I am looking to buy an profesional quality film scanner , i am a photographer that has been trying to go digital and want a very good quaity scan, the film scanners that i have been looking at are in ball park of $4000-$6000 and it is more than i would like to spend on an scanner ,i would be scanning 35 mm negs and 35mm slides and also i work with 6x6 size negs also .can you give please give me some recomdations ,also do you know an company that finance scanners ,i have check with scanners makers and they do not know with companies that finance them .

thank you for your assitance

-- michael ross (marphoto2@hotmail.com), January 20, 2000

Answers

Talking to a minolta rep the other day, he stated that there are a lot of labs buying the scan multi. The minolta scanner should give you a fairly good result that you can take to 8X10. It is about half the price you are looking at. As far as financing is concerned, why not look up a leasing company. The dealer that you purchase your scanner from should have some idea of this, as many people lease their equipment. (Check out www.Vistek.net a canadian supplier or B&H) the other alternative is to spend your money on a 35mm scanner like the polaroid 4000 and get the 6X6 negatives transferred to photo CD.

-- jonathan ratzlaff (jonathanr@clrtech.bc.ca), January 20, 2000.

Allin is a digital systems integrator for portrait studios. We have sold 2 of the Minolta film scanners and have had both of them returned. When it comes to medium format we feel the Kodak 3570 is the best. It also costs $8995. We have a leasing partner that deals exclusively with digital imaging products and equipment. Give a call 1 877 255 4634 ask for Sean.

-- Sean Quinn (Sean.quinn@allin.com), January 21, 2000.

Michael, try the Nikon LS2000 film scanner. It's about $1800; add another $450 to get the Silverfast driver for it. This combination gives me very good results. I've scanned a lot of slides and negatives with it. --Larry

-- Larry Nelson (lord_chaos@compuserve.com), January 24, 2000.