35mm slide scanner Reviews

The 35mm slide scanner is been consider as one of the greatest technology of science. It has reduced the big storage problem of keeping the negatives. All the problems related to negative whether it is development of the negative or the enlargement of the picture, every problem can now be easily resolved by the help of these 35mm slide scanners.

The lifetime memories and the unforgettable occasion can now be easily stored by the help of the 35mm slides scanners. If you have some negatives of the family gathering or some special occasion happen in the past, then you can store these memory for a lifetime without bothering about this quality. Just make use of the 35mm slides scanners and relive the precious moment of life again.

Convert your negatives and older slides into new digital picture by the help of the 35mm slide scanners. These older slides and negative when changed into digital images can be uploaded online. You can send or email to your friend or family members living far away from you or you can just upload on any community site for some entertainment. These digital images can be stored into a PC can be watched after sometime when you want to relive your precious moments.

There are many companies and brand of the 35mm slides scanners. They price of the 35mm slide scanner start from the low range to very high range. The companies which offer the 35mm slides scanners are Nikon, HP, Canon, Epson, Kodak, Polaroid and Minolta. The price of the 35mm slides scanners depend on the feature and the company. The companies like the Nikon and canon have high range and variety in terms of 35mm slide scanner.

Before taking a 35mm slide scanner just consider the purpose for which you are taking that scanner. If the 35mm slide scanner is for a primary use at home and you need to just convert the older slides into digital pictures then buy a 35mm slide scanner that has basic features of a scanner and is cheap. If you are a professional photographer then you can go to med range 35mm slide scanners. These 35mm slide scanner are having the entire necessary features and has a god resolution. If you are working in a printing press or in a publishing house then you need a high end product having good features and a very good resolution.

The 35mm slide scanners price main depends upon the manufacturer and the resolution of that scanner. The companies like Microtek, Minolta, leaf and HP are the companies that are cheap and have a primary usage scanner that does not have a very good resolution. The 35mm slides scanner will definitely help you in reducing your storage space as well as the condition of the older pictures by digitally modifying them through the software available with them.

So go have and have a 35mm slide scanner but choose wisely considering your need and purpose of use of that 35mm slide scanner.

Nikon Super Cool Scan Series- Film and slide scanner

For getting a prefect digital image through the negatives and slides you need a good 35mm slide scanner. A 35mm slide scanner that can not only scan the film but also the older slides. The 35mm slide scanners has to also put some effects in the image is been used for any creative purpose which is only possible if you have a scanner that has all these modern features.

The Nikon Cool Scan series is the series of the 35mm slide scanners that will suit you best for any purpose scanning. This series 35mm slide scanners are best for the publishing house and for the people who related to this profession. These are 3rd generation 35mm slides scanners which are mid level scanners. The Nikon Cool scan scanner are little bit older 35mm slides scanners as they have a 3964 pixel line CCD.
The white balance and image clarity is an important aspect of the 35mm slide scanners. There are many models of the 35mm slide scanners in the Nikon Cool scan. These are Nikon LS-2000, Nikon Cool scan 2000, super cool scan 2000. All these 35mm slides scanners have high performance capability and gives you a promise high standard digital image.

The 35mm slide scanners are most important for the scanning purpose of the negatives and films but some time these films and negatives are very old. The Nikon cool scan series maintain the image light balance and gives a very good image quality. The 35mm slides scanners have to sometime read the damage slides and damaged negatives also. The recovery of the colors, light and shade of the digital image is also done by the 35mm slides scanners.

The 35mm slides scanners are mostly made for the professional person who does nature photography or the wild life photography. The Nikon cool scanner satisfies all the need of a professional person. The light balance and clearness of the slide is automatically done by the 35mm slide scanner. The 35mm slide scanner of the Nikon cool scan series first checks the colors of the slides and then does the automatic repairing to it.

The software that you get with the Nikon cool scan series makes you a professional with a high technology. The 35mm slide scanner of the Nikon series can do big changes in the digital image scan by the scanner. The Nikon 35mm slides scanners are also made for the primary user that want to use the scanner for the home usage only. The features included in these 35mm slides scanners are very easy to use and can be easily downloaded to a PC. The installation and maintenance of the Nikon cool scan series is very easy and just like a child play.

