Railfan Technology > Kodak Digital Scanner

Are the Kodak Digital Scanners useful?  The price is attractive, but is the classic "get what you pay for"?

Thanks,

Neil

I did alot of homework on these, and they are NOT true scanners.  Its essentially a point and shoot camera that takes a photo.  

If you have a crapload of things to scan, and want to post online, its worth it.  

If you want to properly scana and archive, buy an Epson V700.  

Neil,

Consider this article from Center For Railroad Photography and Art:

http://www.railphoto-art.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/RH49-OTA8.pdf

WIth thousands and thousands of negatives and slides under my belt I can confidently say you can get results that are at least on par with the best Nikon scanners, and even better. You're welcome to PM me with questions although this article gives you all the info you will need.  In my mind the process of photographing my negs and slides put the final fork in the dreadfully S L O W process of shooting them at hi-res in a scanner.  Which I loathed doing.

Thank you for sharing the CRPA link ... a very nice and
informative article ...

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO

Looking at the Kodak Scanza the info says it scans at 22 megapixel.
How would that look on a computer monitor when the picture is posted on TO ?
I never pretended to be a good photographer but would like to share what I have.
The option is between low cost scanning and the slides sitting in boxes forever.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/19 08:25 by Englewood.

I agree with ATSF5669 on CRPA advice.  With a quality camera (sensor) and lens, I think the color comes out better, resolution is equal or better, again depending on sensor resolution, and more control over darker slides.  I made a setup just like this.  Digitizing a few hundred slides or more in an evening is possible this way.

http://www.yardoffice.com/archives/howto/slideshootingdslr.html

Jeff Eggert
 

I've beed digitizing film images now for over 20 years and have used various consumer-level scanners, drum scanners, and "copying" rigs based around a D-SLR. While I have found good results from copying slides using a D-SLR, definitely on-par with many consumer-grade scanners, the DMAX and detail is still inferior to a high quality scan, either from a high-end desktop transparency scanner or a drum scanner. But the equipment cost, time committment, and learning curve for making true, archival-quality scans is daunting so for good quality digital images done quickly, this is definitely a viable option and should be considered by anyone with a large collection to scan. But hang onto your originals so if you ever need to make a high-end scan, you can.

trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  ..........learning curve for making
> true, archival-quality scans is daunting ....

Exactly!
 
Not only that, but the digital cleanup of the scans too.

I'm surprised no one on Trainorders has put together a clear, succinct description on how to do these steps.  I don't have alot of slide/negatives, but that's what's prevented me from getting them into an electronic format.

Jeff