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View Full Version : Something that may interest people wanting to scan film/slides



Miaow
01-09-2009, 8:25pm
Thought this may interest people :)


In the junk mail delivered today is a catalogue from Sams Warehouse (that used to be the warehouse down here) - any way they have a 5mp Film Scanner advertised for $69 - says will scan film or mounted slides and is for XP or Vista.

Might pick one up myself :)

Edited: to add : This sale starts on 3rd Sept - they havent as yet got this catalogue showing on their website is still the old one
http://catalogues.samswarehouse.com.au/portal/

old dog
01-09-2009, 8:27pm
sounds good Cat. I`d love to redo some old photos of mine and especially some of my boys when they were smaller. Might have to sweettalk the ex wife though.

Redgum
01-09-2009, 8:30pm
Sweettalk Graeme? Is that for the photos or the $69?
Scanner sounds really good. Any brand details?

Miaow
01-09-2009, 8:35pm
Graeme, I'm sure you can get permission - seems quite cheap - not sure on how good the brand is....

Edited to add just noticed the sweettalk ex wife - I gather to get the pics...

Redgum - Brand in pic says otek?

Edited to add cant seem to find any details on net - is a pic of one on deals direct site but looks different so not sure is the same one - im sure the catalogue should update tomorrow night on their site

MarkW
01-09-2009, 9:41pm
Cat
Just be prepared to spend a bit of time in PS. Most crappy scanners seem to add a blue to green colour cast to the transparency. Your not supposed to get this with the hi quality read big dollar transparency scanners but at over $1k I just spend the time in PShop.

Miaow
01-09-2009, 9:48pm
Thanks for the info Mark - Yeah for the money spending a bit of time pp may not be too bad a thing when you compare the price of the good ones to this....

jev
01-09-2009, 10:09pm
Better yet: get yourself a copy of some good scanning software like vuescan to get it right from the start. Don't count on this scanner to provide scratch- and dust removal either.

Krzys
01-09-2009, 11:15pm
Really not worth the money....hunt on ebay/classifieds and find a real scanner...

I got a Canoscan 8400f for $100 and Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 for $30.

MarkW
02-09-2009, 8:25am
As transparencies are really an obsolete technology at least as far as the general ameteur photographer goes, transparency scanners are really a one off use. You scan the slides you have at home then the equipment becomes redundant.

Advantage: - There will be many people who will purchase a good quality (not necessarily high end gear but at least well made with quality parts) scanner and at the end of their scanning will try to sell it. Of course nobody will want this sort of gear so the price will get lower and lower until somebody eventually buys it. If its you, you got it for a good price and has probably had very little use.

Disadvantage: - Now your stuck with redundant gear.

Of course there will always be retailers who see a job lot of crap gear and try to sell it, ie $69 scanners. Maybe they will work well or maybe they will have miniscule sensors giving rubbish results. I don't know that I would be bothered wasting my money on these. I'm yet to see the depth of a transparency (what I see through a loupe and a white table) re-created in a digital image without high end gear. I've tried a number of times to scan my slides with varying success (varied from crap to disgusting). I'll wait until I can find a Nikon CScan 5000 going cheap.

Miaow
02-09-2009, 8:49am
I just have one box of slides of my mums that I received a couple weeks ago - they are the only slides I want to try and scan so for me getting maybe a not great one cheapish (even if need pp) might be the way to go...

Trev's dad said he could do a few on his scanner but he doesnt really have the time to do a heap of them so thats why when I noticed this thought maybe a good idea :)

Redgum
02-09-2009, 8:53am
Or better still use an external service to digitally transfer the piccies from hard copy to digital. Fine for small numbers and I simply charge the client anyway. Probably about $15/$30 each if you know the processor and depending on the outcome required. Cheaper if you do your own Photoshopping.
If it's for your own collection even cheaper scanners will work fine if the resolution is high. Mind you, there are some very expensive scanners with low resolution.
In Brisbane there are a couple of agencies around that do bulk transfers that are inexpensive. Worth a look.