So take a 35mm slide scanner of the Nikon cool scan series for reliving your scanning experience. The digital images scanned by these 35mm slide scanners are much more a lived and the color mixing are just incredible.

Photo Slide Scanner- Tips to buy a 35mm Negative Scanner

To reduce your storage space and to relive your older precious moments once again, you just need to have a 35mm slide scanner. The 35mm slide scanners are meant for having a life time experience of enjoying the older occasion memory which was stored in negatives only. The negatives and slides of the older picture can now be converted into a digital image just a moment by the help of a 35mm slide scanner.

While buying a 35mm slide scanners you must keep in mind some of the basic things of the 35mm slide scanner that determines its price. The price of the 35mm slide scanners depends mainly on three things resolution, company, and features.

The Company and brand of a 35mm slide scanner plays an important role in determining the price of the 35mm slides scanners. The brands like Canon, Nikon are high end price product and have a super quality of scanning the negative or the slide. The companies like Microtek, Leaf, and HP are also there in the race but their 35mm slides scanners is not having that much good quality then the high end brands. Choose the company by comparing their price and ratings available in the market.

The Resolution also plays an important role in the determination of price. The higher the resolution goes the higher the cost of the 35mm slide scanners goes. It depends upon your usage that which type of product you end. If you are using the 35mm slides scanners for your home usage then just have a low range product that has all the medium resolution in it. If you are a Professional photographer then just go for a mid range product have a good resolution.

The last thing that determines the price is the feature of the 35mm slides scanners have. The Scanners with basic features of scanning are priced lower than the product with good features. The 35mm slides scanners used in the publishing house has all features and clarity in them. A common 35 mm slide scanner has the basic features required for the scanning of the negative but they cannot have modification in the digital image.
35mm slide scanner can be purchased from a local market and online.

The online purchase has a benefit of comparing a lot of product without actually going to that brand shop. Also the bargain done online for the 35mm slide scanners also reduces the price of it. 35mm slide scanners are available on a very large scale online, here you can get any company and any brand. Just find some discounts and cheap price 35mm slide scanners.

The 35mm slides scanners are the need of the today’s world but do not spend your money on the product which is not meant for you. Have the right choice 35mm slide scanners by considering your needs, purpose and budget. If you consider all these things then you are definitely going to have a great value for money deal for your 35mm slide scanner.

Scanning 35mm slides.

If you have a good 35mm slide scanner, then scanning slides and negatives can be real fun. The scanner must have a transparent materials adapter which helps in the mounting and scanning of slides and negatives. Though, the overall process of scanning is more or less the same for all models, there are some minute differences with respect to each model and thus it is always good if you go through the user manual carefully before operating the scanner.

The usual steps are spelled out below:

Step 1: Remove the Transparent Materials Adapter (TMA) after opening the lid of the scanner.

Step 2: Next, the 35mm slides or negatives should be placed on the designated areas. If all the designated spots for the 35mm slides are not filled up, place some paper on those areas to avoid excess light from entering and affecting the quality of scanning.

Step 3: Now, the template will have to be placed on the scanner glass keeping in view that the arrow on the template remain aligned with the indicated mark on the scanner bed.

Step 4: After the scanner lid should be closed and the scanning process initiated by pressing the Scan Film.

Step 5: In case you are operating the scanning process from your personal computers and not by the keys on the scanning model, then in the Scanning from dialog box, click Settings and select negatives if you want negatives to be scanned or slides or Positives if you want to scan slides. Then click scan.

Step 6: Under the Save Location dialog box, click Browse and enter the destination folder of your choice. Click OK and follow any on-screen instructions to finish scanning. The scan will be sent to the destination folder you selected.

Few Scanning Tips:

1. It is very essential to scan your photos at the right resolution in order to get prints of superior quality and large image files.
2. Try to edit your scanned photos so that you get the colour composure, contrast, brightness and other aspects as per your\requirement. Remove the grain, dust and fingerprints also by editing the images.
3. Save your files in TIFF format and have back-ups for them.

Choosing a 35mm slide scanner.

It is quite a common tendency to go for the 35mm slide scanner of either the best brand in the market or the scanner which is the cheapest. Both can land you with the scanner that you do not require. That is why, before you go out to the market, first have in your mind what are your needs and, of course, your budget. Also, you must see to it that the scanner software that comes with the gadget is a good and user-friendly one otherwise all the merits of software are mitigated if you do not know how to operate it.

