| Gordon,
There are a couple of options. The Nikon Coolscan scanners are regularly listed for sale on EBay. However, have your checkbook ready. They usually bid out to around $2000 or more. Of course, the last new Nikon Coolscans sold for over $2000 and, as mentioned were discontinued about a year ago. Various models show up on EBay. Everybody has the same situation. For the most part, their slide collection is finite. Once they have scanned all of their slides, they don't need the scanner anymore. So, they sale it on EBay.
There is another alternative which does a good job. Because I was frustrated with the Coolscan situation, I purchased a Plustek 7600i SE scanner on line. I think mine came from B&H Photo. It only has a manual feed (unlike the Nikon unit which has a optional auto feed at 50 slides per load and costs another $300 or $400). Slides are inserted 4 at a time it a tray that feeds crosswise through the device. The unit has a wide range of adjustments controlled through a menu. It can scan up to 7600 dpi with an adjustable target size. Slides can be saved in various common formats. It has scratch correction, color adjustment, white balance adjustment and a multitude of other adjustments. I save both a tiff and a jpeg copy of each image. For my purposes, I have set the adjustments so that the jpeg image is about a 4 - 6 mb file and the tiff file is about 30 - 35 mb. The very highest quality scan is a huge file. The Plustek unit has a rather small footprint, measuring about 3" by 12" and 4" high. The best part is that the on line prices for the unit range around $400.
My original plan was to scan every slide in my collection. My collection includes both my dad's slides and my own. Some of my dad's slides date back to 1938 and the colors on many have remain quite good. However, as I have been going through the slides (I have barely begun, having scanned maybe 300 slides) I find that some of the slides have no real value to anyone today. They are shots of scenery, birds, and, in my dad's case, places I don't even know. I have now refined my scanning to include only things of interest to the family and anything railroad. Like Larry Sallee, I usually refine the slide in Photoshop or one of the other correction programs that I have. I have found that I would rather do the correction myself rather than try to let the scanner do it. Fortunately, I have cared for my slides a little better than Larry did, but time still cause deterioration. When my dad first started shooting slides, there was a theory that encasing slides in glass would preserve the image better. Kits were sold with thin glass, cut to the size of the slide mount. A piece of glass would be placed on each side of the cardboard mount and then adhesive tape, usually in red or green that came with the kit , would be placed along all four edges to "seal" the slide. The only sealing that it did was to trap moisture in with the slide. In many cases, this cause the colors to run and while the image was OK, the entire slide is now purple colored. In some case, it is possible to correct the color of such images to some extent, but it is never perfect. Dad also shot some slides in the 1950's with non Kodak film. Those too, have had color problems basically developing a red cast. Again, some correction is usually possible.
Attached are a couple of slides scanned with the Plustek scanner. Hopefully, the attachment process for Yahoo works. As I scan, I give every slide a file number code. I then enter that file number into a spreadsheet that I created so that I can easily find a specific image. I also keep a copy in a photo sorting program, in my case, iPhoto on my MAC computer. The scanned slides are then placed in clear vinyl plastic sheets which hold 20 slides and can be hung in a filing cabinet. The sheets can be purchased through photo supply stores. With Larry's encouragement, I am considering placing my slides on line in Picasa as Larry has done. I have used Picasa for several years for limited sharing with family and friends. There are other such sites available and the cost is either very low or zero. Search the Plustek unit on line and take a look at it. For the cost, it is worth trying. Scanning slides is a fine diversion on a cold winter day (or maybe a super hot summer day!).
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, Mo
Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:58 pm (PDT) . Posted by:Thanks Larry. Too bad Nikon discontinued all the scanners. And what I hear they wont repair them. I've been watching scanners on ebay and the prices are astronomical ! I've got about 40k slides to do, guess I'll not get them done. Keep the Q stuff coming !!
Gordon
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