Slide & Negative Scanners

[Saltspringer]

I have been blessed with the task of turning slides of family and friends into photo's and then on to DVD's. My question is; Which is the best slide scanner to use. I am not worried about price (well maybe a little) but I need the best that money can buy and with it, the support after the sale. Any suggestions

[Hughvane]

Epson and Microtek are generally well-regarded, but check these sites for info and comparisons:
http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2204p138id115075.htm
http://www.superwarehouse.com/Film_&...nners/c2b/1908

[DeltaMac]

The Nikon Coolscan film scanners are top-notch.

[MrLatte23]

is a decently priced quality scanner ($499 - $599). I scan directly to/thru Photoshop CS3 with a readily available plug-in. Has the Digital ICE software which does a great job of minimizing scratches, dust and other such blemishes on negatives. Scans at a high output resolution, 14-bit I believe. Be careful with bit depth specs cuz my other flatbed scanner says it's 16-bit. and it may scan at 16-bit, but it only outputs 8-bit images. It does take some time to preview and eventually scan the slide or negative, probably 30 - 45 seconds to make a preview of the strip of negatives, and then maybe one minute to scan the final image, depending on the selected bit depth and resolution. Can't handle single frames of negative film, so you'd have to mount singles in slide frames (and yes it does slides as well).

I'm pleased with it, though I do have to run Photoshop CS3 in Rosetta to get the plug-ins to work.