Scanner Woes

This one is getting a loot of good reviews, but I don't know if it meets all your needs.
www.epson.com.au/products/scanner/perfectionv700photo.asp
But it is a little pricey.

Thanks Rob,

Yes, I've been googling around this morning and have found this to be highly thought of. It is at the upper bracket of my budget though, but if it does the job then it may be the go. I've discounted the Canon varieties (8800F etc) as there is a known issue with the software driver and variable size transparencies.
The Microtek i900 is also well thought of, but WAY over budget (about $1200 Au).

I bought a Canon and it turned out to be useless at B&W negatives. To be fair though, I believe they are about the hardest thing to scan.

The Nikon Coolscan II I have here does a semi-decent job of b&w neg scans, but it's resolution is pretty ordinary (2700dpi @ 8bit) and it only does a single pass scan, and will also only do 35mm or single mounted slides. It also is not a document scanner, which is of much more interest to the rest of the family than a few negatives/slides ;-)

I saw a similar thread on flickr. Some guy recommended an Imacon (now Hasselblad) Flextight ;)

Seriously though, I've also read good things about Epson in the price vs quality stakes. I have a Canon 8600F. Not sure what you've heard re: variable size transparencies? Admittedly the images that come out of it are a bit dodge ... optimal res for me seems to be 3200 dpi and that requires some USM in post processing. I've been using Vuescan as opposed to the CanoScan drivers and it appears to produce a much better result (will post some results shortly). What theoretical max size negative are you going for?

Well at the moment only 35mm negatives or 35mm slides or 16mm slides (I have some old 16mm slides lying around that were my parents). Plus probably some prints that I don't have negatives for.

However, who knows what the future holds, maybe medium format ?

This sort of thing for the Canon - www.lemis.com/grog/product-reviews/Canon-breakage.html

Apparently it's still an issue in the 8800F according to other reports on the net.

Haven't had the boundary recognition problem with slides, but I've all but abandoned the CanoScan software - Vuescan is superior in everything except dust and scratch correction (and even then CanonScan is patchy in its performance in that regard).

I've uploaded some recent film scannage from horizon 35mm exposures, and some decidedly middle-aged slides taken with some sort of shoddy kodak thing in the 60s then left to rot in a humid store room then garage for 40 years.

Well the scans look pretty good, that's for sure. I'm still leaning towards the Epson though for various reasons. There's a HP (G4050) that might suit as well but it's reputed to be ok quality compared to the Epson and very very slow.

I saw the G4050 and almost fell for the '6 colour channel!' line they were selling, but I checked out some reviews and apparently it doesn't make much difference at all and it's a pretty mediocre film scanner.

If I could muster up the cash I'd be going for a Nikon next, but supposedly the Epson 4990 is king of the budget range.

The Canon scanners are fine when the decide to warm up and work. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Canon gurus are in bed with Apple and deliberately designed their scanners to be cranky with Windows systems. Slides are very hard to scan with the 8400F. I use CS2 over the canon software. The Vuescan is okay but to my eyes the scans aren't quite as good.

About format - plan negative sizes bigger than what you think you may use. Aside from the crankiness of the Canon, I'm eyeing an Epson because I'm also eyeing large format cameras for their tilt-shift-perspective control capabilities. A year ago I wouldn't have thought I'd be where I am now.

Check the manufacturer's websites in Australia and see if they sell refurbished items. Epson does in North America for good discounts.

No mention of refurbished items on the Australian Epson site when I looked (might have missed it though), but a good idea all the same :)

Since I run a mixed shop at home (Mac, Windows and Linux) I'd prefer something that worked reliably in at least two of those, so I think I'll just pass on the Canon scanners. They make great cameras, but their software isn't too crash hot (for instance, Lightroom is miles ahead of DPP).

As for large format, who knows? I still have a few bits to pick up before I can develop 35mm at home, but once I've got that, it's not such a leap to move to other formats.

BTW, I found Vuescan somehow pulled out a lot more tonal range than the bundled CanoScan software, and also Silverfast SE. I actually bought Silverfast SE with the expectation that it would employ a dust and scratches algorithm only to find out that it didn't support it on Canon scanners. Disappointing. It also produces a quite inferior scan to Vuescan. I might post some comparisons tonight.

www.microtekusa.com/smi900.html

Seen that? Unjustifiably expensive in Australia ($1300-1400). Done a little enquiring, can get it from the US for $USD520 (or through a vendor on eBay for ~$490), shipping about $USD180 USPS or $USD450 for 2-3 days.

I don't understand the Australian prices at all.

Scary isn't it ? I'm really not sure why the Aus. prices are so much more, given the strong Aussie dollar, etc...

my scanner's plug-in has ceased to work since i upgraded to leopard. fortunately vuescan works but i don;t particularly like vuescan....

Which scanner is that Greg ? (memory like a sieve I'm afraid)

it's a microtek scanmaker i700

i have rigged up my old g4 powerbook 500 (titanium) next to my imac - sharing the one keyboard and mouse - just so i can use the older OS (tiger) to scan. it works well... but i m getting tired of scanning. i need a 4x5 enlarger.

Ah but what will you do with all those prints ?

You'll need to start a gallery just so you have somewhere to put them ;-)

Hi David. Did you decide to go with the Epson?

I've been happy with mine, and there were updates for Leopard. I didn't have problems under Leopard with the supplied drivers to start, but upgraded anyway. Since then I've had updates to Leopard - now at 10.5.2 and no problems.

Still waiting on usable funds Steve. In the meantime I'll just bide my time.