10-29-2006, 04:56 PM

I have about 1,500 color slides (mostly Kodachrome) and another 1,000 negatives (color and b&w) that I want to scan. I am having difficulty figuring out the best way to get this done.

I was thinking I would buy the Nikon Coolscan V ED for about $600, get my scanning done, then sell the scanner for maybe $400. But, then I started reading reviews and user comments about this Coolscan and now I'm not so sure.

Among other things, users say this Coolscan is horribly slow, taking five minutes or so per image -- as opposed to the advertised 40 seconds. Other users complain about the software and user interface.

Some users praise the quality of the scans. Others rave about the software that cleans up scratches. That's great, but I don't really need 64MB image scans.

I've looked at higher priced Nikon slide and film scanners, and I've also tried to find other brands. No luck yet.

Five years ago in my pre-Mac days, I had an HP PhotoSmart S20 film scanner. Worked great. HP no longer makes this scanner and I don't believe HP ever made a Mac version. I've considered buying a used PhotoSmart and installing Windows on my MacBook -- not the best solution, but it might work.

So, my goal is to scan an old collection of slides and negatives. I just want to scan and I don't need any additional sorting or imaging software. I will use iPhoto for sorting and PhotoShop Elements for processing.

I was hoping to spend no more than $500 for a scanner -- buying a new one, then selling it after the project was done. I'm not stuck on Nikon and will consider any other brand of dedicated 35mm slide and negative scanner.

Any suggestions and experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken Smith

10-30-2006, 11:35 AM

Have you called your local shop to see what they would charge per image to do the lot for you? I can see that many images being very time consuming no matter what scanner you purchase.

Sorry, I do not own a nice scanner so cannot be of any real help with an opinion on that one or any other model.

10-30-2006, 10:18 PM

While if you buy used, you may want to look a Hamrick's Vuescan. The HP S20 you mention is on this list, but only for the Windows version because the software uses the HP-supplied libraries.