Scanner for 33mm slides, old B&W and color negatives and prints

Hi-

Any experience with this or other scanners?
What is the quality of the scanned images?

I use a Nikon Coolscan slide and film (35mm) scanner. I have always relied on, and been happy with, Nikon scanners and products. So does National Geographic....... I use the scanner for digitizing underwater photos, and travel photos, and always get excellent results.

I see HP has a new HP Scanjet G-4050, which will scan 16 35 mm slides and 30 negatives at one time

As far as the scanner that you referenced, you might want to look at the following review:

http://reviews.cnet.com/HPScanjet_G4050/4505-31367-32304979.html

I would be worried about the color reproduction on that particular scanner, especially if pro like scans are expected. A reference to weak drivers and slide handling is also not a strong endorsement of this scanner (though, fairly cheap).

First, what are some recommended scanners?

Check out the following link for more reviews on various makers:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4566-3136_7-0.html?tag=dir

How hard is it to do this? Is there some special software to go from my hard drive to i Photo?

Most all scanners are bundled with scan software, and have the ability to touch up/adjust levels on the scans. Software is very important, and the versatility of the software, and select-ability of color profiles is important. In this regard, I have always relied on, and received excellent results with Nikon.

Third party scan software like Silverfast, and Vuescan, also provide quality image editing capability, and broad scanner support.

Once your images are scanned, you can then import them into iPhoto, or, catalogue them using other software (as with any other photo).

G4 AGP(450)Sawtooth, 2ghz PowerLogix, 1.62gb SDRAM, 120gb+160gb HDD Mac OS X (10.4.8) ATI Radeon 9800, Pioneer DVR-109, LaCie 160gb, 23" Cinema Display, Ratoc USB2.0

Anchor 57:


Welcome to the Apple Discussions. I do want to caution you to the fact that the slide/file strip only scanners are one trick ponys. When you're done with scanning your slides you'll have a nice door stop on your hands. That's what I did backin '97. There were no flatbed scanners that could do slides so I had to buy a Polaroid Sprintscan LE. At the time it was very expensive. I justified it with the fact that I had 500 slides to scan. It took me 3 years to complete that project and I now have that nice door stop in my closet.

If you're goingto have a continuning need to scan slides then a dedicated scanner very well might be your best option. But if not, then give a dual purpose flatbed scanner some consideration. At least you'll have a useful tool when the slide scanning is done.

Do you Twango?

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

My door stop is the SprintScan. I now have a Canon 8600F flatbed scanner that will scan 6 or 8 slides at a time. I haven't tried it on slides yet.

I decided to put our family history on DVD with iDVD. I digitized over 5000 slides and 5000 photos dating from 1906 to the present. I also digitized all of our family videos and 8mm movies dating back to my parents wedding. I put all of them in iDVD slideshow projects by year and month. Ever since going digital I collect all of the family's photos at the end of each year and create slideshows by month for the year and distribute the DVDs to each kid. We're up to 28 DVDs in the project. I'm currently working on the 2006 project. Keeps me off the streets.

Another thing I do for each grandchild is create a hardcover book of their first year, ending with their first birthday. Great give for the parents as well as the grandchild. I take them try their first haircut, first bath, etc. The kids know to take lots of photos at least for that first year so I can produce the book.

We lived in West Carrolton near the Cox Arboretium for 5 years, 1969-74.

Hi Anchor57

I used an Epson Perfection 2580 flatbed and slide scanner, quite successfully, converting my father's 35 mm slides from out childhood to digital. I got some amazing 11 X 8" prints from that project, possible because the DPI scanning resolution could be set very high and there was still room to go higher but not needed, and so was able translate into a detailed output at the printer - in fact there was no grainyness at all.
This scanner also allowed film negative strips to be fed in and sampled five at a time. Then choosing inverse you get the positive image, whether black or white or colour negs.
This scanner is no doorstop, whilst I have completed the sentimental journey of scanning over one thousand slides, it is still useful as a flatbed scanner.

This was about two years ago, the model would be updateed by now, and it cost about AUD$380

regards roam

I bought a used HP Scanjet 4670 for $50 and am extremely pleased with it. It scans photos, slides, and negatives. It only will scan one at a time, but hey, I'm retired and have lots of time.