Before we proceed any further, it should be pointed out that if you are scanning 35mm slides or negatives for use only on web to be shown to friends, then the flatbed scanners are quite fine but for professional purposes you absolutely need to depend on the dedicated scanners.

For absolutely household purpose, it is okay if you use the Kodak Professional PCD film scanner 4050 but refrain from using it if you are a professional or run a publishing house. This is because, Kodak, in the process of compressing the picture files deletes a lot of digital information. And, even for the household users it is stated to know well about the Kodak models before using so that you do not compromise with the quality of the pictures that store some of your unforgettable memories. The same view goes for Microtek 35mm slide scanners — restrict it for household use only. For a professional or a publishing house, it is suggested not go for any scanner with a resolution less than 2700 dpi.
The initial Polaroid 35mm slice scanner model was not bad but complaints arose because it had problems in holding the films in place.

Nikon have produced some of the best 35mm slide scanner models so far, especially the Nikon CoolScan (not the cheap Nikon CoolScan III). But it is recommended to go for the SilverFast scanning software even with the Nikon models than the software that is provided with the gadget. The Nikon 200 models are the ones that are used and trusted by the professionals and publishing houses. They have a high optical density of 3.6 but it must be pointed out quite clearly here that it is by no means a replacement for drum scanner as Nikon tries to portray through their advertisements which are sometimes highly exaggerated and misleading. Nikon 5000 also has found takers in the market after the 4000 model showed up a few problems.

The Fuji C-550 Lanovia flatbed scanner is ideal for bulk scanning. 48 slides can be scanned simultaneously and the software that is provided with the model allows you to handle one slide at a time or the entire 48 can be treated as one.

Turn your 35mm negatives and slides into digital images.

The digital era, that has taken the photographic world by storm, allows us to get rid of your old negative strips and 35mm slides by converting them into the digital format. And this, by no means, is a huge step forward as not only the digital photos provide more clarity and better quality in terms of colour, contrast and resolution. Along with the qualitative aspect, comes the point of longevity. A digital picture is easy to store and will last long as compared to the negatives which is prone to scratches and the picture may also get distorted over time.

Now, the question arrives is how to do it actually. If you have a scanner at home, well and good. Get the photos scanned and store them in your personal computer after editing them as well. But the problem arises when you do not have a scanner at home, which is the case for many households. At the same time, the low range scanners which are usually bought for the household and smaller purposes do not produce the best quality of scanning. This is when you have to depend on the photographic labs to scan and develop your photo.

The advantages you have with these labs is that they have the best models which means the scanning will be of high quality and, moreover, if you go to have your slides or negatives processed in bulks then they also offer you good discount deals. The technicians are quite versed with the scanners and the scanning software and, thus, they are expected to produce a better quality scanning and print than the layman at home. But, that by no means, is enough for you to trust them fully. Question the service provider about every detail possible before placing the order. Look out that the scan at least produces the prints of 13X19 quality. Keep in mind the resolution aspect also.

If the service provider is not giving you comprehensive and satisfying replies to your queries, do not take a chance with your treasured possessions and go for any other labs. You will find plenty of them in your city or even your locality. But make sure that you go for the best. You should also ask them to store the photos for you in CDs or DVDs so that you can stock them quite safely and conveniently for further use. Having the pictures stored in CDs or in your PCs allows you to upload it in the social networking sites so as to share it with your close friends and relatives.

Nikon 35mm slide scanners.

When you talk of 35mm slide scanners, you automatically associate it with Nikon. It is just because the company has carved out a niche for itself in the field of production of photographic equipment. Nikon’s products have successfully withstood the test of time and their post-purchase servicing is also quite brilliant.

Let us have a look at Nikon 35mm slide scanners up in the market:

Coolscan 5000 ED: ED means extra low dispersion lens which is used by Nikon so that the colour proportion during scanning is at its best. This USB-port connected device carries out scanning by virtue of its 3964-pixel line CCD and the gadget comes with user-friendly Nikon Scan software along with a basic slide mount adapter. There is a tool palette mounted on the Nikon Coolscan 5000 scanner which consists of cropping, colour balance, brightness and contrast adjustment, analog gain, image enhancer etc buttons. The only disadvantage with this middle-range gadget is that it is heavier than the previous models.

