Slide scanning - rent a scanner or hire a service?

jcdill

A friend needs to have about 100 33mm slides scanned. I'm looking for recommendations for services that do high resolution (4000/4800 dpi or higher, 16 bit) scans, as well as feedback from anyone who has rented a slide scanner and done it themselves.

Thanks!

jc

ChrisJ

Just FYI, There are several threads on this topic if you do a search...

My personal opinion is that if you need to scan 100 slides, have them done by a professional. It takes a *lot* of time to scan and edit that many. I've never used an online service, but I've found local places that will do it for ~$1-$2 per slide.

ziggy53

JC,

Understand that after a certain point, scan resolution is meaningless as film grain becomes dominant. Other factors like film flatness also play into the process.

What film type are the slides? (Kodachromes require a different treatment, potentially, from Ektachromes e.g., to achieve best results.)

What mount are the slides? (Glass mounts require a different procedure for best results.)

What condition are the slides? Scratches? Dust? Mildew/mold? Fading?

I have found that, almost regardless of the process, the best results from slide/negative scans are no better than approximately 6MP digital images. Is that sufficient for the friends needs?

Drum scans are more expensive than other scan methods, but sometimes are worth it to retain the best detail and color. Does your friend have expectations for cost versus quality?

My personal experience is with a Minolta Scan Dual IV. This is an entry level scanner of 3200 dpi optical resolution (4300x2900) and a fairly genuine DMax of 4.8. (It still takes multiple scans to achieve the best exposure sometimes.)

At around $250, amortized across 100 slides, it would be a pretty economical means to the ends.

My other experience is with drum scanned medium format transparencies. While the results are frankly gorgeous, it did require sending the originals away, which always made me nervous. The last time I used that service was last year, 2005, and I think we paid $12 per trans for ~6MP scans. It was a rush, and they were doing us a favor, otherwise it would have been more resolution and a bit more costly per scan.

ziggy53

jcdill

ChrisJ wrote:

JMy personal opinion is that if you need to scan 100 slides, have them done by a professional. It takes a *lot* of time to scan and edit that many. I've never used an online service, but I've found local places that will do it for ~$1-$2 per slide.

I'm having a hard time finding local high resolution scanning for ~$2 per slide. I found $25 per slide (4thststudios.com in San Francisco). The other local scanning services are not scanning in high resolution. One top-end photography shop told me they scan slides at 400 ppi!

jcdill

ziggy53 wrote:

Understand that after a certain point, scan resolution is meaningless as film grain becomes dominant. Other factors like film flatness also play into the process.

Yeah, I know. Still, there will be a difference between 400 ppi, 2000 ppi, and 4800 ppi. And we are looking for 16 bit - most of these services are only using 8 bits.

ziggy53 wrote:

What film type are the slides? (Kodachromes require a different treatment, potentially, from Ektachromes e.g., to achieve best results.)

Mostly Kodachrome.

ziggy53 wrote:

What mount are the slides? (Glass mounts require a different procedure for best results.)

What condition are the slides? Scratches? Dust? Mildew/mold? Fading?

Cardboard mounts, slides in good condition, not faded.

ziggy53 wrote:

I have found that, almost regardless of the process, the best results from slide/negative scans are no better than approximately 6MP digital images. Is that sufficient for the friends needs?

I'm hoping to get higher quality. He has large (12x16) prints from the slides that are old and faded, but very sharp. He want similar quality when he prints from the scans.

ziggy53 wrote:

Drum scans are more expensive than other scan methods, but sometimes are worth it to retain the best detail and color. Does your friend have expectations for cost versus quality?

We don't have the budget for drum scanning. ~$2 per slide is doable, ~$25 per slide isn't.

ziggy53 wrote:

My personal experience is with a Minolta Scan Dual IV. This is an entry level scanner of 3200 dpi optical resolution (4300x2900) and a fairly genuine DMax of 4.8. (It still takes multiple scans to achieve the best exposure sometimes.)

At around $250, amortized across 100 slides, it would be a pretty economical means to the ends.

We can rent either of these slide scanners for 3 days (Saturday pickup, Monday return):

Nikon Coolscan 4000 dpi $60
Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 2 5400 dpi $40

SteveBennett

Hi PC -

I would suggest that you send the slides out to a scanning service like the one that I own (Pixmonix - http://www.pixmonix.com).

For about $1 per slide, you will get high resolution (4000 PPI) scans with ICE, color and exposure correction. The project will be completed much faster than you could ever do it yourself and quite likely at a lower overall cost. You will have the high resolution TIFF files for further manipulation in Photoshop/etc., but you should expect to get digital images that require no additional work for almost all uses.

There are occasions where poeple want to go the extra miles and have slides drum scanned. I believe that this is very rare. My suggestion is that you take the fast and inexpensive path (i.e., ~$1 per slide). Then, only if you have a particularly special image that may benefit from the wet mounting you can send it out to a high-end drum scanning lab (at a cost of tens of dollars per image).

Perhaps trying just a few slides is the right answer - this will let you see the quality that you can get for $1 per slide. Then you can decide if you need to spend money with a service like Pixmonix or do it yourself. We offer 15 free scans for new customers; please take us up on this offer!

Best regards --

--Steve
Pixmonix Slide and Negative Scanning Services