I too have a fairly large collection of old film and slides, but they are not what pay the bills. Older items still have value, but if you are talking older electronics, you better keep an older computer around with the older operating systems and software around too to make sure they still work. Its only one update away from being unusable. If I were happy with the scans I was getting on my old Minolta Dimage 5400, I would have tolerated the speed. Trouble is that I think it got bumped in one of the last couple of moves and hasn't been the same since. Minolta isn't in the photography business and the cost to get it fixed IF it could be would be impractical.
Now I have never been a fan of Vuescan except for one thing. I bought the pro version, and found that the guy that wrote the program is one of the nicest guys you will ever encounter in a business transaction. Other than that, I really didn't see any real advantages and finding things in Vue Scan just didn't seem as intutive to me as other programs. I didn't feel cheated or like I didn't get my money's worth in any way. It just wasn't right for me.
Now the cost of a $1000 scanner may make more sense IF I still used film, but many of the Nikons are in the $5000 range. There are places that will do the scanning for you for that kind of money. For $5000 I'd be better off with a wider format printer.
Still its a very personal choice for each particular situation and what works for you. If someone has the money, wants to spend it on a scanner and enjoys it, great. Others may need it far worse than I do and that's fine too. We all work in different ways and the images we capture have different uses for different purposes. It's what makes the world go around or otherwise we would have a very boring world.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Scanning/copying addenda
From: Don Roberts <droberts@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, January 03, 2011 3:49 pm
To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students
<photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b@xxxxxxxx>
The fact they are discontinued means that the price should be much more favorable on eBay whee I bought mine. Older items still can have a lot of value. I am sorry I am going through this thread very quickly right now but an earlier poster reminded me of an important point. If you have shot almost entirely digital and only occasionally encounter film the camera approach makes sense. But I shot film for over 40 years and have large collections to digitize. I like scanner better even if it does take a bit longer. I think the results are better if you use the right software i.e. Vuescan.
Don
On 1/3/11 3:35 PM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:On Mon, January 3, 2011 15:01, Herschel Mair wrote:This is an important caveat. The Nikon Pro scanners scan at 9000 DPI this means that a 35mm slide will yield an image in excess of 100 mega pixels.The Coolscan 5000ED scans at 4000DPI max. And has been discontinued. The Coolscan 9000 ED medium-format unit is also 4000DPI (according to the Nikonusa.com web site product archive). And it has now also been discontinued (that's a change since I last looked). Basically, nobody is making a pro-level desktop scanner any more.
