Has anyone got one? Tell me about them, should I get one?

What's a "Transparency scanner"? Please explain that to me...

I think it is normally an adaptor to a scanner which enables you to scan transparencies, like photographic negatives. My scanner doesn't have the ability to scan negatives and I would like to transfer all my old ones into my computer, I don't have good prints of many, or any prints of some.

What I need to know is how sucessful it is, is it worth spending money on obtaining?

I have a Visioneer One Touch 8920. It will handle photo negatives and slides, fax them, email them, do whatever. However, I have found no real use for this. With a digital camera, the point in moot.

I have scanned a couple of hundred old transparencies for viewing as an Irfanview slide show on the computer , each one scanned in separately I might add! Even if I could have done them using some sort of batch method, it would have been no good. The transparencies were of such varying qualities that each one needed correcting individually.

I was able to buy a transparency adapter for my Epson Perfection 1200S scanner for the purpose. It might be worth checking to see if there is one available for your scanner before buying a whole new one. I suggest a Google on the subject.

The transparencies scanned in at 400 d.p.i were of good viewable quality. I found it best to set the output size of the photo within the scanner software rather than resampling and resizing within the paint program. It requires a bit of experimentation to get this right but once the parameters are set they can usually be saved and applied over and over again. If you want to scan in negatives this is equally successful. The negative can usually be turned into a positive within the scanner software options

If you do have to get a new scanner with an adapter included, the price isn’t too prohibitive these days. Less than £100-00 I believe would buy one.

I’ve still got about another 90 transparencies to scan in and process when I can face it!

I will have to investigate, I have an all in one scanner, copier, printer and it is almost new so I don't really want to buy a whole new scanner unless I have to. Mind you they seem to be fairly cheap with an adaptor included so not impossible, I could just use it for the transparencies.

What I have seen says it is for 35mm, I was wondering if they will also do other sizes, mine are not actually 35mm, they are assorted other types, 110 etc

The transparency adapter for my scanner, which takes the form of an alternative lid covering the entire bed, copes with various sizes of tranparencies and negatives. I'd think they all could but tomorrow I can check with someone I know who has a different type of scanner to mine to confirm it (same make but a later model using a different looking adapter).

I have sent an e-mail to Lexmark telling them the model numbers and asking if there are any adaptors. We shall have to wait and see if they reply.

Got one! I just happened to pop into a photographic shop which has a very small computer section to see if they had anything specifically photographic and was delighted to see they had some scanner reduced in the sale! One was an Epson 1240U Photo scanner, and at about 25% off the price it was too good to pass up. The photo scanner sounds similar to what you described, it replaces the normal lid and completely covers the scanning area, you plug it into the back, there is a small lid to the lid, if you know what I mean. You can scan up to 5 x 4 inches which should more than do for my needs. I have lots of negatives which are 60 years old, or more, it will be interesting to see what photos my parents took all those years ago.

I haven't installed it yet, I couldn't find the adaptoor and USB leads, nor the Adobe Photoshop 5.0 which comes bundled with it - they were hiding in a side panel of the box!

It sounds like the same lid that my Epson scanner has. I hope you'll be pleased with the results you get. If the negatives are a bit old they'll maybe have a few blemishes on them. It's interesting to retouch the scans and do other enhancements, or even add colour to them.

Have you seen the ones that I did? They're on our website. They took ages to colour but it made an absorbing pastime.

Bringing it up

Well worth the time to buy one for myself.

They're not worth the money. We have one, and we barely ever use it.

Just because YOU do not use the one you have that doesn't make it a waste of money for other people who might need one. When I find the time to use mine it will certainly be worth every penny I paid as it will be the only inexpensive way of recovering treasured photos of my children which are now only in transparencies, the prints have faded.

Please check the dates on posts AND read the whole thread, I asked back in January then said, also back in January, that I had bought one. To post an opinion five months later is hardly worthwhile. The thread was brought up because another members has asked the same question.

If you have a negative comment to make when others have been positive it might be better to prefix your comment with 'in my opinion' and not make a sweeping statement that something which others say is excellent is actually a waste of money.

Quite a few years ago transparencies were just as popular as prints, perhaps even more so. They were pretty good because the photographs could be projected up to any size you wanted them to be.

They lost favour, I think, because of the rigmarole of setting up the slides in the projector and putting up the screen. Then everyone would have to sit in a darkened room while the slides were shown one by one. I expect all of us that are 'of a certain age' can remember evenings like that!

Nonetheless, because they were so popular, many peoples photograph collections consist of quite a few transparencies that now never get looked at. What better way of reviving all the memories they hold than to scan them into the computer for viewing. The slideshow then becomes electronic (as mentioned, 'Irfanview' is good for that) and you don't have to give the whole room over to a photograph viewing session.

I think reviving such memories, when the photographs have not been viewed for many years, is priceless. It makes a transparency scanner well worth the money. The transparency adapter for mine wasn't too expensive and I've put many transparencies onto a CD using it. The adapter's job is now done but even if I never use it again it will have still have been worth the money to me.

Ah, this thread is about those scanner attachments for slides? If it is, I got one with my scanner. I personally don't have any slides, but I know my parents do and if we ever get around to going through them, it would be nice to be able to make a lot of copies of them. Also, my mom has some for when she would give lectures and with the advent of Powerpoint, she might like to have them on a computer.