Very best slide scans

[Henry Tenby]

Several people have asked me what the best scanner is that can be purchased today.

I asked Christian Volpati which scanner he uses to produce his amazing quality scans from his vintage slides:
http://www.airlinefan.com/photosearch.php?action=photographer&id=146

And Christian told me the follow information...

"I'm using the best scanner on the Market, the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED
(a cheaper version is Nikon Coolscan V). This scanner offers classic Nikon quality and Nikon lenses and it doesn't use an old style lamp, but instead has a LED lamp witch is very white and will last for many, many years. "

I strongly recommend people with aircraft slides to scan make the investment and go with this scanner. There are few that can compete with the quality of this scanner!

[Henry Tenby]

A friend of mine just bought an Epson V750 Pro, to replace his Nikon IV, which gave up after 90,000 scans.

He tells me it scans up to 12 slides at a time, but certainly doesn’t break any speed records doing it... but the scan quality is really fantastic!

Attached a few sample scans from this scanner.

[Alain Durand]

I know Epson to come up with reputable and even trand setting stuff, but Eric's samples just BLEW ME AWAY !!!

[Henry Tenby]

Me too! The quality is amazing. There is no visible grain at all!

[Pierre Langlois]

I am using a Minolta Dimage DualScan IV to scan my slides or negatives. Before, I was using the HP photosmart S20 for many years.

Pierre

[Sergei Tsvetkov]

The BEST is Nikon, but 9000 (or 8000) - it offers the best dynamic range and allow to scan wide (type 120) film. I used Nikon products for a years and always was happy with it. But if you want a supermegaquality, drumscanner (alas, about disappeared in history) remains the best choice

[Henry Tenby]

I personally use a Nikon Coolscan LS-50 slide scanner and all the images that appeared in my book http://www.henrytenby.com/Books/AIR-AIRbook.html were slide scans done with that scanner.

And in my opinion, that quality is excellent specially considering that this scanner costs about $500 here in Canada.

[Sergei Tsvetkov]

Yes I have at home Nikon LS40 bought for about 400 USD (half of it price in Russia) - LS40 and 50 are rather amateur than pro, and it's good only if the original has contrast lower than normal. Dynamic range is much worser than for 5000/8000/9000...