I'm in search of a film scanner that will do both 35mm and 4"x6" film that is less than $1000. Does such a unit exist?

-- Thomas Sturtevant (mrhover9@aol.com), February 21, 1999

Answers

Try looking at the Mustek Paragon PowerPRO which is a 8.5" x 11.7" flat bed with a true optical resolution of 1200 x 4800 DPI It is a 36 bit scanner producing a 24 bit image(same bit input and output as the Polaroid Sprintscan 45)

I priced it at ScannerOutlet.com for $659 and and additinal $150 for the tranparency adapter. It come with Picture Publisher 6.0 I find most of these scanners work well with slides or pictures. Put a Color Negative in a Microtek X6 (600x1200) with light lid and you'll have one hell of a time producing good results. The software that comes bundled with a scanner is very important.

If you find a review on the Mustek Paragon PowerPRO please share it.

-- Charlie Chester (chestec@ct1.nai.net), February 24, 1999.

I'd be leery of relatively inexpensive flatbeds for scanning film. As noted, negative film is very problematic unless the scanner's software is specifically set up for it. Positive (transparency) film produces very dense shadows that are hard for low-end scanners to pick up. Even though 36 bits sounds good, there are bits, and then there are bits... Noise in the shadows is the real issue, regardless of how many bits you have. Most low-end scanners don't do a good job that far into the shadows. Dmax or maximum density is the relevant parameter, rarely reported for inexpensive units. Ideally, you'd have a Dmax of 3.6 or greater, but most flatbeds are hard-pressed to produce a clean 3.1 or 3.2. While still nowhere near the capability of a dedicated film scanner, I've heard of used Agfa Arcus models selling for under $1,000, and think they'd perhaps be adequate to your needs (for the 4x6). Likewise, for slightly more, you could maybe find a Umax PowerLook II, which was a good unit with similar specs. The real problem will com in trying to handle both 35mm and 4x6 with the same unit. Flatbeds don't have anywhere near the resolution you need, and true film scanners with either handle only 35mm at a reasonable price, or handle both 35mm and 4x5, but at a horrendous price. You may end up with two scanners, an inexpensive 35mm film scanner, and a flatbed with transparency option, but the combination will undoubtedly cost more than $1000 for reasonable quality. (Figure on at least $500 for the 35mm unit, and probably at least $1000 for a decent flatbed w/ transparency, as discussed above.)

Good Luck!

-- Dave Etchells (hotnews@imaging-resource.com), February 25, 1999.

I found a review for the Mustek Paragon PowerPro at http://www3.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/scanners98/rev12.html Geraldine

-- Geraldine Wilson (sadiemae@wanweb.net), February 28, 1999.