I have had a Microtek E3 since 1997 and find that the scanners out today at very low cost (under $100) work well. Lots of little software bugs even on the HP scanners such as the 6200 I use at work. And when you upgrade your computer with a new version of Windows you probaqbly will find that the drivers don't work for your scanner..

I recommend Paintshop Pro 8.  If you get to know it, it is very close to the capability of Adobe Photoshop at much lower cost..

Paintshop Pro has a lot of features that you will not learn about right away.

I recommend for scanning slides that you do one of the following:

1. Purchase of slide scanner such as the Benq Scanwit. I bought a Scanwit in 2002 and I have scanned close to 10,000 slides and negatives so far. It is very close to professional quality and I paid about $400. Major drawback is that is is very slow, especially in the infrared cleaning mode. Also you will want Neat Image to remove film grain and grain aliasing. Alternatively you can
2. use D'Imaging   (www.d-imaging.com)           ZakZakr@aol.com.  They can scan slides in most formats and charge only $0.25 a slide after you pay for a CD-ROM.  Their scanner is 24 bit - so it is not good enough for some publication work, but handy for personal use.  Four of my slides from Paris, France were selected for the August 1997 calendar contest. I actually snapped these on Ektachrome 64 (fast film in those days) in May 1973

Last updated 8/7/97