[Steve Yun]

I bought a high-res flatbed scanner to do slides, but there was too much light seeping everywhere and it was mucking up a lot of the slides with thin line art. It's my opinion now that I need to get a dedicated slide scanner. My budget's under $800.

Can anyone recommend me a good slide scanner that's PC/Mac?

[tjcrebs]

Hi Steve.

I've been fairly pleased with my Pacific Image PrimeFilm 1800i 35mm Film and slide scanner. I bought mine from outpost.com for $199.95; check it out at www.scanace.com.

Max resolution is only 1800 dpi, but this resolution has been fine for my technical slides. The bundled Cyberview scanner software is a bit clunky; but its TWAIN plugins work well with Photoshop or PhotoDeluxe. Scanner software is included for both Mac and PC; and it uses a USB interface.

Good Luck, T.

[elzinat]

as future reference for the other forum users, what scanner have you been using? and what are your scanning needs-resolution, color, etc.? I have an Epson Perfection 1200u with the transparency adapter and find it performs excellently scanning slides of paintings (I only work at up to 1200 dpi, though the scanner goes to 2400).
as for slide scanners, I've heard great things about the Nikon CoolScan (this is a link for the cheapest model, $800). It's a SCSI device which comes with a PCI SCSI card, and is Mac and PC compatible, TWAIN compliant, etc.

[This message has been edited by elzinat (edited 03-31-2001).]

[Steve Yun]

I was using a Umax Astra 6450. The problem with flatbeds is that they don't seem to have the focusing accuracy I require for scanning slides of line art. I work with anime.

So...Nikon it is. I've asked on Ars Technica, and asked my brother, and the first thing everyone said was "Nikon." I'm sold.

Now, where can I buy the Coolscan3 right away? I tried PC Mall, but they're backordered. Outpost only has the Coolscan4, which is a little more expensive than I wanted. Macwarehouse/Microwarehouse only has the Coolscan4 USB. Clubmac doesn't have the 3 in stock. Anyone know other places where they might have it in stock?

If not, I might have to pony up for the Coolscan4.

[Feathers]

How about the original Minolta Dimage Scan Dual, the scsi version is now heavily discounted 'cos it's being replaced by the Scandual II, that's USB which I personally think is crazy for a decent scanner.

I have the ScanDual and a Umax Powerlook III Flatbed, that pretty much covers all the bases. If you want REALLY GOOD objective analysis of scanners, go here:
http://www.cix.co.uk/~tsphoto/

It's excellent!

[Feathers]

PS - FYI my "scan station" is a RevB iMac with a Formac iProRaid Scsi card in the mezz slot and a Newer G4/433 upgrade! - Both scanners are scsi.

PPS - The CRT in the original A-D iMacs is FAR superior to the distorted THING in the newer machines that WILL NOT calibrate properly.

[Steve Yun]

Feathers thank you thank you thank you for that link. I was checking out the Canon slide scanner as well, and it looks like I can get the required quality for $550. The slides aren't the best in the world, so something like the Nikons might have been overkill