Slide Scanner.

[John N]

I've recently purchased a slide / negative scanner, secondhand for a tenner, so I wasn't expecting much. It's a Neostar 10mb device and as far as I can see the same thing is available under the Kenro brand (but with a 14mb sensor). Has anyone used one of these and then moved onto something considerably better, an Epson or a Plustek and is able to describe the improvement.

My slides have not been kept in the best environment these past years, and some deteriration has occoured but I'd hope to able to retreive something better than I've managed so far.

Finally, can someone recommend a commercial scanner that can maybe 'clean' the slides as an alternative?

thanks.

[NathCarr91]

I've got an Epson V600 film scanner for my 35mm negatives. A quick Google tells me this also does slides.

I've noticed when I've been scanning them in, the software allows for restoration and retouching of images. Might be worth looking into

[Farider]

I have an Epson V800 flatbed scanner that came with a set of holders to accommodate both negatives and slides and they work well, the advantage is that you can mount a few at a time rather than scan singularly as I think the Plustek does.

The last time I did any scanning I used the Epson software to do corrections but also have Silverfast V8 software that has does corrections and has worked fine.

I appreciate the problem you are having with the slides, I have some old ones that have severely deteriorated and have had to scan them in B/W to get any usable image. Others though taken at the exactly same time however are absolutely fine. I do not know if the deterioration is linked to the make or how they were processed. The damaged slides for me are those taken while on holiday (in New Zealand as it happens during the 1980's) where they had to processed locally and quickly. Kodak slides seem to be better, I think the problem ones might be Agfa but I would need to check. The damage I have is not recoverable unfortunately. I have a suspicion that any correction will have to be done in software, I wouldn't have thought anything could be done on the slide itself.

Ian

[DrJon]

If you have a supported macro lens also consider "JJC ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter with 6500K USB LED Light Set" currently less than £60 from Amazon. The film strip holder is a bit of a pain, but you can get good results.
BTW I like using Negative Lab Pro for film conversions.