Features:

• Can feed 50 slides in 1.5-millimeter-thick mounts
• Automatic loading
• Designed for use with the LS-200
• 6-second feed time
• 6-second eject time

Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Nikon introduces SF-200 Auto Slide Feeder that auto feeds up to 50 slides. Loading method - Automatic, loading by DC motor. Loading/Unloading time - approximately 12 sec./slide.

Amazon.com Product Description:
The Nikon SF-200 auto slide feeder makes batch film scanning easy. It is compact, heavy duty, and an ideal tool for managing multiple images. The SF-200's efficient design transforms Nikon's acclaimed LS-2000 film scanner into a veritable self-sustained image-archiving factory because its full automation maximizes your scanning efficiency.

Tailored specifically to the most popular consumer film media format, the SF-200 accepts 35mm slides mounted in standard 1.5-millimeters-thick casings. The number of slides an automated feeder can hold is crucial to the productivity of the device, with each additional slide adding value by reducing reloading frequency. Nikon's engineers focused their design of the SF-200 on this contingency, incorporating a massive 50-slide capacity magazine into the SF-200's list of features. Also, the auto feeder's load and eject speeds are a fast six seconds each.

A painless installation process mounts the SF-200 slide feeder directly on the front of the LS-2000, sporting conservative dimensions of 5.6 by 3.4 by 17.3 inches. If you need to expand your slide scanning capacity, the SF-200 is the ideal accessory.

Rating : - If you need to batch you need the SF-200
Do you need the SF-200? The question is, are you going to scan a whole batch of slides? Or are you scanning a few slides? Do you have the time and patience to hand-feed all the slides you will scan?

For batch work, the SF-200 is absolutely essential, like the ICE Cubed software that comes with the Coolscan 4000 ED. WITH these two powertools, you can quickly capture and enhance thousands of slides quickly.

Does the SF-200 work perfectly? No. It jams now and then. That's too bad, because since it jams from time to time, I am constantly checking and listening to make sure it doesn't.

Does the ICE cubed software work perfectly? Nearly. It works wonders on old, scratched, poorly lit slides. But in it's quest to clean up and color balance your ancient slide collection, it sacrifices a bit of sharpness. Some people prefer to leave the heavy processing off, and then rescan the problem slides. That's what I do. It saves time, and gets good results. But my favorite photos have been enhanced with ICE3 in a way that would be nearly impossible for all but the most talented Photoshop artists.

You will probably want to dust off your slides before you scan them. You can do this with a 1" camel's hair brush, and/or a couple of cans of pressurized air. Beyond that, if your slides have fingerprints, or other material on them, you can clean that with PEC-12 photographic emulsion cleaner and a lint-free cloth. PEC-12 is from Photographic Solutions, Inc. in Buzzards Bay, MA. This powerful cleaner dissolves goey junk on the slide, but not the slide film! Use it for you problem slides. That's what I know about pre-cleaning (which the Nikon manual does not mention).

For my purposes - scanning thousands of old slides - the SF-200 and ICE cubed are ESSENTIAL to my use of the Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED. If you need to scan batches of images, get the SF-200. Ebay it when you're done.