that would be improved on the V750. Also it's a bit slow at high resolutions with ICE turned on, but it works well regardless!