Scanning with a D300

November 23, 2011: A few months ago a lighting strike turned my computer and Nikon film scanner into paper weights. Other than the expense, replacing the computer was not terrible and I have a better machine now. The options for the scanner are not so great. I have found that Nikon no longer manufactures film scanners. I also found that there are very few manufacturers of film scanners left and to get at least the quality that I am used to getting from my Nikon I am stuck with getting a very high end scanner that is going to be out of my budget, film is a hobby for me. There are some scanners that make a respectable showing such as the Epson V750 and the PlusTek 7600i but I would spend more on them than I did for my Nikon and get a lower quality image. I opted to get the Nikon repaired for a little less than what the PlusTek cost but I still want to have an alternative. After reading about this a couple of times on the web I decided to try using my D300 to take pictures of my negatives. Using a light table and a macro lens on the D300 with a tripod actually resulted in usable images as long as the resolution does not need to be higher than 1400 pixels on the wide side. I would probably be able to print these at 5x7 and be happy.

Update - December 20, 2011: For a mere $380 I was able to get my Nikon film scanner repaired. That is nearly what I paid for it new but based on my research, to replace it I would have had to pay at least that much and not had the scan quality the Nikon CoolScan V ED gives.