Miaow
02-09-2009, 9:02am
Cant really afford to get these scanned professionally :/ is a reasonaly sized box so prob about over 100 slides in it - would cost too much - think for $69 I'll pick one up and see how goes

Miaow
02-09-2009, 10:33pm
Well if our local Sams have it tomorrow I'm going to get one of these and will post reuslts :)

Redgum
02-09-2009, 11:12pm
Great, love to hear how you go.

Miaow
03-09-2009, 8:03am
Hopefully it will do a reasonable job lol

They have updated the catalogue on the site also show shows the pic of it - is on the inside of the front cover
http://catalogues.samswarehouse.com.au/portal/dynamiccatalogue?CatalogueID=12518643377565&pageview=two&gotopage=1

Edited to add: if it does have a colour cast how do i go about correcting it in pp?

Redgum
03-09-2009, 8:35am
Maybe you should read this thread - and others - not happy chappies with Otek.
http://forums.techguy.org/digital-photography-imaging/780011-otek-negative-film-image-scanner.html

Miaow
03-09-2009, 8:40am
Hmm doesnt sound good on there with the problems they have had but I may as well try it and hope be ok.... Hopefully the store would let it be returned if doesnt work ? might check on that when go down there

Miaow
03-09-2009, 2:49pm
Well luckily they did do refunds if was a problem (made sure i asked when got it) ended up it was very picky on needing USB 2 and as such refused to basically work on here without a heap of usb errors ARGH - ah well its back to the shop now

Krzys
03-09-2009, 2:54pm
Yes...find a real scanner

Redgum
03-09-2009, 3:03pm
Well luckily they did do refunds if was a problem (made sure i asked when got it) ended up it was very picky on needing USB 2 and as such refused to basically work on here without a heap of usb errors ARGH - ah well its back to the shop now
Thanks for doing the leg work. Saves us all a trip.

Miaow
03-09-2009, 3:08pm
I spose if you had USB 2 there might not have been a problem though - the guy in the shop said it was the 1st one ever returned

Redgum
03-09-2009, 3:14pm
USB2 is backward compatible, so it should work anyway.
What a line! "First one returned". Maybe they've only sold one? :D

Miaow
03-09-2009, 3:28pm
you'd think t would be backwards compatible but ummm no this didnt seem to be was even something written in the bootklet had to be USB 2 :/ I kept getting errors it was trying to access for more of the usb or something that it was allowed to allocate?

Redgum
03-09-2009, 3:46pm
It's a wonder they didn't try to sell you a new computer. Must be nice people down your way?

Miaow
03-09-2009, 3:56pm
Sams is a sorta like warehouse type place low prices and just about everything isnt a specialist place - not sure if they have comps actually lol

jev
03-09-2009, 6:29pm
USB2 is backward compatible, so it should work anyway.
Backward compatibility means your USB1 peripherals will work with a USB2 host, not necessarily the other way around.

Redgum
03-09-2009, 7:10pm
Not quite...

How does USB 2.0 and 1.1 work together?
You may have heard that USB 2.0 is "backward-compatible" with USB 1.0/1.1 (Full-Speed USB). While that's true, USB 1.1 is also forward-compatible with USB 2.0. Whenever a system has USB 2.0 ports, you'll find the "Enhanced" USB controller in Device Manager, but you will also find two other USB controllers.

These two to mantain backward compatibility to USB 1.1 devices. Each USB 2.0 host actually has 3 chips onboard. The USB controller routes signals to the correct controller chip depending on how a device is recognized. Where a device is physically plugged in has no bearing on how it is routed. All ports on a USB 2.0 motherboard can host any USB devices at all as long as the system and devices are healthy. The vast majority of USB 2.0 devices will work on older PCs and Macs. None should flat-out fail unless there are other issues with the system. Hi-Speed USB devices will revert to Full-Speed operation when connected this way
Put simply, if the so-called USB2 device is not talking to a USB1.1 PC the device itself does not meet the basic USB standard. And that's what we discovered.
Of course, Miaow could have bought a USB2 card for about $12 and rectified the problem but if the manufacturer of the device can't get this right, why bother.