Coolscan V: This compact scanner scans at 38 seconds per slide with a 14-bit per color output. The best thing about this model is its affordable price and people who want just to scan slides may easily go for this model.

Coolscan 9000: This is a high priced device but the advantage that it has is its speed. It can process a slide in just 20 seconds. Like Coolscan 5000 ED, this is also a 16-bit per colour channel model but this can scan both 35mm slides and 120/200 films. It has another additional feature in a LED light source with rod dispersion.

Coolscan IV ED: This comes with both Mac and PC compatible software and has a maximum resolution of 4000 dpi but the maximum optical resolution is 2900 dpi. The most striking attribute of this model is the Digital ICE feature. ICE refers to Image Correction Enhancement which is a means to remove the scratches, fingerprints or dust from the photo without affecting the original photo by any means. In addition to this, it has another feature called Digital GEM or Grain Equalization and Management that has caused waves in the photography world. It helps to remove grains in the photo quite easily.

Coolscan III (LS-30): Going by its price and features, this is ideal for small scale professionals and household use.

Super Coolscan LS-2000: This is a model for true professional use. It has a resolution of 2700 dpi with 36-bit colour depth along with 16X for 42-bit equivalent. It has the amazing Digital ICE along with the dust and scratch removal methods. Its colour control can easily be touted as flawless.

Super Coolscan 8000 ED: This model is by far the best as it has all the features that we have talked about before. No other model has all the features integrated into one.

SLIDE SCANNING SOFTWARE.

The slide scanner has been a wonderful invention especially for those with huge stocks of old 35mm slides and negatives. The market is flooded with various models of these scanners coming from various famous brands like HP, Nikon, Epson, Kodak, Microtek etc and they fall in different price ranges.

When you buy a slide scanner, you also get slide scanning software along with it. Usually, the slide scanning software is of the same brand as the slide scanner that you have purchased. Thus, the first thing that you need to do after buying the scanner is to install the software that comes in a CD-ROM, to your personal computer. The software helps you in scanning the slides and negatives, storing the pictures where you want them to and it also allows you to edit the pictures.

When you are to use the slide scanner to scan the 35mm slides that have your cherished memories, the first thing you have do to after powering on the scanner is to activate the software. Then you need to select the source and follow the software instructions accordingly. After the picture is scanned and gets loaded to your computer, you should not store or save it immediately but preview it at first to verify whether the scanning has been carried out properly. Specifically, look out for the resolution as the quality of the digitally printed photos depend on that. Thus, always select the resolution of your scanning before scanning from the tools section. Setting the resolution at 300 dpi is the usual convention and practice but that is no hard and fast rule and you can always set it according to your choice. The software also helps you to get rid of the dust on the slides.

But, in spite of setting the resolution at the perfect state, the preview may not satisfy you. This is where the edit functions of the software help you in getting the brightness and colour content that satisfies you. Adjust it as you want and for even better result, take help of the advanced settings and just follow the instructions. Make sure to crop the photos and remove the red eyeballs. Read the user manual to utilize the functions effectively.

In the beginning, you might have to rely on the trial and error to get the best quality picture, which may consume more time, but with a little practice you will get quite used to and acquainted with the software. It is not very tough as the company looks into it that the software is user-friendly and it can be said without an iota of doubt that they succeeded to a large extent. It is advisable to store your photos n TIFF format.
LinoColor Elite and SilverFast were known to be the two best scanning software but the LinoColor is no longer available. Thus, the choice is quite easy — SilverFast.

Best 35mm slide scanner for older slides.

The digital era has truly ushered in a revolution in the field of photography. But, before its advent, people used to stock and store their cherished occasions either in the negatives or 35mm slides. But, quite sadly, the sole aim of storing these slides — to go down the memory lane and re-capture the past memories in leisure time — is ultimately not served on most occasions because a 35mm slide projector is not very easily available and it is also very difficult to set it up. It is precisely here that the importance of a 35mm slide scanner becomes so very pronounced.

