[geeks] What has replaced Kodak PhotoCD Pro?

[Francois Dion]

On 7/7/05, Mike Parson <mparson at bl.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 07, 2005 at 05:14:05PM -0400, Francois Dion wrote:
[...]
> > Well, there also used to be the Photo CD which offered 2048x3072 and
> > Photo CD Pro which clocked in at 4096x6144. Apparently I've been under
> > a rock and the Photo CD/Pro service is no longer available from Kodak,
[...]
> > Or is there an inexpensive negative and/or slides scanner out there
> > that rivals the quality that the Kodak PhotoCD Pro did (4400dpi)?
>
> Dunno about inexpensive, but I've used the Nikon Coolscan film scanners
> and scanned in a bunch of my old film at ~2400 dpi, but the scanner is
> capable of up to 4000dpi.  Even at 2400, it was scanning at a higher
> resolution than the film itself (at least my iso 400 stuff).

I have a lot of outdoor iso 100 high quality film, shot thru 28 and 45
mm Zeiss lenses. I dont want to have to scan them more than once, so
I'll use the higher rez. My wife shoots almost entirely digital (she
does photo and graphic design) but I cant afford another high end
digital rig... So I'll stay with SLR and rangefinders for right now,
as long as I have a way to go from 35mm to digital quickly. That's
what I liked about 1hr photocd... Beside, short of medium format with
digital back, you cant match the quality. Not with a Canon Digital
Rebel or Fuji Finepix Pro S2 anyways.

> The one I used was SCSI, but these days, they seem to come in USB2 and
> IEEE1394 (firewire) models too.  Plus having the built-in hardware
> DigitalICE/ROC/GEM, you can get some extemely nice scans, even out of
> older negatives.

The Nikon dont use CCD, they use 4 pass at R,G,B and IR, right? I have
an older 2400dpi (optical) scanner, but it doesn't look anything like
a photocd pro capture.

> They can be pricey though, especially if you opt for the roll-film
> adapter, and/or slide feeder.  Makes bulk scanning MUCH easier, but they
> do add to the cost quite a bit.
>
> Wish I could afford one, unfortunately the one I used before was a
> borrowed unit and had to give it back. =)

Do you still shoot film?

Francois