Slide, negative, scanning?

[megaphone]

I've just found all our old family slides and negs in a box in the loft. I'd like to digitise these so I can share with the family. I have dug out my old Epson photo/slide scanners, Perfection 3590, 3490, which I haven't used for a few years, neither will work properly, either with my Mac or an older W7 laptop. Not sure why, getting error messages and can't even preview.

So maybe time for a newer quicker option, any recommendations? Mainly slides and negatives to do, I see these 'no-brand' stand alone units for under £100, anyone used one? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285120295766?hash=item4...

Ideally want to scan straight onto a Mac running latest OS.

Want reasonable quality and res, these will mainly be viewed a few times by family on their phones etc, then not looked at again for years.

Max budget £200 ish?

Edited by megaphone on Sunday 5th February 11:18

[droopsnoot]

Lidl are doing one at the moment (well, it's in their catalogue) for about £40 which is similar to the one I got from Maplins. It's OK if the images you want to scan are the usual holiday snap kind of thing, and you want to see old family photos etc. It's not great, if the images are top quality then it won't be suitable. But it's a cheap way to share them.

Have a search for "slide scanner", there are a few threads with recommendations on specific brands and models that are good.

[Mr Pointy]

Vuescan acts a driver for older scanners - there are Mac & Windows versions. The trial version adds a watermark but you can see if it works with your scanners or not.
https://www.hamrick.com/

[ae111sr]

+1 for Namrick Vuescan software but only available for Windows. I’ve been using it for years with my “Epson Perfection 1240U Photo” scanner – now 22 years old and still working well.

[Mr Pointy]

ae111sr said:

+1 for Namrick Vuescan software but only available for Windows. I’ve been using it for years with my “Epson Perfection 1240U Photo” scanner – now 22 years old and still working well.

According to the download page there are Mac versions as well:
https://www.hamrick.com/alternate-versions.html

[ae111sr]

Mr Pointy said:

According to the download page there are Mac versions as well:
https://www.hamrick.com/alternate-versions.html

I hadn't seen that before, thanks for pointing it out.

[GT03ROB]

I had a slide scanner for a while. Being honest it really wasn't worth the time & hassle.

I think I would pay somebody to do it in the future. It was just too time consuming.

[EliseNick]

GT03ROB said:

I had a slide scanner for a while. Being honest it really wasn't worth the time & hassle.

I think I would pay somebody to do it in the future. It was just too time consuming.

I had a slide scanner at some point and I agree with the above. If you have loads to do, it's really tedious, if you have a few to do then just borrow one. Either way paying someone to do it will almost certainly give a better quality.

[megaphone]

Mr Pointy said:

Vuescan acts a driver for older scanners - there are Mac & Windows versions. The trial version adds a watermark but you can see if it works with your scanners or not.
https://www.hamrick.com/

Thanks

I might give it a go. However I think the scanners are actually faulty, I have the Epson software and drivers loaded on the W7 laptop, they are physically scanning however the images are not coming through properly. I also tried using the Mac's own Image Scan App, it recognises the scanners, just getting corrupted scans.

[megaphone]

droopsnoot said:

Lidl are doing one at the moment (well, it's in their catalogue) for about £40 which is similar to the one I got from Maplins. It's OK if the images you want to scan are the usual holiday snap kind of thing, and you want to see old family photos etc. It's not great, if the images are top quality then it won't be suitable. But it's a cheap way to share them.

Have a search for "slide scanner", there are a few threads with recommendations on specific brands and models that are good.

Thanks the Lidl Silvercrest scanner is available from Thursday, I'll go in and take a look, I can always try it and take it back if it's no good.

[megaphone]

EliseNick said:

GT03ROB said:

I had a slide scanner for a while. Being honest it really wasn't worth the time & hassle.

I think I would pay somebody to do it in the future. It was just too time consuming.

I had a slide scanner at some point and I agree with the above. If you have loads to do, it's really tedious, if you have a few to do then just borrow one. Either way paying someone to do it will almost certainly give a better quality.

Yes get your point, I have a few hundred to do, but am happy to sit and do it whilst I'm watching TV etc.

[Riley Blue]

megaphone said:

droopsnoot said:

Lidl are doing one at the moment (well, it's in their catalogue) for about £40 which is similar to the one I got from Maplins. It's OK if the images you want to scan are the usual holiday snap kind of thing, and you want to see old family photos etc. It's not great, if the images are top quality then it won't be suitable. But it's a cheap way to share them.

Have a search for "slide scanner", there are a few threads with recommendations on specific brands and models that are good.

Thanks the Lidl Silvercrest scanner is available from Thursday, I'll go in and take a look, I can always try it and take it back if it's no good.

I use a Lidl scanner with the Vuescan software to scan my B/W negatives. I've several thousand in total though it's the motorsport ones from the 1970s I'm keen to see, maybe 300-400.

