What is a good (thrifty) lf scanner?

[rivermandan]

working in the PC industry, I've played with a few flatbed scanners that are capable of handling 35mm slides and negs and the results are anything but satisfactory. I will admit that these are all cheapish ($100-$200) scanners. I sincerely doubt I will (at least in the next few years) need to scan anything larger then 4X5. What sort of options are there for us thrifty (poor) folk?

As always, much thanks to the community for the helpful insight
-Dan

[Ron Marshall]

A refurbished Epson 4990, from their website is about the best you can do for a sub $500 scanner. The next step up would be a new, if you can find one, or a refurb Microtek 1800, they are about $900 new.

You can do about a 3X enlargement from the Epson and about 4X from the Microtek.

[Ole Tjugen]

Or an elderly Agfa DuoScan. My T1200 does 600dpi; the HD version 1200dpi. Both claim to do twice as much. So 3x from the T1200 is quite good, 4x from the HD is very good. The contrast range it can handle is surprisingly good, too (I scan slides)!

[David A. Goldfarb]

I also have a DuoScan for LF and a Minolta Scan Dual (I) for 35mm, though if you don't need to scan 8x10", a refurbished Epson 4990 might be better for MF and 4x5". There are lots of real bargains, if you are comfortable with a SCSI scanner. If there are no drivers for your operating system, many old SCSI scanners run in Vuescan. You're best off finding a dedicated film scanner for 35mm, rather than trying to scan 35mm on a flatbed.

[katie cooke]

Just seen on someone else's blog that epson have a 100$ rebate on the 4990 at the moment (US rebate form here: http://www.epson.com/cmc_upload/pdf/P4990P-100-EP703-C24211.pdf ) so that puts it under $300 right now.

The 35mm neg holders are horrid to use though the slides are ok, and for anything larger it's really good.

[dagabel]

How about HP? I have the ScanJet 4890, which has 4x5 and roll film holders; it cost me $170 new a few months ago. Now apparently there's a newer model.

Duane