At $2,199, the Nikon CoolScan 9000 ED is a top-of-the-line film scanner.
I have a large number of 35mm slides that I would like to convert to digital format and put on a CD. How can I do this on the Mac?
If you’d like to undertake this project yourself, you could purchase a dedicated film scanner. For example, Nikon (www.nikonusa.com) makes a series of film scanners under the CoolScan brand name that range in price from $599 to $2,199 and can quickly scan all sorts of film formats into your Mac: slides, negatives, film, and film strips.
You could also purchase a traditional flatbed scanner that comes with a film holder or transparency unit that’s built for slides, such as Epson’s Perfection series of scanners (starting at $99, www.epson.com).
Alternatively, you can always hand off your project to the professionals and let them do the conversion for you. Companies like DigMyPics (starting at 35 cents per scan,www.digmypics.com) specialize in taking your slides and other analog media—such as negatives, photo prints, film reels, and VHS tapes—and transferring them all into digital format for you. So all you have to do is sit back, kick up your heels, and wait for your digital media to be delivered to your doorstep.
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john11
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wildeye
March 02, 2009 at 4:56pm
I'm in the process of scanning hundreds of slides. I'm using the Nikon 5000 and seems to be doing a Great job. I looked at other scaners and chose Nikon because of their reputation. I have 28 years of shooting to scan. Probably will end up with 1000's when I'm done. Would like to communicate with other photographers that are doing the same and compare notes. Good Shooting!PS By the way I just switched to Mac from PC. Boy, what a difference. Should have done it years ago. The difference is like Night to Day. Apple Keep up the Good Work.
teejaysplace
February 28, 2009 at 1:07am
Shortly after my grandfather passed away, I purchased an Epson Perfection v500 Scanner to archive all of his old photos and slides. The Perfection v700 was long listed as among MacWorld's top products; however, it's little sibling packs a similarly impressive punch for a few hundred dollars less. After weighing my options, I decided to go with the Perfection v500, due to it's reputation for color accuracy, and the new LED "instant-on" technology that allows the lamp to be at full brightness the moment you switch it on. Plus I knew it was designed to hande multiple format media - slides, negatives, prints, and transparencies - which were the crux of my project. I honestly could not be more pleased with the color reproduction I've received so far. I've done over 700 color and black and white photos and the image quality has remained consistent throughout. I've had equally good success with slides; however, be warned - slides take a greater number of passes than do ordinary photos and you can only lay 4 on the bed at a time, so have your patience in tow. The included scanning software is also good. Though Epson touts it, I don't use the DigitalICE technology, as I find that PhotoShop is a tad more accurate. Their color correction tools are nice, however, for nearly effortless on-the-fly touch ups and work wonders with yellowed or faded photographs (and definitely on slides.) On new photographs, however, the restoration tends to skew a little blue, so it's definitely not something you'll always need to use. The benefit of investing in your own equipment, I've found, is that you actually get a greater deal of control over the final output than you would necessarily find at a "professional" digitizer. For comparison, I hauled out a set of old slides that we had digitized a few years back at the local Walgreens. To my surprise, I found that they had all been scanned in at 72 dpi. I later asked the store manager if this had been and option and my shock was confirmed - they only provide one standard resolution for slides. That really helped seal the deal for me. While my old Walgreens slides still look good on screen, for any real enlargements, you're going to want at least 300 dpi and in the long run, I saved a bunch of money by doing it myself.
ryensen
February 25, 2009 at 10:19am
In you article on 35 mm slide/negative scanners you overlook excellent products from Plustek and Primefilm. Plustek has excellent software and scans at 7200 dpi with excellent results. I got mine for around $200 and it produces better results that my older Nikons (3500AF and 1000 SuperCoolScan). It is slow when scanning at maximum resolution with full options, but the results are stunning at the price! Please, make an effort to expose your readers to a range of Mac friendly solutions, not just the high end. Also, Nikon has a habit of abandoning products, not adapting drivers to new versions of the operating system and refusing to place the abandoned drivers in the public domain! Some of their digital age products are quite excellent (i.e. their SLR camera line), but this attitude of abandoning old customer's hardware so that they have to buy again is deplorable! It is certainly not the attitude of the original Nikon camera line, which was modular and well supported with reasonable policies designed to make them the sweetheart of the professional photographer.
nr2d
February 17, 2009 at 3:49pm
I have a NIKON Coolscan 5000. It works great and is a bit less than the 9000. Difference between the 2 is the 9000 will handle medium format negatives and has Firewire, 400 I think, and the 5000 will do 35mm slides and negatives and has USB 2.0. the 5000 works quick and produces great images.
Just my 2 cents.