It's a clunky set up, fiddly and frustrating to use and my negatives are in strips, not individual transparencies, so throughput isn't so slow. You have to flip open the carrier, insert the strip, make sure it's correctly positioned for each scan, preview it etc. etc. It takes an age per neg., so long that after an hour or so I put it to one side before my head explodes - but that's Lidl technology for you.

[megaphone]

Riley Blue said:

megaphone said:

droopsnoot said:

Lidl are doing one at the moment (well, it's in their catalogue) for about £40 which is similar to the one I got from Maplins. It's OK if the images you want to scan are the usual holiday snap kind of thing, and you want to see old family photos etc. It's not great, if the images are top quality then it won't be suitable. But it's a cheap way to share them.

Have a search for "slide scanner", there are a few threads with recommendations on specific brands and models that are good.

Thanks the Lidl Silvercrest scanner is available from Thursday, I'll go in and take a look, I can always try it and take it back if it's no good.

I use a Lidl scanner with the Vuescan software to scan my B/W negatives. I've several thousand in total though it's the motorsport ones from the 1970s I'm keen to see, maybe 300-400.

It's a clunky set up, fiddly and frustrating to use and my negatives are in strips, not individual transparencies, so throughput isn't so slow. You have to flip open the carrier, insert the strip, make sure it's correctly positioned for each scan, preview it etc. etc. It takes an age per neg., so long that after an hour or so I put it to one side before my head explodes - but that's Lidl technology for you.

Thanks for that, yes it does look a low end product, I'm happy to pay more for something a bit better.

[sgrimshaw]

The no brand cheap ones you refer to are crap.

Better off with a cheap light box, your phone camera and an app like Filmbox.

Eg

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BKW6ZJD6?tag=track-e...

If you want quality at a reasonable price, the Plustek OpticFilm scanners are pretty good for the money.

[9.3]

I have a Plustek Optical scanner. Bit fiddly but perfectly acceptable images (not high quality) after a bit of post production.

[Mr Pointy]

The big advantage of the "proper" scanners like the Plustek is the automatic dust & scratch removal using an infra-red scan pass.

[megaphone]

sgrimshaw said:

The no brand cheap ones you refer to are crap.

Better off with a cheap light box, your phone camera and an app like Filmbox.

Eg

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BKW6ZJD6?tag=track-e...

If you want quality at a reasonable price, the Plustek OpticFilm scanners are pretty good for the money.

Thanks, thats an option I didn't think about, I'll try the app and cobble a light source together and give it a try.

[Simpo Two]

megaphone said:

sgrimshaw said:

The no brand cheap ones you refer to are crap.

Better off with a cheap light box, your phone camera and an app like Filmbox.

Eg

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BKW6ZJD6?tag=track-e...

If you want quality at a reasonable price, the Plustek OpticFilm scanners are pretty good for the money.

Thanks, thats an option I didn't think about, I'll try the app and cobble a light source together and give it a try.

I did that and used a DSLR with macro lens. Taking a photo is much quicker than scanning!

[C n C]

Simpo Two said:

megaphone said:

sgrimshaw said:

The no brand cheap ones you refer to are crap.

Better off with a cheap light box, your phone camera and an app like Filmbox.

Eg

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BKW6ZJD6?tag=track-e...

If you want quality at a reasonable price, the Plustek OpticFilm scanners are pretty good for the money.

Thanks, thats an option I didn't think about, I'll try the app and cobble a light source together and give it a try.

I did that and used a DSLR with macro lens. Taking a photo is much quicker than scanning!

+1 to this option.

You can get slide copier/holders which attach to the filter ring of a macro lens, which makes holding the slide/negative easier.

This one is what I bought, but is no longer available from Amazon. Other similar products are available. If you've got a decent macro lens, then removing any lens built into the copier is a good idea to further improve image quality. On the one linked above, this was simply a case of unscrewing the built in lens, and just using a macro lens on the camera for the image.

As the slide copier is really only a tube with a slide holder, you can make up something yourself if you fancy a bit of DIY. One example here.

For a light source, I use an off-camera flash to illuminate the slide/negative from behind.

The only downside is it doesn't have automated IR/dust removal, but as long as the slide is clean (quick blast of compressed air to remove dust), any scratches/dust that have a marked impact on image quality can easily be remove in post-processing if needed.

The big advantage of this approach is that it is an awful lot quicker than using a scanner, and it's a lot less expensive. If you don't already have a decent macro lens and extension tubes, then man-maths can make a good case for spending money on these (which can be used also for macro photography), as opposed to buying a dedicated film scanner, which has only one use.

ETA - these are some Kodachrome slides I originally took in 1984. At the time I copied them (2016), I didn't actually have a proper macro lens, so used extension tubes with a Canon 24-105mm F4L.

Sign by conradsphotos, on Flickr

Boat by conradsphotos, on Flickr

Buoys by conradsphotos, on Flickr

Edited by C n C on Monday 13th February 16:44