[john shaw]

Hello
I just joined this site-- I worked as a Deck Cadet/Officer for WA Souter/Souter Shipping/Souter Hamlet 1972/1985. I have photos of most of the ships they owned/managed, many from the "Souter Point" house mag, but have a slide of "longstone" in Narvik and some of "bamburgh castle", both of which ships I sailed in. If anyone can tell me (i'm not too PC savvy!) how to scan a 35mm slide I can supply a pic.

 

[john shaw]

Ray, (belatedly) thanks for the advice. I had been watching numerous dedicated 35mm scanners on Ebay, and generally researching specs/reviews of all of them-- unless one spends considerable sums, it appears the quality will not be any better than using a flat-bed type scanner with a transparency unit.

I researched these and found a GREAT deal-- at PC World, the HP ScanJet 4850 with inbuilt transparency unit is a few pence short of £100, but on their website it is an internet only webspecial at just £48.58!!! AND, store collection is available to further save the £6 postage.I arranged to collect mine the next day.

I collected mine at St Andrews Quay (cos they only shop at former dock complexes these days, ya know!) in Hull last evening, installed it on the PC (HP Pavilion t819uk, P4 3gb, 160gb HDD,upgraded 1.27gb RAM) and had the first go. "Longstone, at Narvik" is a straight scan from an uncleaned and quite badly scratched transparency, at the default (only200dpi) setting, using the embedded software to remove the bulk of some pretty horrendous surface scratching-- and I must say I am well impressed. I'm sure that with tweaking, using enhancing software and higher res (this scanner will do 4800x9600dpi optical) the results will be MUCH better.

I reckon this scanner is a REAL BARGAIN