Miaow
04-09-2009, 8:10am
Actually i had no idea you could get usb 2 cards :o I was thinking it would be something on newer comps lol hmm never know i way think of that for future

rookie
04-09-2009, 8:46am
To put slides to disc is 75c each / $75 a 100 at the photo shop and you dont have to do the work :th3:

Miaow
10-09-2009, 4:22pm
Well I'm going to try this again today getting another one now have USB 2 and a better comp - Hopefully this time it will work....

Redgum
10-09-2009, 4:30pm
Good luck. Let's know what happens. :)

Miaow
10-09-2009, 5:39pm
Well this scanners different than the one last week they had, smaller and less software and off course more expensive :rolleyes:

But yeah managed to get it to work... need some help on how to fix them up though i think lol not sure if its the slide or the scaner as such

Redgum
10-09-2009, 5:47pm
Hi Cat, another learning curve? Can you describe the results you're getting? Are you using maximum resolution?

Miaow
10-09-2009, 5:55pm
heres 3 pics :)
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=39309

Miaow
10-09-2009, 6:26pm
was using 1800 dpi i think?

jev
10-09-2009, 6:50pm
I mentioned it before and I'll mention it again: do yourself a favour and get your hands on some good scanning software. VueScan is really good - you tell it what film you use and how to scan it and it automatically corrects color based on the film. Works like a charm!

Miaow
10-09-2009, 6:59pm
yeah might have to look at that jev but i have no idea on what she used?

jev
10-09-2009, 7:16pm
Doesn't is say so on the film? Usually it's printed around the transportation holes. If not, you still can select from a "generic" category (at least in the crummy old version I have at home ;)). You can grab a trial here (http://www.hamrick.com/)

Miaow
11-09-2009, 8:50am
Its slides im scanning Jev so have their carboard on them - hmm though some say kodacrome etc

Edited to add its suddenly stopped working ARGH says cant find it? looks like im gonna have to replace it

GlennSan
11-09-2009, 9:15am
I'll wait until I can find a Nikon CScan 5000 going cheap. I keep praying for a cheap LS9000 to turn up for my 120 that I still shoot. I've been waiting for quite some time now ... :D

Miaow
11-09-2009, 11:15am
ah well have another now cause of the other stopping working - which was the original type is way better

Miaow
11-09-2009, 2:09pm
if anyone does get one of these scanners - get the one in the long black box not the one in the upright white box - the black box one is heaps better as is the software (arcsoft photoimpression)

Redgum
11-09-2009, 2:49pm
if anyone does get one of these scanners - get the one in the long black box not the one in the upright white box - the black box one is heaps better as is the software (arcsoft photoimpression)
I really think that now you are such an expert we should send all our scans to you. Okay? :)

Miaow
11-09-2009, 3:15pm
LOL im not an expert at all hence why i asked on the pp of them in that other post lol now if there was a way to remove all the dust off the slides or the pics easily :eek:

The black boxed one though is WAY better than the white boxed one

Krzys
11-09-2009, 7:22pm
Are we talking about cardboard?

Miaow
11-09-2009, 8:28pm
Are we talking about cardboard?

im talking about whats in the box lol

Krzys
11-09-2009, 8:59pm
My best advice would be to get a real brand and specific model :confused013

Miaow
11-09-2009, 9:23pm
My best advice would be to get a real brand and specific model :confused013

not all of have money to spend on good models....Some like me only have about 200-300 slides

ricktas
11-09-2009, 9:24pm
My best advice would be to get a real brand and specific model :confused013

Says he of the 'crappy scanner'!

Krzys
11-09-2009, 9:45pm
Flatbed film holders are terrible so sharpness lacks :( I have a dedicated film scanner but no SCSI card...one day I will try it out

Ofcourse my crappy is in comparison to my friend's V700 which is crappy compared to a Nikon CScan 5000 ect

$100 Canoscan 8400f
$35 Polariod Sprintscan 4000

Miaow
12-09-2009, 9:22am
this is a dedicated film/slide scanner - maybe not the best but does the job :)