More free advice

I've been scanning slides for about seven years.

One question you need to ask yourself if what you want to do with the scanned images. If you're a modeler and just want to preserve "record" shots for a reference album, than you have one set of parameters. If you want to make 11x14 "art" prints to hang on the wall then you have another set of parameters. Mostly its a matter of how picky you are.

Also how much time you have availabe is significant since slide scanning and post processing IS tedious. And also whether the "process" is part of your fun, or whether you just want the results as easily and cheaply as possible.

I doubt that there is any one "best" way. But as Bill indicates proper dust removal is a key issue, and ICE may or may not soften images but it doesn't work at all with Kodachrome.

Two quick comments that may or may not be helpful. My new Nikon Super Coolscan V is fast, but optically it is no better than my old slow (SCSI) Polaroid Sprintscan 4000.

Also I would recommend the independent Viewscan (www.hamrick.com) software over the proprietary software that comes with the various scanners. Viewscan is super and works well with most scanners (I use it with three different scanners, all different brands.

JBWX