Scanners

Hi, I am looking to purchase a scanner to digitise some old family photos and negatives.Is there a particular model that is highly regarded,or perhaps an internet resource site that I might be able to educate myself with.This will only be for personal use so I think a budget of £200 must be the limit.

Many thanks mm

Hi, With your budget you can buy a Epson V500 or a Epson 4990 flatbed.
If you prefer a dedicated film scanner the plustek 7300 would also fit in the budget.A used minolta film scanner is also recommended by some users.
I have no experience of the canon or HP made flatbed scanners .

I ordered a epson 4990 at £122 from amazon last week because I have two type of slides- 35mm mounted and 7cm x 7cm size old Glass Lantern slides so the flatbed would scan these both slides.

regards

Difficult one,

for negs and slides, a dedicated film scanner is the only option, I have trouble with dust on the flatbed scanner..

I have a Nikon Coolscan which is well out of your price range. But it's GOOD

I have a fairly old HP flatbed with transparency adapter and I use that for prints and I am happy with it.

Good luck

Peter

Hi, I've used a Visioneer One Touch 8700 flatbed scanner for several years and, although they're less well known or popular than Canon or Epson, they do as good a job, to my humble eye. Sadly, that model isn't made any more, but I wouldn't write off the brand if you can find a new model with the price and spec you're looking for. I've got no experience of a flatbed that also handles negs and slides but you'd certainly get better quality from a dedicated film scanner. The Plustek seems to be remarkably good value for money, although its ability to handle dark slides lags a little. It should be fine for negs.

Good luck with your search

Al

The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo has the Digital ICE hardware built in for correcting scratches and dust just like dedicated slide scanners. I do agree that for the best results a dedicated slide scanner is the way to go but given the pricerange a good quality flatbed like the Epson is better than an average slide scanner. I have used average slide scanners and they end up unused after a few tries.

EDIT: The Epson Perfection V500 can allso be found within the suggested budget.