Nikon Film Scanner

[Paddy]

Odd question but I guess this is the appropriate place for it.

My dad has a load of old 35mm slides from his parents and grandparents era. He was thinking about buying a film scanner to transfer them all over to the PC.

The model that has caught his eye is an LS 40 ED from Nikon. The problem is that it retails for ~£500.

While this is on the cheap end of the film scanners, it is still an expensive toy for what is realistically going to be a one time use.

I don't think that he will ever use it again after the initial scanning.
He has hunted for places that would rent them but can't find anything realistic.

Me being me suggested that he should find a store with a nice returns policy as he could easily complete the process in a weekend.

Has anyone here used a film scanner??? If so is this a good model?

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated!

TIA

Paddy.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

hmm, the epson perfection 3200 costs just over £300 & can also scan up to twelve 35mm slides at a time.

[Paddy]

Thanks Ayoub I'll mention it. Do you have any experience with this model?

[ayoub_ibrahim]

unfortunately no!
I've got the lesser 2400 model which only does negative scanning.

[az]

If you plan on returning it anyway, get the best you can

There are some models that have scratch and dust reduction not only in software, but with a second IR/UV (forgot) scanning pass - you really see no more scratches and dust anymore! I'd say this is worth it, especially if you don't have to pay for the scanner. Forgot which models did this though

AZ

[Paddy]

Well, i don't know if exploiting a returns policy is an option, but it is certainly one that i would persue...

[ayoub_ibrahim]

dare I say it but PC World seems to have a no quibble returns policy!

[Ribbit]

Well if you're going to screw someone with their own returns policy, I don't see why it shouldn't be PC World

[Paddy]

[Technoid]

Anything especialy bad with "PC World"?

[Fluff]

From my experience they wil give a refund of a small item (i.e. not a pc) within 28 days . Just to get rid of you and get on with the next customer..

[dave m]

we've got a 3200 at work, must be a dud as it scans a pale blue line down one side of whatever you scan in, but as we don't scan in A4 images haven't got round to sending it back. Does a reasonably good job on slides, but not as good as a dedicated film scanner. The canon and minolta ones are a fair bit cheaper than the Nikon, I believe. At home I've got a cheap and cheerful jenoptik film scanner which can produce good images if it's in a good mood, by which I mean if the slide isn't perfectly flat you can get some shadowing.

HTH
Dave

PS review of the jenoptik for your interest:

http://www.hektor.worldonline.co.uk/minox1/JS21.html

[dave m]

jenoptik

While wondering if they were still available I found a new one here for £125, they originally cost twice that.

http://www.teamworkphoto.com/used.html

Dave