MicrostockGroup

just got this in one of my mail. it's a product costing 150 bucks. here's the specs:
scans 35mm neg and slides
5MP cmos sensor
10 bits per colour channel for data conversion
fixed focus
AE control
Auto Color Balance
3 white LED back light source.
incl software to edut and resize as well as convert neg to postivies.
+ 20 buck S&H

what do you think? anyone has one? i suppose it 'll do for home users,
but wonder if this is any better than the HP scanner i bought  3 years ago, which is not only very slow but also not very good.

i do have quite a bit of good images on 35 slides and neg for stock
but never had much luck converting them.

in fact, i even have some color 4x5 positives from my view camera workshop days
that would be stunning if i know how to digitalize them. imagine the quality of a 4x5 positives. perfect for XXL lol . Alamy would be the best for those.

Thx Racephoto. I was a bit wary considering it came in the junk mail like most "junks".
btw, would the epson scan 2/14 and 4x5? my HP does up to 21/4 but to get good quality it would take forever to scan. so I chucked it aside.

Good idea.  I had been considering exactly that. 

I just bought a used Epson 4180.  It works with 2 1/4 and has resolution up to 4800.  But ... it ain't the solution.  I tried some old travel slides at DT and had a reviewer at CutCaster give me some special attention.  My travel slides are some great memories  ... no more.   

I had a lot of experience with the Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED Scanner a few years back and never got the quality I needed, don't get me wrong, it was good enought for small prints but that is about it.  For top quality you have to start with an least an Imacon Scanner ($$) if you don't want to spend the money for a drum scan.

E

hi, this is what i did when i wanted to scan my father's slides (~1000 done last year, ~2500 to go, ¿what was i thinking? )

i got an old bellows and slide copier from mercadolibre (the argentine version of ebay): the "pentax auto bellows m set"  (costed me something 60-70 USD)
you have to mount the bellows on the camera, the lens in the bellows (F35-80 in my case, it's supposed to work with a 50 on film but in a crop camera i found it needs something around 70mm), and then the slide copier in front of everything else.
then you set the white balance with the white plastic in the slide copier, put a slide in the copier, focus on the slide (with the bellow's rails) and close the lens diafragm (has to be and old lens with aperture ring, i used f/16, as more will difract a lot and less ended up out of focus because the slides were not exactly flat in my case).
now the setup is ready the procedure is: put slide -> green button (auto exposure in manual mode in a pentax) -> shoot. change slide and repeat.

it's not the easiest way, and not a one click way (two when already setup), but it gives 10mp (or whatever your camera has) "copies" of your slides. and you can also use the bellows for macros beyond 1:1.

note: all this works in a pentax body, i guess other brands made their own bellows (or you can use an old M42 with an adapter) and probably have a different way of metering (the k10d will meter even without a lens (and that's how the camera detects the bellows, it doesn't), not sure if all cameras will do that).

muchos agradecimientos b79 ! PURA VIDA!