I am intending to digitise my personal collection of about 1000+ 35mm colour slides taken between the late 70s and early 90s and additionally want to archive my late father's collection of colour slides dating back to the mid 50s which fill a cupboard and run to possibly 10,000+ items.
His ability was sufficient to win several competitions over the years so many of his images may be suitable for A4 size prints, but the majority of them will be used in 6x4 or 8x5 formats.
To outsource the conversion of such a large volume of slides would be prohibitively expensive so although I am placing financial constraints on the project, I am prepared to spend months on this project.
I understand that each slide can take 90 seconds or more to be processed, so a 100 slide magazine is going to take at least two and a half hours to complete. I would consider 5-10 magazines per week to be an acceptable level of progress.
I am therefore considering a 35mm batch slide scanner and have found the following models.
Pacific Image Electronics PowerSlide 3650 USB Interface Pc/Mac - price approx USD800 (apparently not available in the UK)
Braun MULTIMAG SlideScan 4000 - price GBP679 to GBP900
Reflecta DigitDia 5000 Scanner - price GBP665 to GBP772
All these models appear to be the same basic design and specification.
Are they differently badged versions of the same product?
However, there are the Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 and 5000 models (starting at GBP900) which require the add-on of the automatic 50 slide feeder (an additional GBP400+), a significantly higher level of investment.
Has anyone any experience of using these types of scanners?
Is the additional investment in the Nikon reflected in their productivity and/or resolution?
If the majority of the output will be in lower size formats, can the resolution be reduced to increase the productivity?
There is some software called Silverlight AI which can come bundled with the Reflecta DigitDia 5000. Does this significantly improve productivity or quality?