Scenes of Vermont Forums

Hi there!
So much for my intentions to surprise my husband with a 35mm slide converter under the Christmas tree this year. While surfing for advise and products available, discovered one needs to know what product to buy and there are quite a few out there.
We have years upon years (sound familiar??) of beautiful slides tucked away that would be great to convert into print for an assortment of photography projects.
Confident some of you avid photographers may be able to advise or share information on what one should know when purchasing a reliable 35mm slide converter.
If any of you are familiar or have experience with a highly recommended 35mm slide converter that is easy for converting and printing quality pictures from slides at home, not for professional business use, please share information and advise. Would consider ease of use, quality of prints and cost reasonable as priorities.
Would give him a gift certificate but then, he would also need the same information I am seeking.

That's what's so great about the different Vermont forums, they provide a wealth of information and access to learning from others.

Happy Holidays folks,

Aspen

Aspen: Like anything else in this area, it depends alot on what you want to do with the conversions and how much you want to spend.

Nikon makes a very high end, dedicated scanner -- but its several hundred dollars. If you want top quality scans that can be used for very large print enlargements, you may be better off having drum scans done commercially.

I bought an Epson Perfection V-series a couple years back to scan all my slides in. The current model is around $250 (V600, I believe). It is a flatbed scanner, but it has a carriage for slides. I thought it worked very well and I was able to make some high resolution digital files from my old slides. For purposes of putting them on the web, or sending them to view on computers, it is all you will need. It comes with some pretty sophisticated scanning software, which will let you make Photoshop "levels" type adjustments prior to the scan and "Digital ICE" which is a scratch and noise removal software. I got good enough results in some cases to make 13 x 19 prints from my files. You have a choice of very high, to low resolution scans. Easy to use. I would highly recommend it.

I use this site as a resource for scanners, printers, etc. - http://www.imaging-resource.com/SCAN1.HTM

You should be aware that scanning, by its nature, produces a much less "clean" digital image file than a digital camera. There is usually more noise to deal with and the quality of the scan will vary from slide to slide, depending on its density, more than anything.

Good Luck. I have been very happy with the Epson.

Hi Andy
Thanks for your very prompt reply to my inquiry about a slide converter.
Always great to have someone with knowledge and experience with something you are considering on getting. Really appreciate your most helpful information!
Some things are so personal, it's more of a risk to surprise someone with something without knowing what the person you are getting it for may really want; especially with so many options out there from which to choose. I informed my husband, last night, about my desire to get him a slide converter. The surprise was on me, he has been checking out an assortment of slide converter models and has been particularly interested in the Epson Perfection V700 model. Your descriptions of the V600 model and the descriptions of the V700 are quite similar. We think the V700 will adequately meet our needs of scanning pictures and converting slides.
We want the slide converter to be able to make prints from slides and negatives up to a maximum size of 8 x 10. Reading some reviews of different companies' slide converters, it concerned us that some people shared despite their following directions carefully, they had trouble with specks on prints which was the result of dust on negatives and slides.
Again, Andy, really appreciate all the wealth of knowledge you share with others on the Vermont forums. You are so encouraging, supportive and it is good to know your information validates we are heading in the right direction to finding a reliable slide converter.

Aspen