Looking for a slide scanner with automatic feed

[AMCRambler]

My family has all our old photos backed up on slides and I'd like to get them into digital format. Slides are great for withstanding the tests of time, but they will eventually deteriorate.
What I'm looking for is a scanner specifically for scanning slides that will let me load a tray at a time and batch scan them in. I don't want to spend more than a couple hundred on it though so lets say an upper cost limit of $300. I've done some searching around and all the auto-fed ones I'm finding are $500 and up so perhaps I won't be able to get a scanner that does this for under $300. Thought I'd ask here and see if any of you have any experience with these types of scanners.
I know you can take the slides and have someone do this for you and give you the digital versions on cd, but I want to make sure the quality of the scans is good. Plus I've read that the software that comes with these scanners will let you do some filtering and correction to remove dust, finger prints, etc from the scans on the fly.

 

[corkyg]

Auto-feed scanners are expensive. The Nikon Coolscan 2000 will run circa $800. You have to decide how much your time is worth. 🙂

Scan

And a cheaper one:

SF-210

 

[AMCRambler]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Auto-feed scanners are expensive. The Nikon Coolscan 2000 will run circa $800. You have to decide how much your time is worth. 🙂

Scan

And a cheaper one:

SF-210

Looks like I'm stuck with a carriage based one. I've seen a couple nice ones in my price range that will do four at a time. There's a buttload of slides though. It's gonna take me a while!

 

[rhino56]

i recently got a new scanner and am pretty happy with it. i did a review of it but it isnt a multi function, its basically just a scanner. the auto feed would be nice but i wasnt gonna pay that much money for one.
you can see it here http://www.cryo-laboratory.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31705
really for the price its hard to beat this scanner.

 

[corkyg]

Here's another alternative. If you have a finite nu,mber of slides, say, 1,000 - then consider having them done for you at a cost of about 30 cents apiece, all placed on optical media using top quality Nikon equipment.

Scan

Unless you have recurring requirement extending into the future, why buy capital equipment?