Well a couple of things to consider. First is speed. With that many unless you are willing for it to take a very long time, you want as fast as you can afford. The good news is scanning is often done while watching tv or something else so if you are in no hurry it may not be as big of a deal as one might think.
Must haves are digital ice which gets rid of a lot of the imperfections that happen with scanning. If you want quality, you do not want to manually have to clone out all the scratches and dust spots on that many images.
Look for scanners that can set up as many negatives or slides as possible in a single set up.
This scanners resolution isn't as high as some I have seen, but there is something else to consider. The number is called D max or the maximum density at which the scanner can get information. Its as important as resolution. I see no D max listed for this scanner which with the oversized bed makes me think it was more intended for business and not photo uses. If you are only scanning negatives or slide, a film scanner is a better choice, but if there are some prints that must be done a better flatbed can also work well.
Another option is many services will often do them for you at a very reasonable price. That means irreplaceable negatives an slides have to be transported. Often its twice. You send it to them, they send it to someplace else where labor is cheap such as India, they are scanned there and the process is reversed. You get it all back with it done for you.
Archiving is another issue all together. Digital archives tend to be unforgiving of neglect. It should be backed up on at least 2 types of media. I put my files on both a separate hard drive and also on a DVD. Some use online back up services. Some put duplicate copies in several physical locations in case of a fire. Yet you should also expect at some point in the future to need to transfer it to a different type of media and formats. Who knows how long any of the file formats we use today will be around and if the software of the day can't read the old files you have a lot of nothing.
--- On Fri, 10/24/08, Rich Mason <cameratraveler@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Rich Mason <cameratraveler@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: film/print scanner question
> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Friday, October 24, 2008, 3:59 PM
> An acquaintance on a non-photo forum is looking to scan a
> bunch of
> old family photos. Here are the questions posed in their
> own words:
>
> Anyone using a photo/negative scanner they would recommend?
> I'm
> looking at getting one specifically to scan old photos and
> negatives
> to turn in to digital images.
>
> What works good?
>
> Was actually looking at this one: CanoScan 8800F
>
> The need is to digitize A LOT of pictures & slides.
>
> Along the same lines, I'm trying to figure out how to
> archive them
> once they're scanned.
>
> Anyone have experience with the Canon model? Any other
> suggestions?
>
> How about the archiving? Not sure what software they have
> as I'm
> typing this but will add that when I get the info.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rich
