Get a scanner with built in scratch, dust correction tools in the software. This will save your friend lots of time and effort cloning these out. Nikon calls theirs Digital ICE and works really well. I had one when I was still shooting film and it worked really well. The Nikon software was somewhat buggy but once it worked, there were no issues. My brother-in-law had a Canon scanner and it worked really well too. A dedicated film scanner works much better than a flat scanner with a film holder.
My friend is favoring the Canon 9000F that vinyljunky recommended as it can scan several pictures at once, but the price difference is not that big compared to back home, in particular if you take into account warranty issues (although he didn't check if it comes with international warranty).
Anyway, he didn't buy it here but says thanks for all the tips and recommendations you guys have provided.
VJ - I downloaded a demo version of Silverfast AI.
I has no problems seeing the frames which MP Nagivator cannot. An instant improvement.
It didn't list the 9000F as a model it was compatible for, so I downloaded the software for the 9900F and it appears to work fine. It is a pretty expensive piece of software tho.
Also: scanning speed seems to be much quicker. I just scanned something in at 9600 dpi (which came out at 21,000 pixels by 21,000 pixels (2.5GB file!) and it seemed to take less time than MP Navigator at, say, 3400 dpi.
What I would do with something with effectively 400 megapixels, I don't know. That's a different question. But I like it that I am no longer constrained by 10k x 10k.
That's odd, I found Silverfast 8 for the 9900F - the demo is on SilverFast for Canon Scanner :: LaserSoft Imaging.
I played around with it a few times, and I agree it's definitely superior to MP Navigator (although not as intuitive as I hoped). Definitely a bit too expensive for me though...I'm mainly shooting 35mm now, so not sure if I need all the bells & whistles.
Has anyone bought a film scanner lately?
I've got a bunch of negatives that I would love to get processed but the guy that I knew in 298 is gone. There was a guy in SaiKung - he's gone too.
So I'm after a scanner or someone to do it for me....