A 35mm slide projector helps you to recover the photos from your old slides and store them in your personal computers after they have been converted into the digital format. The old photos that we find on the social networking sites uploaded by some users have all adopted the same process and are able to share the bygone memories with their friends and relatives. One can also get digital prints of these pictures.
But, the most important question comes now. In this free and competitive market where every company is trying to project and portray their own product as the best, especially through some mind-boggling offers in the advertisements brought out both in the print and electronic media, it is quite easy to get lured by swimming with the tide and thereby end up not actually getting the best model or at least the one that suits your needs. So, how to choose?

The first and foremost thing is that you ought to be absolutely clear in your mind about the need for which you are buying the 35mm slide scanner and your budget so that you are not in a daze when you hit the market. If you require a 35mm slide scanner just to scan slides and negatives, go for the dedicated slide scanner. The other variant is the multi-purpose flatbed slide scanner with which you can also scan documents and developed photos.

You will find a variety of models of various price ranges of different brands like Cannon, HP, Kodak, Nikon, Epson, Microtek, Polaroid, Leaf, Minolta, Olympus etc. But the need is not to fall for either a very famous brand on one side or a very cheap product on the other. Rather, concentrate and do a full-scale survey of the market as to what are the features that you are getting within your stipulated budget. Also look for the product reviews and the quality of service it has delivered over the years. The resolution aspect is particularly important.

Finally, the most important suggestion. Go for a low priced model if you are buying a 35mm slide scanner just for converting your old 35mm slides and negatives. But, if you happen to nurture an interest in photography or you are a professional photographer, then a middle-end product is more advisable while you have to opt for a high-end product if you are into something where you have scan in huge bulks.

Best 35mm slide scanner.

In the list below you can find the details of the 35mm slide scanners now available in the market along with a brief details of each:

Epson’s Perfection V600: This $250-priced Epson’s Perfection V600 model
scanner is cheaper than the Epson V700 but still retains most V700’s feature and thus is preferred by the professional photographers. The V600 model has an Led light device that helps to scan films of sizes up to 120/200.Moreover, it can also process two 35mm negative strips simultaneously.

EPSON Perfection V700/750: This model falls in the high-range bracket and its performance, especially with the new scanner software SilverFast Ai, is quite satisfying.

HP Photosmart Scanner: This 2400 DPI resolution scanner comes at a price of $399.

HP Photosmart S20Scanner: This one is comes with certain up gradations over the model mentioned just above. The Photosmart Scanner was given a thumbs up by the users, so this quite gladly accepted by the people. It has a 36-bit colour over its predecessor’s 32-bit and it also works on USB interface and no card is required. The price of this model is $499 but that is understandable given the up gradations.

Microtek ScanMaker i800: This pro configuration model comes with an improved software. It has a transparency adapter in the lid and the lamp in the adapter makes a synchronized movement with the CCD in order to maintain a constant illumination. You can get sharper scan with this model as the spring tension design of the scanner flattens the film to perfection.

Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro: This is the advanced model of the original Dimage Scan Multi model and scan down 6X9 cm to 16mm. It has a resolution of 4800 dpi for 35mm and smaller slides while for medium format, the resolution is 3200 dpi. Its estimated market price is $2999.

Nikon Nikon CoolScan IV ED Film & Slide Scanner: Resolution is 2900 dpi
while it has 36-bit colour depth. Dust and scratch can be removed through the Digital ICE technology and, at the same time, two new features in Digital Recovery Of Colour and Gradient Equalization and Management technology are available. This model is for professionals who crave for quality scans.

Nikon LS-2000: This model has 2700 dpi resolution and 36-bit colour dept which can be enhanced to 42-bit.

Nikon Super CoolScan 4000 ED: This scanner comes with a high resolution of 4000 dpi and 42-bit color depth in addition to the 16x for 48-bit
equivalent. Superior technologies like Digital Image Correction Enhancement, Digital Recovery of Colour and Digital Grain Equalization and Management are all available.

Nikon Super CoolScan 8000 ED: This is the best scanner model of the above lot which provides with scans of the highest quality and is liked by all professionals. It has all the ingredients that makes it the most desirable model on display — non-interpolated 4000-dpi resolution, 42-bit color depth, 16x for 48-bit equivalent, high-speed FireWire interface, Digital ICE dust & scratch removal, Digital “ROC” and “GEM” correct for faded negatives and film grain automatically, Multi-sample scanning for even lower noise on critical (dense) images, Sophisticated color management system supports ICC profiles.