The PF1800's major flaw is its inability to handle a wide contrast range. It works ok for negative film, but has real problems with slides.
A quick fix is to take a tiny piece of white cellophane, such as from a white plastic grocery bag, and layer that between the glass and the back side of the slide. This reduces the amount of light hitting the slide, without changing the color too much. You can then grab detail from a white part of the image.
A better solution is a newer / better scanner. The cheapest current Minolta Scan Dual IV ( I think... ) is an example. It'll do a fabulous job with slides and negatives. I just wish they scanned faster. We use a Minolta Scan Elite II which does a nice job, but which takes quite a while.
A solution you may wish to try is to take a photo of the slide with the Oly C5050. Place the image onto a light table, or else a piece of diffusion in a sunny window, and take a picture of it with the camera on a tripod. For negatives, try placing a blue or cyan filter between the light and the back of the negative, to correct for the orange mask. Keep the negative from touching the filter or the glass, if possible. If this works acceptably well, it'll be MUCH faster than scanning.
Brian http://www.bdphotographic.com
