New re-toucher

[John Rostron]

My name is John Rostron, from Essex. I have large number of images scanned from slides from pre-digital days, many of which are in need of moderate re-touching. I also have discovered an archive of black-and-white photos, mainly taken by my father in the 1940s and 50s, which I have started scanning and retouching.

I have many years experience of Photoshop, but I have now abandoned it in favour of Affinity Photo. However Affinity's big failing from my point of view is its lack of support for scanners. I use VueScan for my flatbed scanner and SilverFast for my slide scanner. Fortunately the saved images from these will open automatically in Affinity.

[Kasper_V]

Re: New re-toucher

I've been using Affinity Photo & Designer for some time, but I hadn't realised AP doesn't support scanners. My problem is that Windows 7 and above don't support my old Cannon scanner, so I have to use my old XP laptop for scanning -- and that doesn't support 64-bit products like Affinity!

My father was always handy with a camera too, and I have the family archive now, which goes back to the late 19th century -- great grandparents and one set of great-greats.

What slide scanner do you use? I've thought about getting one for quite a while, but a lot of them seem to be very basic low-res jobs aimed at those folks whose films have a Christmas tree at one end, seaside snaps in the middle and anther Christmas tree at the end. I've got a couple of boxes full of slides and negs, so I'd really like something classy but not costing the earth. (And then there are those hundreds of 78s under the stairs waiting to be digitised...)

[John Rostron]

Re: New re-toucher

I use a Nikon Coolscan V (also known as the LS50). This is no longer made, but sells for around several hundred pounds second hand (around £500 up on eBay).

I looked at alternatives a while back and the Plustek range seems well-regarded. They sell at a £170 up at Wex Photographic. It does not digitise 78's though!

The pro version of VueScan will operate both flatbed and slide scanners. SilverFast is more expensive, and only works with one type of scanner, but is more versatile.

[Kasper_V]

Re: New re-toucher

Thanks John.