Anyone have a recommendation of the best slide scanner for use in archiving railroad photos?

Thanks!

Nikon Coolscan scanners used to be the "gold standard" for professionals and archives, but they're no longer in production, and used sell for higher prices than when new, while still having both wear issues and backwards-compatible software issues.

Of what you can still find new(ish), investigate the Epson line of V550, V600, and V850 series. They range in affordability and quality, just like any camera line.

It's worth pointing out that there exist aftermarket software packages designed to be far more user-friendly to operate many such scanners--such as VueScan.

Having said all that, I'm hearing that a lot of archivists are surprisingly adapting to systems that use a special lens and slide holder to take photos of the slides with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, as "just as good when done right and far faster than the 30 seconds a slide it takes in the scanner"..............

I can personally vouch for the Epson V550, especially at the highest DPI. Definitely not a racehorse, though.

[edit] Buying a used scanner - make sure you get the slide holder with it. And the “glass” is usually acrylic or polycarbonate and scratches easily. Inspect that if you can. If you have to clean it, don’t use glass cleaner. Use a touch of mild soap with distilled water, clean, soft microfiber cloths and a light touch.

You’ll need photo editing software if your holder handles multiple slides. Ifanview is freeware and does a nice job. I’ll use that for quick edits like cropping and contrast or Photoshop for more in-depth work.

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art has an overview of its processes posted online: https://railphoto-art.org/collections/? ... e-archives Of particular interest in the list at right is "8. Why Scan What You Can Shoot?" that opens a PDF document.

I have been using a digital SLR with a macro lens mounted on a Honeywell "Universal Repronar" base and stand unit. The strobe was replaced with an LED floodlight that stays on during use. The repronar base has a drawer for color correction filters, once you have a good filter combination for a particular film type you can use it pretty much continuously with slides taken with that same film. This setup has been good enough to produce digital images for several dozen publication projects with no complaints.

PC

when my Coolscan went sideways (will do prints but not slides) I bought a plustik from B&H and have been using it for the last few years,

For glass-mounted lantern slides a DSLR with a macro lens can produce sharper images since the lens can be focused precisely on the emulsion. Scanners are focused on the surface of their glass and might not have enough depth of field to sharply capture an image through a glass plate.

Several years ago I photographed a set of lantern slides with my DSLR and macro lens, and gave a copy of the set to the Forest History Society. Their archivist emailed me and asked how I got such sharp images from lantern slides. She said that many lantern slides which are scanned are slightly fuzzy.

I've been professionally scanning since the 1990s, when scanners first became more common.

For 35mm slides, Indeed, the gold standard is still the Nikon Coolscan, but alas, the market demand for film scanners started drying up about a decade ago, and Nikon discontinued them. Watching for them on eBay requires some time, and not jumping on the first one that you come across. But you can find ones that are excellent, and not insanely priced. When I bought my last new one from a camera dealer, it was about $500, but that has been at least 12 ago. That equates to about $700 today, I recently purchased one off eBay that is just fine for $350 to replace a broken one for N&W Historical Society. Just be sure you are getting a USB model vs. a SCSI model, which are older, and hard to adapt.

I have nothing to compare to, but the professional photographer reviews of Plustek models is far from stellar. But you mileage may vary. I strongly considered them for a time, but based on my experience with the Coolscan, figured one that I was familiar with was far better than one I was not.

Using most flatbeds does not give you the dynamic range the Coolscan will give you. For prints, and negatives, I highly recommend the Epson V750 or 850. They give a great image, but like all the higher end scanners at times are harder to come by, as there is less production of them. I finally waited out about six months to find a V850 for a bit less than the list price, but they give a very good dynamic range for transparent media.

You can also get specialized negative and film carriers for old format films, like 616 from an small manufacturer who 3-D prints them. It is called negative solutions. I have no connection to them other than having purchased a variety of holders for old film sizes that are not common today.

For archival purposes, I believe buying the higher-end scanners is always a worthwhile investment.

Best
Ken Miller