[tadd]

I'm looking to purchase a scanner to scan 35mm negatives. Price IS an object but I'm mostly looking for the current best buy while not getting something horrible.

Nikon's Coolscan 2000 looks good at $1400 but it's held a price near that for 2 years! Is it about to plummet to a much better price? ...or get replaced by a much better unit for a better price? Minolta has some scanners in the sub $500 range but I can't find a dealer that can tell me about them. It seems they have a dozen models or so but I can only find one for sale.

I have a PowerTower180 with SCSI, and a PowerMac G4 with firewire and USB. They are networked so although I could use Firewire or USB for input, having the SCSI unit wouldn't be a hardship. I would also get a SCSI card for the G4 if the PowerTower turned out to be slow in operating the scanner.

So.. I'd rather have a scanner that is in the $500 range but I'll spend more if the quality of scans is much better.
I'd also get SCSI over USB if the scans are noticably faster.

Please post ANY recommendations or experience. Also feel free to direct me to other fora

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Tadd Torborg

[blindspot]

i know you're looking at a 35 mm film scanner, but i thought this might be helpful.

i have a epson 1200u photo, which is a desktop scanner with a transparency adapter. i shoot a variety of negative formats, which is why i bought this over a film scanner. the epson can handle negatives all the way up to 4"x5". this epson is the only sub $500 scanner that i've found that can do this. i was initially reluctant of buying a flatbed to do film, but it really does a wonderful job. the color is crisp and brilliant, and the scans really look good. and i've found it convienent to have both transparency and reflective options.

oh, it's a usb interface, but it still seems pretty quick.

..just my 2 cents...

[This message has been edited by blindspot (edited 07-31-2000).]

[solecist]

Hello,

I'm a photography student and my ONLY option due to budget was the 1200S and transparency which I managed to get from Buy.com for about 300 total. I was suspicious of the quality but I NEEDED a scanner, and a film scanner to handle my 4x5 and this was my only option.

For the Results. I couldn't be happier for the price I paid. The 4x5 scans aren't great, but they're not bad for the web-which is what I really needed. If you're going to do ANY justice to a 4x5 you had better drum scan it. As far a 35mm goes It does an excellent job, although again I've only been using it for the web-haven't printed any.

SCSI is faster than USB, but only really noticable once you're scanning 20+ MB scanns. My site has scans from 4x5 and 35mm. Here are the URLs:
http://solecism.net/galleries/concerts/waiting/ - all photos were from 35mm scanned on the transparency adapter through photoshop 5.5 if you want to see a larger file than is there you can write me and I'll put it on freedrive for you to print.
http://solecism.net/Galleries/portfo...hanatopsis.htm - is the 4x5, not anythhing close to the real 16x20 but satisfactory.

hope that helps.

neil

[elzinat]

also have the epson perfection 1200u with transparency adapter. scsi is faster than usb so I spent the extra money to get the scsi version (which comes with a scsi pci card- also, a scsi card is just a good thing to have) for my G4. it is a very good scanner. I use it mostly for scanning slides (so I do not know exactly how it fares with negatives), but the image quality is always great. the colors come out very clean, the resolution is very good (2400 dpi optical) and also having a flatbed is more versatile than just a film scanner (you may think you just want the film scanner, but you will end up using the flatbed). I strongly recommend this scanner. list ~$400 w/adapter, but you can always find deals.

[tadd]

http://www.ritzcamera.com has two Macintosh compatable SCSI film scanners, a Minolta at $500, and a Nikon at $800.

Key word is "film scanner" on the ritz website.

Tadd

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Tadd Torborg

Tadd,
If you haven't already made a purchase (or even if you have) I would strongly recommend you check out www.scanace.com
The manufacturer is Pacific Image and the product is PrimeFilm1800.
I bought one about three months ago and have been quite pleased. It is STRICTLY 35MM but does negs and tranparency with equal quality. The best part is the price ~$200. USB only but works very well, as does the software. Email me if you want more info.

Rick

[This message has been edited by MacPhan (edited 09-03-2000).]