Scanner question

OK i am taking pics with an olympus OM-1 and I am getting some decent pics. The question I have is I am looking for a good scanner that i can use to scan my 35mm photos and a software program that i can use to inhance the photos on my computer. If anyone has ideas for a good scanner ( specifications) and a good software program that is relatively easy to use and understand please give me your inputs. Thanks

Rick

Depends. Are you wanting to scan prints only, slides and negatives only, or both. If prints only, most any of the current crop of flatbed scanners at the 1200 to 1600 dpi and up range do marvelous jobs. They can be had for 100.00 +/-. The film scanners are much more expensive, and with a couple exceptions will cost at least 400.00 to several thousand. There are some highend combination flatbed/film/transparancy scanners, but they aren't as good for film as the dedicated versions.
HP used to make the S20 scanner that will scan film at 2400dpi and up to 5x7 prints at 300 dpi. They are no longer made but seem to be available at limited places as excess inventory. Chech here
http://www.printerworks.com/Sales/Scanners/HP-PhotoSmartScannerS20.html

Walt Hamler

Hi Rick,

The college where I work has a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 for slides/negatives. I do not know how much it cost but it does an excellent job, and the digital ICE routine for removing scratches works wonders. (See my example on the Astrophotography forum)

They also have some Epsom transprancy scanners which I am using to scan wide-format negatives, but it is not as good. A shame that the Nikon will not take 2.5x3.5 negatives. :-(

Cheers,

Maurice