Scanning

Came across this:

http://shop.telegraph.co.uk/mm-d3136/cat-fhd/hobbies/leisure/photography/convert...

It claims 5MP and 48 bit depth with a JPG created within 1 second!

Father-in-law wants to copy some old slides and negatives (several sets for all the children and grandchildren).

I'm wondering how good it would be when compared to a Canoscan which takes a minute or two for each.

There is no intention to do much with them, but to create a record of his family but maybe a BMP or TIFF would be better.

Are there any nice compact and reasonably priced alternatives?

It's surely just a very cheap digital camera. Use your own!

G

The reports I have heard about the item you have linked too have been very poor.

I have used this one in the past with good results link

Already have a flatbed scanner and results are great but TOO slow - that is why I wanted comments on the cheap one with a rate of 1 second per slide/negative.

Have you considered a slide copier which will fit onto your camera?

SRS have them for about the same cost link and they will fit directly onto the 18-55 'kit' lens.

With your K20D you could end up with 14Mpixel JPGs from each slide / negative although you will have to do the negative to positive conversion in software.

Bob

It's not for me though - the person it is for does not have a DSLR just a P&S.

SRS has these under the Summit brand for £49.

As SRS sell these, they might be able to recommend their capabilities.

At £49 they are probably worth a try.

An alternative quick method is to project the slides onto a screen and take a picture with a camera on a tripod. Obviously the quality isn't very good but they are acceptable.

The scanner doesn't produce results in 1 second.

I have something similar that takes as long to do 4 negs as my scanner does to do 4 pictures.

If you have a slide/neg hood use the scanner!

They claim 1 second ! This is why I am after comments ...

Just spoken to SRS and I can have a try there, but they say that the results are acceptable at up to A4 size. Which is plenty - but did suggest looking at the Plustek options which have more realistic 30/60 second scan times.

A flatbed scanner is a no.

I agree with SRS that the Plustek is a better option.

When I've used my cheap neg scanner I spend more time adjusting colours and cleaning the image up than it's really worth.