35mm & Film Negatives to Digital Imagery

[interested_observer]

I remember some time back that someone asked about converting a number of 35mm slides into digital images, and there apparently were few options available. I just happened to be reading the paper over dinner this evening and saw an ad for Hammacher Schlemmer - they have a slide and negative converter for $99. Converts to 5MP, 10 bits per pixel, up to 1,800 dpi with a USB interface.

Here is the link...

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/74083.asp?promo=slide#

I don't know anything about it, just what I read, Hope it helps....

[interested_observer]

After I made the post, I started wondering if there were now other options, so I started to do some searching...

4.2MP $149 - http://www.firststreetonline.com/product.jsp?id=77195
18MP $249 - http://www.firststreetonline.com/product.jsp?id=79628
$200 - http://www.nextag.com/Plustek-OpticF...2/reviews-html

There are probably more out there, at the time several months ago, it appeared that there was nothing other than services...

[ennacac]

I would doubt that this product works very well, but then I also have never even seen it used or know anyone that has one.

It only scans at 1,800 dpi, which seem like a lot, but most slide scanners scann at 4,200 dpi in order to bring that tiny scan (the size of a slide) up to 8x10 at 300 dpi.

Tom

[Wingman]

interested_observer wrote:

I remember some time back that someone asked about converting a number of 35mm slides into digital images, and there apparently were few options available. I just happened to be reading the paper over dinner this evening and saw an ad for Hammacher Schlemmer - they have a slide and negative converter for $99. Converts to 5MP, 10 bits per pixel, up to 1,800 dpi with a USB interface.

Here is the link...

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/74083.asp?promo=slide#

I don't know anything about it, just what I read, Hope it helps....

I actually purchased this unit from Hammacher/S and tried it out. It was "OK". I considered it as an alternative to the Opteka device that attached to a lens through which you photograph the slides. I thought thre results through the Opteka were a tad better (had more control since I was using a camera). In any event, I returned the scanner to H/S.

Conclusion: It does what it claims with an acceptable result. A big plus over the Opteka is that it scans directly to the PC.

Jay

[ennacac]

What is wrong with using a flatbed scanner like the Canon 9950F with a Photo top or a dedicated film scanner like the Nikon Coolscan LS 4000?

Tom