Railfan Technology > Slide Scanner?

I'm in the market for a slide scanner and am looking for opinions on which ones give you the "best bang for the buck?"  My biggest concern is cost and quality.  TIA ....

Kent in CArmel Valley

I've been very happy with my Epson V550.  It scans 4 slides at a time (it also can scan negatives).  Quality of the scan is very good and the V550 is available at Office Depot, Best Buy, and other places for around $175.00.  It's not going to give you the extreme quality that something like a high end Nikon scanner will provide, but it's more than adequate for my needs.  Attached are two scans of Kodachrome slides (ICG and SSW photos) I've made with it plus one scan of a Kodacolor negative (RI photo).  I've made around 2000 scans with no issues from it.  Several friends also use Epson scanners and are pleased with theirs.

EDIT:  All three photos are from Memphis.  The RI photo was taken Jan 13, 1973, and is one of my earliest 35mm photos.  The Illinois Central switch tender in the shanty controlled the traffic light that governed the crossing of the RI-MP-SLSF over the IC tracks.    
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/19 12:04 by Rathole.

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Excellent!  More please!   That stop light signal in the middle of that last pic!  Awesome...

Are your scan straight off the scanner without any photoshop or other software adjustment?  Sure helps when you take great pictures to start with!

Nothing done to the two slide scans; they are straight off the scanner.   I had to do a little clean up on the negative (mainly dust specks) and a slight color adjustment, but nothing major to it.  I just bought some PEC 12 to use on negatives for a better clean up.  Dust specks on negatives show up white and stand out much more than the dust specks on a slide which show up dark.  
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jtwlunch Wrote:
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> Are your scan straight off the scanner without any
> photoshop or other software adjustment?  Sure
> helps when you take great pictures to start with!

Thanks for the info on the Epson V550 Rathole, I'll check it out.

Kent in CArmel Valley

Rathole - what resolution did you scan these at, and
approx how much time did the scanner take ?

Nice scans, I dont usually have those good of slides. 

They are positives.

Bob Jordan

The heck with the scanner - that crossing blows my mind, I've never seen anything like that if I understand it right.

So, let me get this right, there are NO interlocking signals on these diamonds and everything is controlled by nothing more than a traffic signal light? And all this is controlled by a switch tender, I assume in conjuction with the dispatcher? I'm just amazed as I have  ever seen this large a crossing (4 tracks in each direction) that didn't have full interlocking signals. This is a really cool spot!!!

There were actually 5 north-south tracks on the IC crossing crossing the 4 east-west tracks at the time I took the RI photo.  It was all controlled by the IC switch tender, as IC was the senior road at the crossing.  He didn't work with any dispatchers but if the IC had a passenger train close (City of New Orleans, or Panama Limited) the east-west trains sometimes sat a long time.  The crossing was not interlocked at this time because it was right at the South End of Central Station and at the north end of IC's busy South Yard (not the primary IC yard in Memphis, but very busy).  Trying to use an automatic interlocking here with constant switching moves, and trains coming in and out of 4 connecting wyes on each quadrant would not work - there would have been constant tie-ups.  Moves had to be planned quite carefully between the IC switch tender, the MP-RI-SSW operator and Frisco operator both at Kentucky Street, and the IC yardmaster at South Yard. Even so,  I've seen times when a Cotton Belt train will pull up in the southwest wye trying to get out of South Yard, only to be held for a Frisco train by the Frisco operator at nearby Kentucky Street (SSW had to cross the Frisco to get to their own rails).  Meanwhile, a southbound IC train or yard move would show up, pull across the crossing to wait for the Cotton Belt to clear, and block the Frisco.  Nobody could go anywhere and someone (either the IC or the Cotton Belt) would end up backing up to clear things out.  The switch tender's job was cut off in the mid 70s and 4 way stop signs placed.  It was similar to a 4 way stop at a highway intersection, except if a train was occupying the crossing, a train on an adjacent track, after stopping, could go.  A few years ago, South Yard was shut down, and today there is just a single IC track crossing the 4 east-west tracks.  With South Yard gone, BNSF paid to install a signaled interlocking here, and it is controlled from Ft. Worth.  Here's what it looks like today.  Oh by the way, the traffic light replaced 4 mast mounted US&S block signals (one facing in each direction) that I understand got knocked down in a derailment.   

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Railbaron Wrote:
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> The heck with the scanner - that crossing blows my
> mind, I've never seen anything like that if I
> understand it right.
>
> So, let me get this right, there are NO
> interlocking signals on these diamonds and
> everything is controlled by nothing more than a
> traffic signal light? And all this is controlled
> by a switch tender, I assume in conjuction with
> the dispatcher? I'm just amazed as I have  ever
> seen this large a crossing (4 tracks in each
> direction) that didn't have full interlocking
> signals. This is a really cool spot!!!

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"Rathole", thank you very much for your explanation of the junction - an amazing place.

Epson Perfection V800 Photo!
I've been using Epson for 10 years and scanned over half a million slides/print/documents.
TAH

As I have mentioned in the past when this subject has come up, I have both a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 and a Epson 600.  While I use the Epson mostly for scanning 120 negs, I did do a comparison with one slide done on the Nikon.  I think the Epson does just fine if your purpose is to post on the internet, look at pix on your monitor, and make small prints, I think the pix posted above show that.  But clearly the Nikon is higher rez and arguably has better color, and for the difference in price (even when new) it should have.  For most purposes I think the V600 is not only cheap but more than adquate.  Whatever scanner you get I would highly recommend Vuescan software rather than whatever comes with the scanner.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/19 13:18 by jbwest.

Nice quality scans!