Nikon SF-210 Auto Slide Feeder by Nikon
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Digital camera reviews of Nikon SF-210 Auto Slide Feeder
Digital camera Review: CoolScan SF-210
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had very good luck scanning about 500 slides, with no jamming problems. it sure makes scanning slides easy. I am using a PowerPC with Mac OS X 10.4.11.Digital camera Review: Deficient, but you still have to have it
Summary: 3 Stars
I agree with many of the reviews here - this thing is poorly engineered and way overpriced. Having said that, I couldn't live without it. If you're scanning slides with the Coolscan 5000, it's completely impractical to think you're going to scan a large amount of slides one by one. This feeder saves you hours of time, but it is definitely frustrating. I've been using it for years now and over 10,000 slides, so here's my tips on avoiding jams:
- With warped slides, good luck. They're going to jam. Try to gently bend and straighten them as best you can without damaging the slide. Be careful, you can separate the frame if you're too aggressive.
- I've found they tend to jam less with the pressure on the spring loaded backer a little shifted to the left. Basically take something small (like a AAA battery) and but it between the backer and the slides on the left side. This puts more pressure on the left side of the slides and has the effect of slightly fanning out the right side of the slides.
- Definitely be careful with this one - I take no responsibility for irreparable damage! On the mechanism that pushes the slide in, it is angled with the sharp edge catching the outside of the slide it is pushing. The problem is that that edge often catches the frame on the next slide where the positive meets the frame. I took an exacto knife and VERY CAREFULLY AND SLIGHTLY shaved this edge down so it was ever so slightly rounded. This helps it push off the next slide instead of catching on it. If you dull the edge too much, it will slip on the slide it SHOULD be pushing in, so don't do this until you are pushed to the brink of maniacal frustration and ready to throw the thing away (which is pretty much where I was).
- Fine tune the width adjuster. You want it JUST wide enough to allow the slide through, but not so wide the slide wobbles and leans and catches the next slide.
Over the years I've thought of at least ten ways Nikon could have made MINOR changes to this thing to keep it from jamming - it's really a disappointing piece of equipment from an engineering standpoint.
There is an update to the software the resolved SOME of the issues mentioned in the reviews, but I still crash it occasionally. I haven't seen an update to the software in years, and that's a little disappointing, because heaven knows it needs it. As far as choices on output formats, it's more than adequate for me - (I usually scan to 16-bit Tiff's and then reprocess down to jpgs with automated procedures in Photoshop). The scanner itself is great - I left a separate review on that with some general (nothing profound) tips.
Digital camera Review: Feed problem solution
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been scanning about 3000 family slides over the past year with a Super Coolscan 5000 ED and an SF-210. For the first 2000 slides I often had trouble with slides jamming during a feed especially if I had more than about 15 slides in the feeder. I decided that the root problem was that the feedspring pressure increased with the number of slides stacked in the feeder and that at a certain point this excessive pressure was the principal reason for a misfeed/jam. So...the solution was to pull the feed pusher way back to a dis-engage position, take the entire scanner and tilt it about 12 degrees off horizontal, and use a C-size battery and gravity to roll it down against the slides to provide a constant feed pressure. This has made a huge difference! I wish I knew about this when I first got this feeder. Let me know if this works for you.
Digital camera Review: Good but not great
Summary: 3 Stars
Through no fault of the SF-210, some slides (mostly thinner cardboard type)will catch on each other's film window as they slide past each other. It worked better on the plastic sleeve slides. I seldom had a group of 50 slides that went entirely through without a jam and I did about 2000 scans. I believe the SF-210 could have been designed to prevent the slides from catching on each other but it would be a more expensive piece of equipment if that were the case. The software requires you to restart it if a jam occurs, (that was frustrating). There are definitely improvements needed on the software. Having said all this, I don't think there is a better product on the market for the average home user, and overall I'm pleased with the scan quality of the slides. The experience I had with this product was good, but not great.Digital camera Review: Great - when it doesn't jam
Summary: 3 Stars
The feeder is a necessary evil for scanning thousands of slides. The previous two reviewers have clearly outlined the jamming problem so I won't reiterate here other than to add to the plea for Nikon to improve the feeder. I am mostly scanning cardboard Kodachrome slides in excellent condition. Of the 800+ slides scanned to date I average about 5% jams, particularly when running a large batch. I think there is a problem with the pressure plate not being quite vertical causing a misfeed occasionally. I've given up trying to scan more than 25 at a time. The associated software, Nikon Scan, for the feeder/scanner also could use some tweeking. A jammed slide aborts the program and it also adds an extra slide number so when you restart you need to reset the suffix number to keep a continuous series. The Coolscan 5000 ED scanner itself is excellent.