Right now I am looking for a scanner to use to digitalize all of my family photos.  I don’t know if the amount makes a difference, but there is a thousand plus photos, widely varying in age (some back into the 1950s).  Also I would like to scan some of the negatives, too.

I am new to using a scanner to digitalize photos, as this will be my first scanner.  I have looked around at some of the scanners from EPSON, CANON and HP.  It seems that the closest two that compare is the CANON CanoScan 9950F and the EPSON 4870 photo.  Both of them appear to have similar specs and such.  So I could lean either way.  I have read some reviews on both the EPSON 4870 photo and CANON CanoScan 9950F and both are excellent scanners.

I figured someone here in the forum would have more extensive experience with using scanners in general and what the best one would be for the job and future use.  I am looking to spend around 600 USD.

Are there any other scanners out there within the price range that can compete or best either or both of these scanners?

Here is the links to the respective CANON and EPSON products:

 

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

Since you are willing to spend around $600, I highly recommend Minolta DIMAGE Scan Elite 5400 for your project. You can get the film scanner from Abes of Maine for just under $600.

I have both flatbed [Epson 3200] and film scanner [Minolta 5400]. And from my experience - for your project - if you require professional high quality scans of 35mm negatives and slides, film scanners are the way to go.

The phone is crippled and its not supposed to be able to use it for DUN (dial up networking). If you search I posted a link to a hack people have done to get around this.

Verizon had another BT phone…v270c made by motorola and it was not crippled in anyway.

Erik

[quote author=“Ishii”]Since you are willing to spend around $600, I highly recommend Minolta DIMAGE Scan Elite 5400 for your project. You can get the film scanner from Abes of Maine for just under $600.

Thanks for the recommendation.  The Minolta DIMAGE Scan Elite 5400 looks like a great solution.  Depending on how many of the 35mm negatives are still with the pictures, this is something that i will definitely take into consideration.  I need to check exactly how many still have the 35mm negatives, as the photos are at my dads house and i won’t be going home from college for a few weeks. I know for a fact all of them are actual pictures, i.e. 3x5 and 4x6. 

[quote author=“islandpoint”]Hi,
I have a question that really has nothing to do with the scanner. I see you have a Moto v710 phone and I was wondering how well it works with the bluetooth feature along with your computer. Can you get online on your computer via the phone? I am with Verizon and I think that is the only bluetooth phone they have available. Do you like the phone?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

The MOTO v710 works great with my TR3.  It took a little time setting up, becuase i was new to using BLUETOOTH, but after that no problems.  I have no problem getting online with it.  Though it is not the fastest connection, 14.4k.  I currently use it as my travel solution, basically when there is not a phone line available for use.  Using it as a DUN also only uses minutes off of my plan (did not use a hack for this feature).  So on the weekends and after 2100 it is free.  VZW NationalAccess is a little expensive for unlimited use ($79.99/mo).  I am waiting for VZW to release a smartphone with BLUETOOTH, becuase the unlimited NationalAccess IMO is much more reasonable for the smartphones ($49.99/mo).  The phone IMO is not all that bad.  It does everthing that i need it to even though it doesn’t have all of the BLUTOOTH features that it should.  I am not all that interested in using it to transfer data and i rarely use the onboard camera.  I just got the phone for the DUN option.  IMO if one needs a phone to transfer data one should get a smartphone instead.  The downfall is the VZW does not offer any smartphones with BLUETOOTH or a camera.  They do have a PDA phone with a camera, though.  VZW is falling way behind in pricing and phones IMO.  The only reason i am still with VZW is that they currently have the best service/coverage where i live.